How Bike Becomes Everything From Nothing – Part Two : BikeAdvice |  |
- How Bike Becomes Everything From Nothing – Part Two
- Yamaha’s Performance in November 2011
- TVS Motors’ Performance for November 2011
- Petrol Further Reduced by 65 paisa, Will it Bring Long Term Relief?
- Triumph to Launch 7 New Models in India
| How Bike Becomes Everything From Nothing – Part Two Posted: 01 Dec 2011 09:28 AM PST
Original Source: How Bike Becomes Everything From Nothing – Part Two from BikeAdvice.in Reader's response always acts as a driving force for BikeAdvice's authors. I am not an exception here, that's why decided to write more for above mentioned title. (Link to Previous Article). As we know that the very first step for making bike everything is market research. Different companies adopt different research methodologies. Even single company also changes these research strategies according to vehicle type or segment. Mainly we can classify these research methods as Direct, Indirect, Quantitative and Qualitative. Again each classification has its own definition and sub-categorization. This classification is global, more to the point, not particularly for automotive market.
We are not aware about methods those adopted for market survey in automotive sector. At least, I have never seen any candidly performed detailed market researches for any vehicle in India. India already has become global market for automotive manufacturers because of which many companies are planning to establish manufacturing plants in India. As a result, we will also be the witnesses of detailed market researches in nearer future. As of today, I am not aware about market research methodologies adopted particularly for automotive market. So I decided to omit this topic of "Market survey" and will switch over to next step in bike designing called "Sketching". Particularly for bikes, there are very few parts and areas where designers can show their potential and which impacts on customer's mind at first momentary look. This includes front fairing (if decided for bike), tank, tail fairing, headlights, side lights, tail lights, ORVMs and sometimes exhausts, seats and wheels. So designers are very vital components of this bike designing system. In simple words, we can say that the success of vehicle is totally depends on designers. Let's start our journey through procedure of sketching a bike. Obviously, very first step do perform any thing is motivation. 1. InspirationBasic responsibility of designers is to create an attractive aesthetics for a vehicle. As said by someone "True inspiration comes from inside of us", that's why some designers do it by their own experience and thoughts while other needs some motivating reference. In the case of automotive design, the most inspirational reference is "Nature". Designers take insects, reptiles, birds and animals as a reference. These references help designers to decide basic features and looks of vehicle. Predominantly, insects and reptiles have big eyes. Shape and colours of eyes also differs amazingly amongst them. Vehicle's headlights are also required to be large and with eye-catching shapes. That's why insects and reptiles are mostly taken as a reference to design headlights and tail-lights. Bright skin colours also help designers to select appropriate combination for vehicle. Sometimes, animals are also taken as a reference to generate muscular looks of headlights and tail-lights. Below are the possible examples for use of insects and animals as a reference.
Above photo shows the headlight arrangement of Kawasaki ZX 14R. This arrangement resembles with eyes of spider.
Same state of designing we can observe here with tail-light of Yamaha FZ1. These tail-lights look like two big red eyes of praying mantis.
If we observe Suzuki B king's headlight, the first picture comes in our mind is of male gorilla. I think, side and forehead fibre cowls of B king's headlight are highly stimulated from face curves of gorilla.
Majority headlights, like Yamaha FZ1, look a lot like head shape of bull. This shape provides muscular and bulky looks at the front.
Almost all bikes come with incredible curves and edges. Basically, curves and edges are used to create visual pleasure and to define bold borders. Most of the curves are designed to provide brawny look along with the ergonomic considerations. Main inspirational references here are horse and bull. As shown in photo, both animals are muscular and also serves the purpose of visual impact on human mind. It becomes easy for designers to decide aesthetics while designing DNA type vehicle. Majority of part are just converted in to small scale replica of the parental vehicle. 2. Pencil LinesThe next step is to convert the reference into good looking vehicle on paper. Designers use special types of pencils and charcoals (Nowadays computer screens and digital pens) to create drawing. These tools help designer to create sketches without much use of erasers. The sketch is always begun with simple shapes like line, circle, oval, triangle, square, etc. Image of vehicle got ready with the help of intersections of these basic shapes.
It's really an enjoyment to watch any designer while designing any vehicle, especially strokes applied by him or her. I personally have observed one NID student performing automotive design. It was incredible experience.
Obviously there are so many lines in the very first sketch. It's nearer to impossible for a common human to judge the final looks from first sketch if not highlighted. Designers prepare final sketch after deciding all the shapes from previous sketches. One final sketch is shown in below given snap.
3. Shading & PaintingPoint we have discussed previously was about sketch and drawing. Majority people don't know the difference between drawing and painting. Drawing gives idea about shape and size. While painting and shading gives idea about depth of peaks and valleys. That's why next step in vehicle designing is shading on previously done sketch.
