An Artier Ducati?
An Artier Ducati?
Italy’s next-generation sport-tourer, as seen from New Jersey
Like the looks of the 2004 ST3 and its identical twin, the ST4S? If so, send a polite e-mail thanking Pierre Terblanche, head of Ducati Design, whose team penned the restyled sport-tourer’s new upper fairing. If not, leave the man alone; he’s gotten enough grief already.
Unless you’ve been living under a desmo opening shim, you’re undoubtedly aware that Terblanche’s recent designs, the Multistrada and 999 among them, have met with criticism. One onlooker with more than a passing interest in the debate is Andrew Serbinski of New Jersey-based industrialdesign firm Machineart. He believes that Terblanche is simply pushing the limits.
“Raymond Loewy, one of the founding fathers of the Industrial Design profession, preached that products must be designed according to the principle of MAYA-Most Advanced, Yet Acceptable,” Serbinski explains. “There is a point where the comfortable thread of familiarity loses connection with what consumers can relate to, sending them into a spin. Despite motorcyclists’ typically independent and adventurous nature, I think they do, ironically, tend to cling to tradition. That may explain the hysterical threats against a talented motorcycle designer’s dachsund.”
When Serbinski learned that Terblanche was working on restyling the Miguel Galluzzi-designed ST line, he naturally
wondered what he would do if charged with that task. The accompanying illustrations are the result of that daydream.
More than mere doodles, Serbinski’s illo’s resulted from a proper design project, with the new bodywork drawn over accurate representations of the frame and engine so that it’s realistically proportioned. And there’s actually more to it than that, because before he ever picked up a pencil, Serbinski first made a 1:5-scale mockup out of urethane foam.
“I don’t work well on paper,” he confesses. “I have to make something and look at it before I can draw it. I have to feel the edges in three dimensions.”
Serbinski considered the original ST ill-proportioned, with a too-large fuel tank and upper fairing. His design, in contrast, emphasizes aerodynamics, “suggesting how air flows over, around and through the machine,” he says.
“A Ducati sport-tourer should remain true to the traditional Ducati values of compactness, the feel of motion at speed and sense of exotica,” he adds. “I attempted to make it as visually compelling as the Superbike while retaining some resemblance to the previous model, so there’s a DNA connection between the two.”
Even though it’s just an illustration, Serbinski’s design includes a few suggestions for functional upgrades. The scratch-prone top surface of the fuel tank, for example, would be made of resilient textured molded plastic, while the damageprone fairing lowers and the widest parts of the fairing uppers would be molded in color. Removing the passenger seat would reveal a BMW GS-style flat luggage rack, and the cast-aluminum saddlebag mounts would be shaped so as to complement the lines of the body when there were no bags in place.
Now that the restyled STs have broken cover, Serbinski admits he was expecting more. “They managed to make them look different without changing much, which I think is a smart interim step,” he says. “But I’ve got to believe there’s another version coming, with fewer parts and simplified maintenance along the lines of the 999.”
Maybe, maybe not, but until we find out, Ducatisti can argue over whether the Machineart ST4S is lovelier than the real thing. Whatever their verdict, it’s probably just as well Serbinski doesn’t have a dog... -Brian Catterson
