Philippe Starck back to bikes

IF you want a stylish orange juicer then we'd be the first to point you in the direction of Philippe Starck, but while there's no doubting the fact the French design guru loves bikes his two-wheeled designs tend to polarise opinions.

Check out his own website – www.starck.com – where there are pictures of them all so far. Starting with the 1992 Aprilia Lama concept scooter, which looked like Picasso's take on the Easter bunny, it was followed by a string of other Aprilia concepts. And one production bike, the Moto 6.5 which certainly had head-turning (or stomach-turning, depending on your tastes) looks even if it was resoundingly rubbish in most other departments. A bigger version, the X-Ray, was used to demonstrate the firm's 1000cc V-twin engine before the RSV was ready, and later Starck designed the intended-for-production Voxan XV, although that died before any were actually made when the French firm went under in 2009.

Now it looks like he's back, with designs emerging via the European patent office showing a new Starck designed machine. Although only computer-generated renderings, the designs show an electric moped with a cruciform chassis that looks like it's a monocoque formed from plastic. Strangely there seems to be no provision for lights or registration plates.

We've no idea whether the design is simply Starck's own project or if it's been commissioned by another firm, or even if it will get any further than the patent stage, but it shows that Philippe Starck's mind is still on bikes.