Above diagram shows the difference between drawing and painting. Square shown on left side gives idea about shape and size. It doesn't give idea about any curve or steps provided on this square surface. Square on the right side gives idea about shape, size and roundness towards edges.
Above snap shows the significance of shading in automotive design. Each part is distinguished from its mating parts with the help of its depth, thickness and size. It also provides idea about flatness and curvatures. 4. Sketching Of DetailsNext move is to prepare sketches for each and every part with the help of references. These details include headlight, tail-light, side lights, ORVMs, tank, fairings, tail fairings, cowls, front mud-guard, rear hugger, frame, grips, footrests, different covers on engine, seats, Speedo clusters, handle bar risers, fuel flap, wheels etc. One of the crucial parts is writing style, fonts and position of the name given to the vehicle.
Above diagram bears a resemblance to a headlight of much known machine. Do you have any guess? Still it is a line sketch than a complete design for a headlight.
It is a front fairing design of Suzuki GSX R along with the design of headlight. This picture really converses the effect of shading and painting. The parts which are shining obviously have zeniths and sharp edges. On the reverse, the parts which are darkened have basins for aerodynamic flow and air intake. Particularly for headlight, each and every reflector is also considered for shading. This gives us idea about detailing and excellence required in designing. 5. Color SchemeSubsequent move in vehicle designing is to decide colour schemes. Very first colour scheme is obviously selected from representative vehicle of the company. Numbers of sketches are prepared to illustrate the vehicle from different projections. Sometimes colour variations are also included with different prospective visualization if vehicle is decided to launch with multiple colour options.
Above snap illustrates a coloured sketch of Kawasaki ZX 14R. We all know this classic green is a representative colour of Ninja series so as used for sketching.
I am sure you all are capable to recognize above shown bike. Yes, it's a KTM. This is nothing but the effect of colour scheme used here which is obviously a benchmark scheme of KTM. This rule is also applicable to all other vehicle. Particular colour scheme helps to pretend and retain vehicle's image in customer's mind very easily. 6. Computer ModellingDon't miss interpret this step by its name. It's not at all an engineering modelling. It's just a surface modelling of vehicle with the help of softwares like 3D-MAX (please correct me if I am wrong here) etc. This helps designers to reduce their efforts in preparing sketches with different projections. Computer model can be rotated in any direction to judge the appearance. Computer can also generate very small curves and edges very precisely.
Above diagram shows a surface designing for a dirt bike. It also illustrates grid used to generate surfaces. Grid separation shown here is very large, originally very small grids are used for modelling.
Above photo shows a complete surface model of a Suzuki GSR 750. This computer models also reduces designer's effort to perform minor alteration according to manufacturing aspects. Bikeadvice's AdviceIf you have capability to think a step ahead, if you have ability to convert your thoughts in to a sketch, if you have potential to imagine a future vehicle, then this is the most suitable field for your career. In India, we are having only one course related to this field called "Transportation & Automobile Design" offered at NID. You can visit official website of NID for more details. This is all about second process adopted in vehicle designing. Sequence of above mentioned processes can be altered with different companies. I hope you all have enjoyed reading this post. Leave your valuable comments. Disclaimer: Photographs and diagrams shown in this article are imaginary. They are given to support and to understand the article. Bikeadvice and author are not responsible for any resemble incidence. Regards, Source: Images taken from various sources for educational purposes under the Fair Use Policy. Share on FacebookRelated posts: |
| Yamaha’s Performance in November 2011 Posted: 01 Dec 2011 07:50 AM PST
Original Source: Yamaha’s Performance in November 2011 from BikeAdvice.in India's most trusted sport bike maker India Yamaha Motors (IYM) has performed decently in the month of November 2011. According to a press release from the company, 'Consistent success of its premium and commuter segment bikes coupled with innovative marketing strategies, India Yamaha Motor registered a total sales growth of 29.2% in November 2011 with a sale of 39,162 units vs. 30,310 units in November 2010.'
As IYM posts a growth rate of 29.2 per cent, it has recorded a growth rate of 24 per cent in the domestic front. The export figures stood at 10,984 units for the month of November 2011 while 7,600 motorcycles were exported in November 2010 which simply accounts for a growth rate of 44.5 per cent. Talking on this occasion, Mr. Jun Nakata, Director-Sales & Marketing, India Yamaha Motor Pvt. Ltd., said, "We are very happy with the consistent sales growth that we've been witnessing this year. The new YZF-R15 Version 2.0 along with FZ & SZ series is driving our sales in both domestic and export markets. We plan to reach out to customers in tier II & tier III cities and are expanding our sales & service network in these regions. Our efforts towards enhancing our relationship with our esteemed customers through various initiatives like the Yamaha Safe Riding Science, R15 One Make Race Championships and the Sales & Service camps have also been very fruitful." The company has been consistently trying to reinforce its relationship with the customers by launching the 'YES!YAMAHA' campaign which actually strives to offer the Best of 3S Experience so that the customer always appreciates Yamaha and its products as well. The company is making steadfast efforts by conducting and organizing various consumer-centric marketing initiatives such as 'Bring back the Joy' campaign wherein several customer interactive activities are conducted locally in several parts of the country so as to reach out to the customer right at his doorstep. Regards, Related posts: |
| TVS Motors’ Performance for November 2011 Posted: 01 Dec 2011 05:53 AM PST
Original Source: TVS Motors' Performance for November 2011 from BikeAdvice.in The best way to recognize TVS Motors amidst a gang of bikers is to make useof its latest ad of TVS Apache RTR 160 with the new tagline 'Scarily Fast'. Apache is one of the best products from the TVS Racing Team owned by TVS Motors. Here let's get to know how the company performed last month in terms of its sales figures.
