Transport and design combine in a business that works under the principle 'two wheels good'. Alastair Gilmour meets two motorcycle designers.

He acted on his passion and Xenophya Design’s 2,800 sq ft unit in Cramlington’s Nelson Industrial estate features a prototyping workshop and assembly space complete with a model-making mill and lathe surrounded by sculpture tools. Next door is a large modelling room overlooked by a design studio. Three permanent staff look after the industrial design side of the business as well as the company’s graphics arm PhyaBrand which reflects the Xenophya ethic for creativity but in print and multimedia work.

Mark says: "Our first proper break was working on the Fischer Motor Company’s MRX 650. We didn’t do any actual design work – Glynn Kerr, ‘father of motorbike design’ did that. Ian went to the States in 2003 to work on a clay model then on the show model. It’s only now they’ve started shipping the first production bikes."

The MRX 650 is a bike to start the heart racing, using every technological advance and the brightest brains in the business to get it on the road. It is Fischer’s first motorcycle for mass-production and uses suppliers from around the world, including EADS, an Airbus subsidiary, for engineering; Harley Davidson and Michael Jordan Motorsports contractor Gemini Technology Systems for chassis platform development, plus various companies related to US tractor and automotive suppliers for other components. Xenophya Design from Cramlington was therefore in good company. This was page one in the portfolio; page two came from the opposite direction.

"We started working with Royal Enfield in India," says Mark. The world’s oldest and once all-British bike had been sent to India in kit form from 1949 to be assembled by the Madras Motor Company. Eventually frames and engines were manufactured there but the country’s trade restrictions meant the design stood still. Those relaxed somewhat in the 1990s but by then the Japanese had moved in with their highly-efficient machines – and Royal Enfield sales plummeted.

"The hardest part of our business is selling something intangible. It’s very difficult," says Mark. "Royal Enfield initially wanted a number of concepts for the domestic market but there was no coherent product development programme. British bikes mean a lot to them, they’re where they would like to see themselves in development and production. They invited us because they saw us being the guardians of that culture, to keep its integrity.

"Gearboxes and engines were separate on bikes in the 50s so we thought about how we make this engine and crankcase look as though they belong on this bike. We designed a new model, but have not changed a classic bike.

"We started product planning by talking to dealers and end-users and doing research into the market. We went to the Vintage Motorcycle Club in London and to Royal Enfield meets and the National Motorcycle Museum to get immersed in the Royal Enfield brand. We’re not an engineering company, we’re the human factor of design involved in its tactile nature; how it feels to sit on, its looks, its styling and how that affects what people think. Our job is to be like a sponge and soak up all that influence, adding value to a product. We’re offering a professional service in a process creating products that are right for the people who’ll be using them."

Xenophya Design also works with brands familiar to the two-wheeler fraternity – Yamaha, Drbi, Aprilia and Bajaj Auto – and with engineering specialists such as Vepro and ArianeTech Ingeniers – while building up a very close relationship with Rieju in Barcelona.

Ellis Pitt, a former product designer who founded Worcestershire-based Mac Motorcycles, has had a fruitful relationship with Mark and Ian, the two companies collaborating over the past 12 months to design a small range of light-weight, air-cooled bikes.

He says: "Last year I started to cast around for inspiration. I met Mark Wells & Ian Wride at Xenophya Design whilst working in the North East. This gave us a chance to indulge our respective obsessions with motorcycles over copious mugs of tea and biscuits – Rich Tea. We took all this, wrote the design brief and started Mac Motorcycles."

The Xenophya style is to start every project from scratch – a biro and blank sheet approach which clears the mind and freshens creativity.

"We start with very loose sketches for proportions and volumes then develop them into a live project," says Mark. The final image is a full-size pen drawing worked up in Photoshop which is the point that it would get signed off by the client to move into 3D design.

"We use modelling clay which is a bit like candle wax rather than potters’ clay. It’s heated to about 50ºC to make it pliable then it’s carved and sculpted to shape with special tools. Computer-aided design (CAD) is hugely important but you can’t get that same level of interaction you can get with clay. We can then digitise it back to CAD for 3D images using our co-ordinate measuring machine – a huge investment. We put XYZ co-ordinates in so we can talk to engineering teams anywhere in the world and they can give us the exact position for, say, a radiator.

"Then it’s crucial to stand back to look at the design in one ‘take’, so the space we have in the unit is very useful, although we thought it was too big at first. After that we can make a lash-up model that looks like a prototype bike.

"We’ve now done five bikes but at the moment we can’t show people what we’ve done. Most manufacturers insist on non-disclosure agreements and don’t want you to tell anybody what part you’ve played. It makes building a business a long slow process, but the first rule of design is to respect confidentialities."

"Like everybody else, things have been pretty bleak for the last six months but we seem to be getting through. We’ve always taken in students on work experience and like to support Northumbria University where we can. It’s good to see what students can do and interesting to see where the new talent is coming from.

"We’re also hoping to get involved with specialist motorcycle engineering courses; it’s a symbiotic relationship, one can’t work without the other."

It’s a philosophy which appears to be: Get your motor runnin’; Head out on the highway; Lookin’ for adventure; And whatever comes our way.

Xenophya Design information and a gallery of commissions can be found at www.xenophya.com

Also visit www.phybrand.com  and www.mac-motorcycles.com