I have had dustbin fairings on the brain lately, and yesterday’s story about golf ball dimples on motorcycle helmets isn’t helping things.
From a pure design perspective, there is something I enjoy immensely about streamlining — I think its the sleek lines and low-slung bodywork that hugs the asphalt, looking for any edge over the wind. Despite being something of motorcycling’s past, there is something futuristic about a well-designed dustbin.
That’s an interesting thought, because from a practical point-of-view, I’m rather indifferent to the whole idea.
The two-wheeled examples I’ve seen of extreme aerodynamic efficiency are not machines I would want to ride, let alone own…sans maybe the 2012 MotoCzysz E1pc — that bike was downright fun to ride, but I don’t think that was because of Michael Czysz’s aerodynamic work. I digress.
The streamlining designs that have been catching my fancy lately though are modern takes on an old-school aesthetic and method for cutting through the wind.
It doesn’t take much to find modern builders who are recreating old dustbin designs into their modern-day builds, but I’m more interested in how the aerodynamic principle of streamlining can evolve as alternate to today’s aerodynamic compromises, in the same way steampunk explores a worldly evolution that never happened.
The first concept to catch my fancy, as such, is the BMW Apollo Streamliner by Turkish designer Mehmet Doruk Erdem.
