‘If a bike company made an iphone...

… it would be the size of a briefcase. Renowned designer Pierre Terblanche tells Bike how his new Supermono came about. And why modern bikes are pants…

Pierre Terblanche is taking no prisoners. The designer who created Ducati’s Supermono, 999 and Sport Classic (among others) is explaining the thinking behind his new Supermono concept and isn’t bothered about treading on toes. ‘Just look at an electrical harness on any modern bike – it’s a mess. I wanted to do mess-centralisation and get rid of all the rubbish. Take the Tupperware [fairing] off a V4 Ducati and it’s like a horror film – mechanics faint and cry for their mums when they see it.’

The bike he’s created bristles with innovative ideas. To improve packaging, the single-cylinder engine is horizontal, with a supercharger tucked under the cylinder head and the exhaust poking out the top. Almost everything is adjustable, from the riding position to the centre of gravity and the supercharger, plenum chamber, intercooler and throttle body are designed to be 3D printed as one piece of sintered aluminium. ‘It’s how you would design the most efficient motorcycle possible if you had a clean sheet of paper. How could you make it easier to work on? How could you change the centre of gravity, and geometry?

All that is pretty Heath Robinson on most bikes out there. ‘That’s down to how motorcycle companies are now structured, where you have 50 specialists in different offices and they never talk to each other so the integration is non-existent. If you spread all the components around the bike and you have to link them with wires, it becomes a problem – you have to link your rectifier to your battery to your alternator etc. But if you group all your stuff, you can have something that’s more akin to an iphone. If a motorcycle company did a smartphone it would be the size of a briefcase.’

Pierre also has little time for companies just grabbing offthe-shelf components rather than designing them inhouse. ‘My sister could do Motogp suspension development because she knows Öhlins’ phone number. After that she could develop the braking system by phoning up Brembo. They’re like Orange County Choppers just bolting on stuff. Phil Vincent and Phil Irving [designers of the ground-breaking Vincent Black Shadow] must be spinning in their graves because people are not doing real design work, they’re doing assembly.’ Of course, Pierre’s new bike is a concept and has yet to meet the chill breeze of a production department. It was built for the Barber Museum in Birmingham, USA, as part of their mission to become a motorcycle design centre that will inspire young designers so it’s unlikely ever to hit production.

‘It’s not meant to be a new Ducati Supermono – that was chosen because of course I did the original 20 years ago and we wanted to show the changes in design methodology and technology over the last 30 years.

‘Nothing about the bike is complicated. The complication was to make it simple – that was 10-15 times more work than doing a bike using GRABCAD [an online library with pre-designed motorcycle front ends, shock absorbers, linkages etc]. Use that and you can assemble a bike in CAD in a morning. That’s kind of what companies do.’

‘Mechanics faint and cry for their mums when they see it’

COOLING ‘If you briefed someone to do a bad cooling system you’d get what’s on most bikes – even Motogp ones. The last thing you want is a flat panel in a full speed airstream [it’s an aerodynamic nightmare].’ The Supermono’s rad is above the engine. FRONT END Single shock Telelever system for better aerodynamics with brakelines running inside. ‘No-one uses twin rear shocks in Motogp [for good reason], but universally use them on the front – called forks.’

ERGONOMICS ‘It’s designed so the triangle of your hands, feet and rear can be moved around in space to change the weight distribution and centre of gravity. You can also adjust the crank’s height from the ground by 40mm in a few minutes.’ REAR SUSPENSION F1-like torsion bar and hydraulic pull shock. Light and compact. MOTOR Single cylinder is from an 1198 because it’s narrower than later Panigales. With a 76mm stroke it has a capacity of 699cc as a single. There’s a balance piston, like a Yamaha T-max. Power is predicted to be 125-140bhp.