On the Road

Have a freewheeling time with the two-wheeled crowd.

Mark McMenamin -- Interior Design, 6/23/2008 12:00:00 AM

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Gas prices are skyrocketing. Summer’s in the air. What better time to release your inner Easy Rider? These cycle-centric designs invite you to hit the pavement on two wheels—at least in spirit.

Consider the players:

Philippe Starck has always been a hell-raiser. Now he’s looking to up both heart rates and speed limits. Motorcycle manufacturer Voxan is putting the final touches on his prototype Xv, aka Super Naked. It’s described as a “new extreme version” of bikes in the Café Racer series, with 140 horses under the seat.

Sculptor and photographer Lee Stoetzel has a long-standing fondness for power-driven abstractions. He shifts into a decidedly nautical gear with Shell, a motorcycle constructed from plastic and steel entirely covered in castoffs from the mollusk kingdom. Through November 30, check the sculpture out at Philadelphia International Airport.

Pedal Power Pack, a portable generator that harnesses the energy generated by rotating bicycle wheels, helped Savannah College of Art and Design graduate student Ben Decherd take first prize in the Power to the Pedal competition, which promotes bicycling in everyday life. The competition was sponsored by Design 21, UNESCO and Felissimo’s shared online community.

Skip black tie in favor of black leather for the July 12 opening of the Harley-Davidson Museum. Pentagram designed the three-building, 130,000-square-foot complex, which is in the manufacturer’s hometown of Milwaukee. Certain to fire up visitors’ engines: Elvis Presley’s 1956 KH, part of the museum’s permanent collection.

Josh Hadar is turning the roadway into a gallery. The New York sculptor takes his conceptualizations to the street with Richard the Lionhearted. It features a frame of oil-rubbed bronze-finished cold-rolled steel, wheel covers of hand-spun aluminum, and a gas tank of red handblown glass. Racy.

Inspired by the hugely popular Nintendo Wii gaming system, Michael Chen of the U.K.’s Middlesex University claimed top prize in the 2008 James Dyson Awards for his Reactiv cycling jacket. A tilt switch below the elbow activates amber LEDs, warding off potential collisions at night. Can you see me now?

Here, we’ve included some additional images from Lee Stoetzel, Ben Decherd and the Harley Davidson Museum that were not included in the June print edition of Interior Design, as well as a few Web exclusive items. See them all by clicking to start the slide show above.