Harley Fender ( Custum Rear Fender ) on 2040-parts.com

Intermot Motorcycle Show 2004

Motorcycle design is a term that conjures up many images to different people. To the majority North Americans, designing a motorcycle suggests a garage where several enthusiasts resembling the hit TV show Orange County Choppers assemble bikes based on the Harley Davidson model, with acres of chromed after market parts and hand lacquered custom paint jobs.To many others no thought is given at all to how the shapes of the bikes on the street came into being. The reality is that the major motorcycle manufacturers employ professional designers and serious technology the same way as in the car industry does, even if the final product is so different.

The 500-hp club: The room is getting crowded

At a time when fuel economy counts for just about everything, there's still a horsepower war raging in the United States. The number of fire-breathing wedge-shaped supercars and hot sedans and coupes that can pump out 500 hp or better has nearly doubled in the past five years to more than 70. A decade ago there were just two members of the 500 hp club in the United States: the Ferrari 575M and Lamborghini Murcielago.

Concept Car of the Week: Autobianchi Runabout (1969)

The 850 was a very popular car for Fiat in the ‘60s, especially in its spider version with its cute design and compact proportions. When the time came to replace it, Fiat went back to Bertone, where chief designer Marcello Gandini was charged with designing its replacement. Not happy to simply recreate the 850, he began with a whole new layout by placing the engine directly in front of the rear axle for a mid-engined layout.