From the Archives: In Conversation with Pierre Terblanche

 
Pierre Terblanche has done some phenomenal work for Ducati and other motorcycle brands

For motorcycle afficionados, the name ‘Pierre Terblanche’ needs no introduction. Born in South Africa, Terblanche is one of the most well-known, widely respected motorcycle designers in the world. With a Masters degree in transport design from the UK’s Royal College of Art, Terblanche has, over the last 40 years, worked with Volkswagen, Cagiva, Ducati, Piaggio, Confederate and even Royal Enfield. The bikes he has designed include the Cagiva 900 Gran Canyon, the 1^st generation Ducati Multistrada and Hypermotard, the Ducati SuperMono, the Ducati SportClassics, the Ducati 999, the Ducati MH900e, the Confederate X132 Hellcat Speedster and the 1^st generation Royal Enfield Himalayan. He also redesigned the Ducati 851 which then became the 888, and he designed a spectacular bunch of concept bikes for Moto Guzzi, which were shown at the 2014 EICMA. More recently, Terblanche designed a futuristic concept bike, which you can read about here.

In 2013, I had an opportunity to do an interview with Pierre Terblanche (who was working for Confederate Motorcycles at that time) for one of my other websites, Faster and Faster, which I had to shut down in 2017. I wanted to preserve this interview, hence putting it up here, where I hope it’ll remain forever.

You started your career in design with cars, in the late-1980s. What was it that prompted you to move over to motorcycles? How has motorcycle design changed since the late-1980s/early-1990s?

I started to work in the automotive field because I was offered a great job in the Volkswagen Advanced Design Studio in Germany by Patrick Le Quement.  At the time it was the best job going in Europe and I was very fortunate to spend just over three very fruitful years learning about the basics of design. [However,] I had always loved bikes more than cars because of the more hands-on approach where there is more to do for designers. Especially in Italy where all layout of bikes, packaging and clay or hard models were made by the designers.

Regarding change, everything has become more professional and structured. We have seen the introduction of CAD (Computer Aided Design) and CAS (Computer Aided Styling). The companies now have teams of specialists who all do their part of the project. Before, much more was done by one or two experienced people. This is better in some ways but I believe that the old ad-hoc way sometimes lets one come up with unexpected solutions.

On the Guzzi projects, very few, almost no sketches were done, in the same way that the Hypermotard was designed for Ducati. Three days of cold turkey design time on a carboard model. The results speak for themselves. It was maybe more intuitive [but] doesn’t mean that it always works.

Are you a motorcycle enthusiast yourself? Do you love bikes? For how long have you been riding?

I love motorcycles. I got my first bike, a Honda SS50 when I was sixteen and my first big bike was a modified Ducati 750GT. Now that I live in Alabama, I will be doing a lot more riding again. I am planning to buy a KTM 690 Superduke and a Ducati Sport1000 and an old Bultaco to commute on. I love the sound and smell of the two-strokes!

My first true motorcycle love affair was with a Mk 1 Moto Guzzi Le Mans and to this day I love that bike. The Honda CB400Four was also a great favourite. The other bikes I love are the Suzuki Katana 750s, the Ducati TT600/750 racers, the Bimota DB1, Ducati Paso 750 and of course the Britten V1000. Of the show bikes, I love the Sachs Beast a lot. I like the KTM 690 SuperDuke because of its light weight and simplicity. The ZERO electric bikes are also surprisingly fun to ride.

What’s your own personal favourite Ducati? Why? Between the 851, 916, 999, 1098 and 1199, which one do you like best, and why? If you had to design the Panigale’s successor, how would you go about it?

My favourite Ducati will have to be either the 860 NCR Corsa endurance racer or the TT600/750 racers. I like the 1199 because it is a great bit of design and the latest, most modern Ducati. The Panigale is a great bit of work – compact, integrated, cool and interesting to look at. A pure racer on the road. I think Gianni Fabbro has done a wonderful job. However, ‘the times, they are a-changing,’ as Dylan says. The heat and homologation issues will force us to radically re-think motorcycles going forward. Already, the Japanese version of the Panigale has a much bigger additional exhaust stuck on the side to make it legal, due to stricter ‘application’ of the law there, and not stricter laws. Heat and catalytic converter placement will make V-twins ever more difficult to package.

For what the Panigale is meant to be, an uncompromising track day bike, I wouldn't do anything different. If one wanted a usable road-bike there are some issues to look at, like heat management and wind protection. But the way that the market has changed, this is not even an issue. The people that want a usable motorcycle buy a Multistrada or a BMW GS.

What are your thoughts on retro-themed design? What were the driving factors behind bikes like the Ducati SportClassic and MH900e?

I like them. Harley has been building 300,000 a year for a long time so it seems a lot of other people like them as well. Yes! Harleys are retro-themed bikes even if we don't think about them as such. There is something reassuring and beautiful about the steam engine mechanical-ness of these retro-themed bikes. The latest trend with young bikers in many cities around the world is the retro café racer. I think because they are often simpler and their air-cooled engines more mechanical, they are simple and more beautiful. I loved the original Ducati Sport SS and GT and thought that there was a good market for those bikes – for people like myself – around 46 years of age who just wanted to have a beautiful, fun bike.

How was the experience of working with Massimo Tamburini, at Cagiva?

We both loved bikes and working with Mr Tamburini [who passed away in 2014] was a great, interesting experience. I learned a hell of a lot about motorcycles and working with him de-mystified the design of the chassis and many other parts of the bike. Mr Tamburini is much more a race-replica type of guy who was never really that interested in other forms of biking. I love design in general and the design of any type of project, be it a car, boat, aircraft or motorcycle, fascinates me.

You designed three spectacular show bikes for Moto Guzzi? Did the company ever intend to put any of these three bikes into production, or was it clear from the beginning that these would only be ‘concept’ bikes?

The design brief was loose in the sense that we wanted to do a modern Guzzi Le Mans for the EICMA Show. After the incredible reaction by the public and press, the decision to not build them is the greatest disappointments of my career. Those bikes came, were seen and they conquered! And then were never to be seen again! No other photos or magazine articles were ever published and journalists who asked to see them and write about them were denied access. Who knows why, especially now that air-cooled medium-powered bikes are back in vogue and the top-selling bike in the Guzzi range is the V7. The eternal, or rather infernal, mystery of the motorcycle industry.

What are your thoughts on Japanese vs European motorcycle design?

It depends on what you mean by design. Aesthetics, function or just plain styling? Currently, the Europeans are doing more interesting things on the styling side than the Japanese, who seem to be very purist-engineering driven. The Japanese, coming from years of building motorcycles to fit all, have difficulty in designing bikes that do only 40 percent of a good job in being as highly-focused as the Italians. But maybe this will change as the market for high volume superbikes has died out. I believe that the Japanese, Honda and Yamaha, will soon start competing more directly with Ducati, Aprilia and BMW.

In the next 10 years, do you think electric bikes, with their unique challenges of battery placement and positioning, will lead to bikes that are not as beautiful as machines from the 1980s and 1990s?

I believe that electric bikes are a very interesting challenge. The things that they don't have is so liberating. No exhausts, heat, gearboxes, shifters and related stuff. Sooner or later, someone will design an electric bike that is more than just a traditional bike with the engines swapped out. I can’t wait. The battery technology will improve, as it already has over the last decade. I recently rode a couple of electric bikes. The future is here. As to being as beautiful? They will be, they will be beautifully different, for sure.

Note: I did this interview with Pierre Terblanche in 2013