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  • Ola Stenegärd is the father of the BMW R nineT series

  • His other projects included the HP2, S 1000 RR, G 310 R, among others

  • Stenegard’s inlfuences are deeply rooted in classics, cafe racers and customs

Ola Stenegärd is the current Head of Vehicle Design in BMW Motorrad.

Stenegärd studied Industrial Design in Stockhölm, Sweden and is also a graduate from the famed Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California. His predecessor at BMW Motorrad, David Robb also graduated from that school. He first joined SAAB and then Indian Motorcycles before starting at BMW Motorrad in 2003.

Stenegärd said in an interview that no one was interested in sportbikes at BMW when he joined, hence he was given the HP2 project. The success of the HP2 saw him proceeding to lead the S 1000 RR’s development. Stenegärd could’ve chosen the conservative route for the S 1000 RR’s design, instead he went on to create a motorcycle that’s distinctive and instantly recognisable.

But Stenegärd’s roots are buried deep in the realms of cruisers, cafe racers and classics. He had known the legendary custom motorcycle builder, Roland Sands for many years and approached the latter about building a custom BMW. Stenegärd showed Sands what his team had been working on and the latter was intrigued. They went on to work together on the Concept 90.

Up to that point, BMW Motorrad was without a specific model to commemorate their 90th Anniversary in 2013. In the end, it was Stenegärd’s design for the R nineT which they chose.

The R nineT went into production soon after and it began the the legacy of an entire range of motorcycles based on the R nineT platform. The R nineT family now includes the base R nineT, R nineT Scrambler, R nineT Pure, R nineT Urban G/S and the beautiful R nineT Racer. Furthermore, BMW Motorrad has recently entered the small-displacement, lightweight market G 310  R.

Click here for Part 3: David Robb

Click here for Part 2: John Britten

Click here for Part 1: Fabio Taglioni

David Robb – Father of the F 800 series and R 1200 GS

David Robb was born in Boston, raised in Japan, and influenced by California. He graduated with honors from the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California; whose other graduates included the current BMW Motorrad’s Head of Vehicle Design, Ola Stenegärd; Willie G. Davidson who’s the grandson of William A. Davidson, co-founder of Harley-Davidson; and one Miguel Angel Galluzzi.

Robb started out in Chrysler, then over Audi before joining BMW’s auto division in 1984, under another famous name, Chris Bangle. Bangle was the (in)famous for the controversial design of the E65 BMW 7-Series. It was Bangle who asked Robb if he take BMW’s motorcycle designs into a new direction.

When Robb took over in April 1993, BMW Motorrad had sold only 30,000 motorcycles worldwide. There were 19 models at the time, “They were all doing the same thing. Let’s quit copying ourselves,” Robb said in an interview.

What followed was an explosion of motorcycles that went on to become the stalwarts of the company, including the K 1200 RS, K 1200 R, R 1200 C, C1 (enclosed scooter), F 800 S, F 800 ST, F 800 R, F 800 GS and of course, the world’s bestselling motorcycle, the R 1200 GS.

It was Robb who also penned the S 1000 RR superbike, which took sport riding fraternity by storm.

Courtesy of Cycle World

BMW Motorrad sold almost 104,286 motorcycles in 2011, the year Robb retired.

Besides riding, Robb loves to fly and has even competed in aerobatic planes.

Courtesy of Cycle World

Robb’s brothers have interesting careers too, although unrelated to the motorcycle industry. Doug is the lead singer and rhythm guitarist for Hoobastank, while Tom was a bodyguard for Metallica.

Click here for Part 2: John Britten
Click here for Part 1: Fabio Taglioni
  • Ducati’s signature Desmo valve system owes its genesis to Fabio Taglioni

  • Ducati was making bicycles and scooters before Taglioni joined

  • Ducati has been using the Desmo system since 1968

Starting from today, Bikes Republic shall bring you a new series called Top Motorcycle Designers. These designers were the ones behind some of the most iconic motorcycles of our time. A few styled the bikes, while a few were engineers who designed the mechanicals of those motorcycles. For Part 1, we bring you Fabio Taglioni.

The Ducati brand is so synonymous with high-performance motorcycles – resulting from their racing successes in the 70’s, utter dominance in the World Superbike Championship in the 90’s and recent success in MotoGP – that it’s probably hard to imagine they were a state-owned motorcycle manufacturer which produced cheap, low-powered scooters and motorized bicycles.

1952 Ducati Cruiser

Well, that was before Fabio Taglioni, better known as “Dr. T” came onboard.

Taglioni started at Ceccato as a design consultant in 1950. The small manufacturer specialized in 75 cc and 100 cc sportbikes. He would go on to join FB Mondial in 1952, before making the fated jump to Ducati in 1954 to head its technical, planning and experimental departments.

1950 Mondial 125 Turismo

Taglioni didn’t waste time and the 100cc he designed, known as the Marianna went on to win three successive Motogiro road races from 1955 to 1957.

Ducati Marianna

Then in 1957, he created the system that’s at the heart of every Ducati: Desmodromic valve actuation, or simply, Desmo. Although desmo wasn’t invented by Taglioni, it was he who successfully applied it to motorcycles.

The Desmo system

Metallurgy wasn’t as advanced in those days, so impurities in metal made them weak and the hardening processes for engine valve springs made them brittle. There was also the phenomenon called valve float that springs had to contend with, in which the springs go beyond their elastic state and are unable to return the valve its closed position, particularly at high RPMs.

This effectively capped maximum engine RPM, hence power.

However, the desmo system doesn’t require springs to act directly on the valves to open and close them. This meant Taglioni’s engines could rev higher and produce more power.

Schematic of the 1956 125 Desmo valvegear

The desmo system made its debut in the single-cylinder, 125 Desmo. Ducati had used the system exclusively in race bikes only up until 1968, when they featured it in production models, too. But it wasn’t just the simplicity of the valve gear that Taglioni designed, but also the elegant towers encasing the bevel gear shaft which sent power from the crankshaft to the head.

125 Desmo

Taglioni went on to build the Mach 250, which broke distance and speed records. The early 70’s saw Ducati’s 90-degree V-Twin – called L-Twin by Ducati, as the front cylinder is almost fully horizontal – contributing to Paul Smart’s win at the 1972 Imola race and Mike Hailwood’s comeback victory in the 1978 Isle of Man TT race.

Paul Smart at the 1972 Imola GP
Mike Hailwood at the 1978 Isle of Man TT

From that point on, all models built in 1980 and beyond were desmo.

Taglioni with the 1982 600 Pantah TT

The predecessors of Taglioni’s Desmo 90-degree V-Twin engines would go on to dominate World Superbike Championship, winning an unprecedented 14 titles in 21 years, from 1991 to 2011, and thereby launching the Ducati marque as a premium motorcycle maker.

Andrea Dovizioso at the 2017 Austrian MotoGP

Recent developments to yield more power for racing in World Superbike will see Ducati switching to the V-Four format in their superbikes, but Dr. T’s Desmo remains a feature in the racebikes and all road motorcycles. (Click here for our report on the V-Four Ducati.)

Get to know renowned Italian automotive designer Alessadro Tartarini and his recent creation called the Velocifero MAD.

(more…)

massimo-tamburini-rip

One of the most celebrated figures in the motorcycling industry, Massimo Tamburini, has passed away at the age of 70 due to lung cancer. (more…)

Gannet_001

Now here is an interesting design piece submitted in our inbox recently by Swiss-based designer, Ulfert Janssen of  the GANNET Design firm. (more…)

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