It’s only natural for humans to dream of a better and brighter future, no matter what current realities would seem to imply. That’s why concept designs naturally portray ideal scenarios in design languages that appeal to current design trends, as if those would remain the same in the future. For future vehicles, that often translates to designs with smooth and pleasing curves, clean and clear surfaces, and often light or bright hues. Design trends and styles come and go, of course, and what may be en vogue today might not be fashionable in a decade or so. Clean, minimalist vehicles might not be the future we’ll be facing, and this limited edition motorcycle offers an alternative version, one that may seem rough and perhaps a little bit dystopian.
Designer: Voyager
While vehicles are logically designed with movement in mind, but there are also other factors that need to be taken into account for a machine that can be used by humans. Safety is at the very top of that list, of course, but a vehicle must also be comfortable. The design of today’s cars and motorbikes has undergone decades of refinement and improvement exactly for those reasons, but this commissioned SOLID EV motorcycle seems to throw comfort out the window, at least visually speaking.
The SOLID CRS-01 looks rough, sharp, and almost menacing, properties that are often attributed to the brutalist design style. It’s almost as if sheets of metal were simply folded at sharp angles and assembled together with wheels, engines, and other parts that make a motorcycle move. And, in a way, that’s exactly how this motorcycle was designed. It was conceptualized with a modular approach using cost-effective materials, and the fairing is exactly made from sheet metal.
This gives the motorbike a distinct look where it seems like the world had run out of materials to use or factories to cast metal into a more pleasing shape. Not that the CRS-01 is unattractive, but it does have a more dominating presence compared to motorcycles, both present and future. It definitely doesn’t look comfortable to ride on since its body doesn’t seem designed to take into account the softer and curvier form of the human body. It certainly has character, one that makes it clear it means serious business.
At the same time, it doesn’t look like it will easily come apart or get dinged at the slightest accident, like what some futuristic concept designs portray. It seems more like it was designed for rough terrains and environments, which some would automatically associate with dystopian settings or even the cyberpunk genre. Who knows? That might be what’s waiting for us, though we’d hopefully wise up before that bleak future becomes our present.