According to the press release from TVS Motors, this Hosur based company has registered a total sale of 175,535 units in the month of November 2011 as against 157,041 units in the corresponding month of the previous year, a growth of 12 per cent. To specifically talk about the two wheeler sales, the company has reported that the total two wheeler sales grew by as much as 12 per cent with a sales figure of 172,829 units for the month of November 2011. To give a clear picture of Nov 2011 vs. Nov 2010, TVS Motors had sold 153,882 units recorded in November 2010. The company has a strong base in Indonesia if its market outside India has to be mentioned. To specifically mention about the Domestic game which the company is playing, a growth of 8 per cent has been reported with sales figure of 150,406 units in November 2011 as against 139,541 units reported in November 2010. As mentioned, the company does have an International presence catering to the needs a few nations outside the Indian soil. The company exported 22,423 units of two wheelers in November 2011 in comparison with 14,341 units in November 2010 (same month last year) which accounts for an amazing growth of 56 per cent. Regards, Related posts: |
| Petrol Further Reduced by 65 paisa, Will it Bring Long Term Relief? Posted: 01 Dec 2011 12:43 AM PST
Original Source: Petrol Further Reduced by 65 paisa, Will it Bring Long Term Relief? from BikeAdvice.in As this news was building up, we had also reported a possible decline in petrol prices before the end of the fortnight. Government aided PSUs have slashed price of petrol yet again by 65 paisa per liter. After adding the various fuel levies and state incurred taxes the actual reduction would be more.
This is the second reduction this month after the oil majors reduced petrol prices by more than Rs 2 on 16th November. So effectively the total reduction adding last fortnight's slash mounts to a saving of more than 3 rs for every liter a customer fills in his vehicle. The reduction, however, is lower that an anticipated amount of Rupee 1 because of the firming up of crude prices during the last couple of days. However, it has also been told that prices of petrol might be hiked next fortnight in the wake of crude market showing trends of reversal along with the rupees continuous lacklusterous performance against the dollar. Reduced prices of petrol in various cities of India:
So after 33 months, we see two back to back reductions in the prices of petrol and this also comes with a warning of increment. How do you see this change. Report your views in the attached poll. - Saad Khan Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll. Share on FacebookRelated posts: |
| Triumph to Launch 7 New Models in India Posted: 30 Nov 2011 10:11 PM PST
Original Source: Triumph to Launch 7 New Models in India from BikeAdvice.in I had reported a few months back that the British icon in motorcycle manufacturing 'Triumph' is all set to foray into the Indian market. But at that point of time, we were left with absolutely no hint on what are the products for Indian soil. I was, in fact waiting for a long time to know about that.
The company is all set to launch its bikes in all classes namely supersports / roadsters, touring / adventure, cruisers and classics as well. The company has expressed interest to launch as much as seven models under the Triumph umbrella. That's a good number actually. We'll have bikes ranging from 675 cc to 2300 cc. Commenting on the launch of these models, Mr. Ashish Joshi, Managing Director, Triumph Motorcycles India said, "We deliberated over the range of bikes to bring into India and decided to bring in these models to showcase the Triumph range. We have bikes which can cater to different needs – from 675cc Super Sport bike the Daytona 675 to 2300 cc Rocket III. The Indian market offers good potential and as a company, we are confident that each of our seven models within its individual category will be a trailblazer in very short time; similar to other markets we are present in". These models will initially brought to India in the CKD form and would be assembled in a plant here in India. But, presently the company has no plants in any part of the country. So, the hunt has begun. This would enable the poor Indian customers to0 save on the heavy duty fare paid. I do hear you asking me to reveal the models. The Triumph models that are coming to India are Bonneville, Speed Triple, Street Triple, Tiger 800XC, Daytona 675, Triumph Storm and the Rocket III. One more news is that Triumph is more likely to showcase all these seven model in the Delhi Auto Expo 2012. We do not have any news on the price band of these bikes which will roar in the Indian streets very soon. Regards, Related posts: |
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