There’s nothing glamorous about an MRI machine. There’s nothing glamorous about a welding machine. There’s nothing glamorous about a bare-basics car chassis. All these details were designed to fulfill non-aesthetic requirements which is why they opt for a more functional visual language instead of something conventionally eye-catching. But designer Enrico Balsamo asked himself – why must industrial detailing look boring? Form follows function, but it also follows emotion, which is why Balsamo decided to take a new approach when designing his dirt bike. The X Tecnica isn’t your average-looking dirt bike – it ditches the overtly rugged, mechanically-defined aesthetic for something that’s a little more glance-worthy. The X Tecnica tries to fulfill the functional needs of an all-terrain two-wheeler without necessarily looking like a hunk of metal and fiberglass. Instead, it exaggerates details wherever possible, creating a bike that looks as attractive as it is capable. The X Tecnica could just as easily grab eyes in a showroom as it could on the terrain.
Designer: Enrico Balsamo
For Balsamo, motorcycle design is a fine line between overdesigning and underdesigning. Bikes today either look like they were designed by engineers with zero aesthetic sensibilities, or like they were designed for Instagram likes only. “In recent years, many motorcycle products have resulted in overdesign and aesthetic complications,” Balsamo says, “X Tecnica is a concept that wants to create the aesthetics of the bike starting from the essential technical components that characterize the bikes Adventure/Enduro, without adding unnecessary components and plastics.”
The X Tecnica’s design is a masterclass in marrying functionality and aesthetics. The frame, sub-frame, crash-bar, and swingarm are all machined from Aluminum, with an edgy aesthetic that doesn’t sacrifice the frame’s load-bearing nature. The frame and sub-frame get a metallic blue paint job that give the bike its electrifying appeal, coupled with the judicious use of metallic orange accents in the suspension springs, windshield, and transparent panels mounted on the front of the crash-bar.
The fuel tank, headlight housing, and frontal mud-flap are crafted from PA6 Nylon that is coated with the same electrifying blue finish, and although Balsamo doesn’t mention the material used in the rear exhausts, chances are it’s either some form of FRP or metal with the same blue color. The seat and a rubber guard around the fuel tank give the X Tecnica a splash of black, creating a rather eye-catching black, silver, metallic blue, and metallic orange palette that helps the bike shine.
The bike’s overall aesthetic perfectly embodies being rugged without looking ‘ugly’. The design DNA of the X Tecnica stands out beautifully in every detail from the headlight to the taillight and everything in between. Plus, let’s not discount that blue and orange colorway which gives us strong Ford GT 40 vibes!
