I'm an industrial designer and having spoken to some of my female friends, who usually relate to motorcycles as a manly object or a man's vehicle. Generally, women don't feel very comfortable even learning to ride or purchasing a motorcycle - even though women are comfortable at riding bicycles or scooters because the evolution of motorcycles has been in a very male-oriented fashion.
The problem does not lie in the lack of willingness to ride a bike, but the issue lies in most of the motorcycles being designed while keeping in mind the male ergonomics which results in the bikes being heavy/ visually bulky.
In my opinion, this bias towards one specific gender reflects that the motorcycle industry needs to start widening its horizon by including each gender equally to take a more universal approach - which means they should be “GENDER NEUTRAL".
So, when we say "gender-neutral” - the bike should ideally be designed keeping in mind that it should not be specific to one audience, instead be inclusive of every being in society.
As an example - In the 1990s, a campaign was started in India to empower girls/ women to take up 2 wheeler riding with the launch of a certain new moped(s). Those mopeds were specifically targeted towards the female crowd and it was made to reflect in the moped's design too - with the use of bright graphics/ colors and their lightweight/ changed ergonomics, etc. But the issue remains that there should not be a "need” to create a specifically different female-oriented motorcycle/ 2-wheeler, just to solve this problem. Instead, there should be motorcycles that are more gender-neutral by solving the issues prevalent in current 2 wheelers - which in turn would empower not only women but everyone.
Apart from design, the bikes are also usually marketed showing men riding the motorcycles, thus targeting the specific audience. So a more gender-neutral perspective needs to be promoted even from a marketing standpoint.
So, thanks to this platform offered by Royal Enfield, I came up with the idea to design a Bobber motorcycle based on the Meteor 350, benefitting from its low and comfortable riding position and with all the unnecessary bulk removed from the bike - in turn making it lighter with the use of minimal yet sensual/ elegant surfaces and color & trim appealing to all the genders - thus making it more inclusive as a whole.
Since it's a custom motorcycle, it allowed me to freely explore certain ideas and push the creative boundaries a little further
If you like the concept, please share it further :
