Saturday, July 17, 2010

Busted and Broken - High Side

Over the past weekend I high sided my motorcycle at 50 MPH due to poor road conditions.  I was wearing your motorhead jacket and just wanted to write to inform you that it withheld the impact amazingly well. No rips, No tears and just a few scuffs. I can honestly say without your product the results would of been a lot more severe than just a bruised shoulder and ankle.  Thank you for making such an outstanding product and I look foward to using your gear much more in the future.

Andy B.
Viginia Beach, VA






Friday, July 16, 2010

Concept & Execution - Battlecry

The following documents the birth of a typical Icon helmet graphic - in this case the Alliance SS Battlecry. This helmet graphic was a combined effort by two artists - local Portland tattoo artist Matthew Mattison and Icon legend Tanner Goldbeck. The resulting graphic went on to be one of the most popular Icon graphics ever produced.


Concept - The initial graphic idea is hand rendered in pencil & pen


Typography - A possible chinbar logo solution is comp'd using computer generated type with hand drawn embellishments


Initial Mockup - The helmet shell is coated with Gesso and then comp'd up with pencil, pen, and marker - this is only the starting point used to determine viability of the graphic



Refined Concept - A computer illustrated concept with initial background concept and a rough type solution


Finished Design - The Illustrator artwork is blended with additional hand drawn background elements and the refined type solution


Final Mockup - The finished vector artwork is printed and then cutout for placement on the mockup shell - this confirms size and placement of graphics prior to tooling


The Finished Helmet - Gloss top coated and ready for the streets, the Alliance SS Battlecry reigned throughout 2006 & 2007









Thursday, July 15, 2010

Skate or Die!

There are a lot of cats involved in the motorcycle scene that grew up in the great skate resurgence of the mid-late eighties. I'm one of them. Apparently Rob over at Quad Cam Bastards/Motorpunk is as well. If you came from the era of street plants, unfiltered Lucky Strikes, and Suicidal Tendencies decorated army surplus jackets than you need to scope the Motorpunk blog. There is a recent post on the legendary skater Bill Danforth - definitely worth the read. 




If you didn't grow up skating through the eighties...sorry bro, you missed a killer time



Airframe Kraftfahrzeuge Trunkenpolz Mattighofen

Another helmet from Icon's 'you can't have this but we'll show it to you anyways' collection. Enjoy.





Jason Britton - Exclusive Meet-N-Greet

Jason Britton will be appearing this Friday at an exclusive Kawi owners meet-n-great. So if you swing for team green, and live in the Upper Darby Pennsylvania area, be sure to swing by and do whatever it is you Kawasaki guys do when you get together.


Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Honda 2025

Not sure of the story with these renderings - concept art for a multi-arena race platform in the year 2025? The triumphant return of the all powerful and ever dominating Honda Hurricane? Whatever the actual story - nice forms and colors are always welcome in our house. Pics from http://coolhqpix.blogspot.com/














Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Motorhead Boot

Sometimes I'm asked what is my favorite Icon product. That is a more difficult question to answer than it may first appear. You see as the Icon Design Director it is my job to be hyper critical of all of the Icon products and advertising. This invariably leads to focus on the flaws, however minute, versus relishing the victories. The desire for perfection it seems, is both a blessing and a curse. That said, every now and again a product comes along that I love unequivocally. The Motorhead boot is one of those products. It was the first, and in my opinion, the best of the low-top MX boot genre. Working equally well on street bikes, street moto, dual-sports, fifties, and quads - the Motorhead boot saved many a foot from some nasty injuries. I still wear my original pair, now almost seven years old. I've crashed in them more times than I care to remember but they keep coming back for more. Yep, I love my Motorheads.




Original pencil sketch circa 2000


Flip side


Production - Black Colorway



Monday, July 12, 2010

Alphabets

At an undisclosed location the first generation 600's gather. An FZR, CBR, and a ZX. You'll note the lack of a midweight Suzuki in that esteemed group.  Most likely because the 600 Suzuki of that era, the venerable GSX Katana, sucked. It was odd how long it actually took Suzuki to make a decent 600cc sportbike. 

Any ideas where/when this was taken?  I'm guessing Wisconsin/Spring '90 . 

The Other Trucolore





Apparently we aren't the only ones who like our Duc's dressed up in red, white, and blue. From the Giappone Collection comes this 1991 Ducati 888RS works endurance racer. Apparently it's for sale... Team Icon was gonna buy it, but it's a #6 and we only buy winners.











Sunday, July 11, 2010

Patched

Not the club you want to run into at the Blue Oyster.


 
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