Early
2010
We
are currently engaged in a general makeover of the website.
We're adding a lot of background details, concept sketches
and other bits and pieces from the archives. Work will be
ongoing for the next couple of months, so feel free to stop
by week to week as new items are added.
Late
2009
The
V-Rex received an Honourable Mention for 'Best Eccentric' in
motorcycle.com's 'Best of 2009' Awards!
The
big thing happening at the moment is the DVD release of
'Fast & Furious', the fourth movie in the Fast and
Furious 'franchise'. This 'car' movie just happens to have
one very cool BIKE making an appearance - the mighty V-Rex!
Here's a couple of shots from behind the scenes, showing
Paul Walker and Vin Diesel enjoying some V-Rex coolness.
In
other news, A design guide for motorcycle designers has now
been released internationally featuring design and research
work carried out by Tim Cameron Design in liaison with IAG
Australia. Link
to story
The
new hybrid motorcycle design continues to get press all
around the world, with Bike India, Moto Magazine in Greece,
Austria's Touren Bike and Cycle Canada running stories this
week, as well as the Faster & Faster motorcycle blog and
AutoBlog Green running stories as well on the web. We have
been working hard on an extremely exciting local vehicle
design project too which, of course, I can't say anything
about (yet!).
January/February
2009
The
big news this month is the launch of the new hybrid
motorcycle design concept called the CAF-E. This has already
been picked by the European press as I guess it is quite
timely. Tougher emissions rules and rising fuel prices have
been threatening to put a damper on the current performance
party which has been featuring some of the most awesome
performance machines ever built. My aim was to say that the
party can still go on, simply by application of existing
hybrid car technology to motorcycles.
My
focus as a designer was packaging all this technology in a
fairly 'standard' looking design rather than anything as
outlandish as the current crop of hybrid concept bikes. I
chose the British cafe racer as a source of some lines (you
can see a little Norton Commando in the ducktail) and I
thought it would be fun to blend some older lines with brand
new technology. There is a page for it in the gallery
HERE,
and you can contact me for a press release and high res
print-ready images as well, via
email
September/October/November 2008
Unbelievably
busy few months! Our next major motorcycle design is now
tantalisingly close to completion. You'll know about it as
soon as it finished! Highlights over past little while
include a two page story about the VR-2 appearing in the
UK's MCN magazine, more US V-Rex press and exposure
including being featured front and centre at the awesome
Siggraph (Special Interest Group, Computer Graphics)
conference in L.A. The bike's story was documented as a
major fixture at the Newtek stand, since I used Newtek's
Lightwave 3D to design and render the original 3D version of
the bike.
There
are TWO V-Rexes (Rexii?) currently to be seen at the massive
SEMA show in Las Vegas, one on the K&N stand and the
other with the gents at Prospray.
Other
V-Rex highlights include confirmation of where and when the
V-Rex makes its movie debut in 2009!
On
slightly disrelated other news, 'Wired' featuring my 'space
fighter' design in their on-line gallery.
Siggraph!
Who's that up on the screen?
Hollywood star Paul Walker looking mighty cool on a
V-Rex.
VR-2
coverage in MCN.
August
2008
This
month I can confirm that the V-Rex will be appearing in a
major motion picture in 2009! And although that's pretty
much all I can say about that, a sniff around the web would
probably enable you to work out exactly which one it is.
The
bike is also making an appearance in LA at the massive and
awesome Siggraph conference. Newtek, the makers of the
software I used to design and build the original 3D concept,
will have a 'real ' V-Rex on their stand for the week, as
well as a video interview with yours truly explaining the
finer points of the design process.
I have finally gotten round to rendering a short 'demo reel'
featuring some of my designs in quicktime format. You can
download it HERE.
May
2008
What
a month so far! The new Diablo
design has taken off with both German an Spanish magazines
running stories about it, I am thinking of putting out one
of the Diablo renders as a nice big wallpaper (1024 x 768).
If you want it, just drop me an email
Also
there is a series of articles appearing in 3D World magazine
which trace the development in diary form of the V-Rex from
my original idea and sketch all the way to rolling down the
streets of the U.S.
I
am also working on some car designs which will be added to
the gallery shortly.
April
2008
The
latest design, the Diablo
has already gotten some press, with this month's AMCN
featuring it in the news section.
There
are more new designs on the way, including our first
hybrid.
Vids
vids vids! Clips of the V-Rex are all over the web. It looks
GOOD in motion!
Click on these images below to see some of them.
March
2008
Some
more stories are appearing in the USA this month, as various
motorcycle publications both web and print-based, get to
ride the V-Rex for the first time. One of the best articles
so far is over on motorcycle.com (direct link
here)
complete with a video showing the bike cruising around
Huntington Beach. My favourite quote is the opening
paragraph:
If
Angelina Jolie strolled down Main Street naked, perhaps with
her hair on fire, she might come close to attracting the
amount of attention the Travertson V-REX does. -
Kevin Duke
I'll
add links to the various other stories as they
appear.
