For a New Golden Age, Go Back to First Principles
The “Ex”-man, Virgil Exner, head of Chrysler design in the halcyon days of American Industrial Design, always noted that “she’s got to drive like she looks”. Replace drive with ride and you frame the magnitude of my emotions as I mounted the One for my first ride at 10:32 p.m. on January 7, one hour and 28 minutes from my
Why Is It So Expensive?
The BOM; Best & Finest! My fantasy is I’m making this motorcycle for my grandfather who loves motorcycles more than anything else and whom I love with all of my heart. Additive to this dream is that I have all the necessary time, money, experience, talent, bandwidth, and teammate access to do the job to perfection. From this vantage point, …
Proportion – Part 2
Oh, the 19’s! We are so happy to have these big, effective, sticky, skinny wheels and tires. It is so lucky that they both were made available for Curtiss by Dunlop at such a critical creative time for our team. Our old-tech stuff was typical in terms of peg to peg width. All the moving bits and bobs have to …
Proportion – Part 1
At the highest level, Curtiss exists to make the best and finest LEV’s of all. My real contribution to the Curtiss One, other than sharing this aligned vision, was my mandate that the proportion of every Curtiss be ideal. Unique types and styles for varying tastes are envisioned; every Curtiss must have perfect proportion. When I was a kid in the …
True Luxury, Because Luxury Loves Electrification
Matt was the first to offer exclusive luxury motorcycles. In the 90’s, he created the only luxury alternative to a Harley-Davidson; better performance, tighter packaging (and therefore, optimized proportions) and highest-level component and material specifications. Six years ago, when I first began working with Matt, we spent several months exploring how to take luxury two-wheeled motoring further, conceptualizing motorcycles based …
Curtiss One Design, PT. 5: Quality
Curtiss One leverages the experience and craftsmanship of the leaders in battery electric technology. The Axial Flux motor is the most power-dense available. Liquid-cooled and structurally mounted, its potential for high power output is under-stressed in our system. Coupled with the light weight of the overall package, we have chosen longevity and roll-on torque over outright acceleration. Ultra-light weight carbon …
Curtiss One Design, PT. 4: Color & Texture
Color can either bind a motorcycle together as a cohesive whole, or blow it apart by confusing the viewer about the nature of the surfaces to which it is applied. Improperly applied color theory quickly becomes either boring or chaotic. Equally exhausting are large surfaces that are left in a raw as-machined state. Tool path marks create small areas of …