Intervista a Tim Prentice, Designer della Thunderbird

giovedì 11 giugno 2009

Designer Tim Prentice swapped Los Angeles for Hinckley to style the new Triumph Thunderbird. We spoke to him to find out more about the project.

How long did it take to get from initial idea to the final concept?

It took around a month to get the approved 2D sketch. You can come up with a good design concept quite quickly, but the real work comes making that vision into reality and balancing the compromises you always have to make for production. The full-scale production mock-up took around seven months from the beginning to concept model signoff. The final production version is almost indistinguishable from the concept model.

What are the key design elements that define the bike?

Any cruiser is essentially defined first by the seating position: feet forward and low seat. Next are a few styling cues such as teardrop fuel tank and how the frame works as a structure for the body. Each part should not look like it’s trying to be something else. For example, we made the throttle bodies a styling element instead of hiding them with a cover. This allows one to clearly visualize the intake all the way through the end of the silencer – straightforward, honest and mechanical.

What makes this bike a genuine Triumph?

We focused on the Triumph parallel twin engine as the heart of the Thunderbird. This engine layout is almost unique to Triumph, especially in the cruiser market. It is a bit of a risk going away from the expected V-twin engine, but we believed that this gave us an opportunity to give the customer something more original and to impart some real Triumph identity and heritage. Not every type of engine can work in a cruiser, but I think the Triumph parallel twin is a strong alternative. So we took some cues from the Bonneville parallel-twin engines (such as triangular generator cover) but gave the engine cleaner and more modern surfaces.

How closely did you work with the engineers?

Extremely. This was the only way to keep the direction and style of the Thunderbird on track. It’s all too easy to let a design go wrong if you’re not directly involved at every step. The team provided me with all the tools necessary to do the design work, and also gave me excellent engineering and modelling support. The Triumph project leader was critical to making things work well between myself and the engineering team.

What was the biggest challenge in designing the bike?

The styling challenge was to balance the need to make this very clearly a cruiser, yet impart enough uniqueness and Triumph identity to it. Also, customisation is a key element for the cruiser market, so another important factor to balance into the equation is to make the bike a starting point that allows riders to customise it, often in very different directions. Some people will make more of the performance image while others will push the look in a more classic or touring direction. Making that possible with one design is the key to the Thunderbird.