Late
August
The
press coverage continues this month, with the latest issue
of Australian Motorcycle News this week features a big story
covering the Swann bike, and what it means for future
motorcycling. Matho also gives a mention in his editorial,
which is great.
Huge
media launch here in Sydney for a major design project I
have been working on for about a year, in conjunction with
Sydney-based research organisation, the IAG Technical
Research Centre. This organisation has been looking closely
into ways to make motorcycles safer as well as cheaper to
repair in the event of a simple tip over, and asked me for
some input, which lead to the 'Swann Insurance Motorcycle of
the Future' design coming about.
The
media launch was kicked off by our very own Aussie
motorcycle racing star Casey Stoner, currently leading the
pack in the MotoGP series, who unveiled large images of the
design, which features a virtual 'wish list' of items
designed to make motorcycles both safer and cheaper to
insure.
A
HUGE story has just appeared in the Sydney Morning Herald
sparked by this launch, featuring nice big images of the
design. The story is up online currently
here
July
We
finally found a copy of this month's issue of Cycle World
(July) out in the shops - both the US and UK based magazines
take a good month to find their way over to Australia! It
was worth the wait however, as Cycle World's Mark Hoyer
wrote a fantastic two page story about the V-Rex. Four
thumbs up!!! :-)
In
early August there is going to be a major media launch
involving a motorcycle design I have penned in conjunction
with the IAG Research Laboratory here in Sydney. This
motorcycle is being used to highlight some deficiencies in
current motorcycle design as regards ease of damageability
and cost of repair. More details will be added as the launch
grows closer.
June
'Lotsa
press' seems to sum up this month! Stories about V-Rex are
appearing in major magazines stateside as well as in Europe,
not to mention plenty of exposure here in Australia. On top
of that, the announcement that Bruce Rossmeyers' chain of
H-D dealerships will be distributing V-Rex has been made
here.
It looks like Travertson Inc. is going to be very, very
busy!
Also,
starting to become a topic is something I have been working
on in liaison with staff from the IAG Research Laboratory
here in Sydney, Australia. Serious in-depth research is
currently underway into ways that motorcycle design can be
improved as regards the expense of damage ocurring after a
simple 'drop'.
With
horror stories of bikes being 'written off' by insurance
companies after simply rolling off the sidestand, there's
plenty to be done. I believe this problem can be
successfully tackled at the design stage without affecting
the 'looks' of the bike very much, if at all. It would be no
fun if your bike looked like a battleship just so that you
could insure it!
I will be setting up an entire page on this website to go
into this subject much more in-depth. For now , here is
a
link to IAG's website
on the topic, complete with QuickTime movies.
Oh
and I started building Skeletor, my original thumper design
from a few years ago. See here
for more info.
April
Here
is an interesting comparison image between the original 3D
data (white lines) for the V-Rex concept and the final CAD
version (red lines) from Christian. Even now I still find it
astounding how close the two wireframes are.
Some
stories are starting to appear about the bike. This week
Ozbike magazine in Australia features the bike on the cover
and in an 8 page centrefold pictorial. A french magazine
called "maximoto' has also done a rather nice feature as
well.
Bit
of a roundup from Daytona. First off the bike won its class
at the Daytona Beach Boardwalk Bike Show and Christian has a
HUGE trophy for the mantlepiece! The bike was also entered
in the world famous 'Rat's Hole Bike Show' somewhat
reluctantly as Christian explained that the V-Rex is NOT a
one-off custom bike, it's a PRODUCTION bike, but, according
to Christian, they wouldn't take 'no' for an answer, and so
for possibly the first time in history, a production bike
placed in the TOP TEN out of 150 entries at this prestigeous
show!
March
11th 2007
Daytona
Bike Week has finished up. There's so much to do just to
keep up. The bike has been causing quite a stir around the
place! The story has also been picked up by a lot of bike
news websites and other media and there's been plenty of
positive feedback from the public which is just great to
see. My favourite comment so far that really seems to
capture the mood is " I don't know what that is. But it's
awesome!!!!!" All in all a bloody amazing week and words
just can't really express how proud and excited we are
around here. As soon as those new pics and hopefully some
vid arrive I'll post them here. Cheers!
March
5th 2007
Just
received some more photos from Christian. The bike has just
been on a 2 day photoshoot with reknowned photographer Mr
Alain Sauquet.
March
4th 2007
Last
night we received the first pics of the finished bike. This
morning had to look again just to check I wasn't
dreaming!
Stay tuned llike I said :-)
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