Zenator Angry Bird

For my first 'real' post I want to introduce a crazy concept I have been thinking about for a long time: the Angry Bird, a two-stroke cruiser. I know a cruiser must be four-stroke, and most of people like this is not probably going to like the concept nor how its engine will sound, but hey, it can have other targets (or not, who cares?)

Why 'Angry Bird'? Well, I let you guess, I'm sure it's going to be easy. (Clue: there are at least 5 reasons)

Now, before the boring technical stuff, let's answer some questions.

Why would I like to ride it?

Well, if anybody told you before, two-strokes bikes are fun. They have very light engines (so they are very light motorcycles) and they are powerful while fast revving up, and sound like you were strangling a cat when twisting the throttle.

So, they are bikes made for being ridden by hooligans, and I like feeling like a hooligan now and then when riding a motorcycle. And, if I just wanted to go from A to B avoiding the prison, I could always enjoy its low weight and small engine inertia.

Why would I like to look at it?

This is always among the most difficult parts. When designing a motorcycle, of course you have to find a good proportion, colours, shapes and details... but you have to create some new language as well, or at least find a new application for an old one. First sketches for the Angry Bird were just boring... it looked like an Sporster with an MX engine. It's probably because I was drawing with my workday approach, trying everything to be easy to manufacture, trying the whole bike to be easy to understand...

And it just didn't work. So I left the bird fly and look for its own way. It began to work. It began to look like an old BMW with some futuristic -or just crazy- details. It began to say something to me.

There are two things I like in the Angry Bird. The first one is that I'm satisfied with the detail design. I like how it looks no matter if I'm looking to the whole thing or to a detail showing only an small part. Of course I'm not fully satisfied with it (I'm never!) and I will be less and less satisfied with the days, and weeks.

The second thing is that the bike looks massive and strong in a side view (at least considering the small size of its engine), while it looks light and agile from the rider's point of view. That's not something I was looking for, but I'm happy I found it.

It looks light and agile from the rider's point of view

...while it looks massive from the side

 Why would I like to own it?

Okay, now we are talking about the intangible, the value added. You don't only want to own a motorcycle: you want to own something else: history, attitude. You want your motorcycle to tell something about you.

Look at the Angry Bird: It's a weird bike named after a phone game. You are not going to get the usual value added with it. So, which story is it telling about me?

Well, it tells I'm a hooligan. A hooligan that likes new and different things, likes to have fun riding his motorcycle and not only (but also) looking at it, and probably likes other people to look at him and his bike and think "oh, he dared to buy that thing"

Now seriously, I'm not a hooligan. But I like people thinking I'm not afraid to do different things -though I'm not very concerned about what people think of me.

Would a hooligan ride this?

Now the technical boring stuff, please

Sure! The birdie should necessarily be direct-fuel-injected. It's the only way it could comply with the emissions rules. It would allow the bike to have a great mileage and a wider torque curve than classic two-stroke engines.

The engine would be a 90º V-twin, which is self-balanced, and I'm thinking on numbers about 600cc (36.6 cubic inches)  and 75 horsepower, which I think is sweet for a bike that could be less than 200 kg and could provide a slingshot-like acceleration. By the way, God knows two-stroke engines are very easy to tune up, so if enough Angry Birds were sold, it would become very easy to find parts and kits to get cheap horsepower.

The frame would be made in aluminium, probably mixing sand-cast parts and extruded profiles. Suspension and brakes should meet naked-bikes standards. In order to enhance sport performance, the exhaust pipes are as close to the bike body as possible, allowing a good leaning angle. Mudguards would be made of plastic for saving weight.

Some different details: all lights are LED. Front headlight is made of 12 LEDs each having its own focusing lens. Another thing I wanted to play with is the fuel tank cap: it's on a side of the tank, and it is inclined so when the bike is on the side stand, the cap is on top and flat.

Anything else?

Yes, there's a disclaimer: I know that the bike is missing many parts, cables and important stuff needed in order to start and run. It's just a concept, so I don't need to be told it's missing a license plate. I probably know. Another thing: it took a lot of time to 'finish' the Angry Bird. I'm not going to show a brand new concept with that level of detail every week. You can expect one now and then, among concepts created with other techniques (2D and 3D) and variations of concepts already seen.

Also, I'm not a cruiser designer. The birdie is my first experience on the filed and, while I enjoyed it a lot, most of the concepts shown here will belong to other segments.

And a final one: I like people telling me whether they like what I do or not, and why. While reading "you are the best" is certainly pleasant, and reading "your bike not only sounds like an strangled cat, but also looks like one. One strangled long time ago" may be disgusting, the most interesting thing to read is "I like X in your design because of Y, and I dislike Z because of A". So if you enjoy my blog and my designs (like them or not) please tell me.

Oh, and see if you can tell me the five reasons for the "angry bird" name ;-)

Gustavo.