http://www.elakiri.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1697062
me thread eke dapu dio eka hadapu hati hamabawuna
lankawe ayatath onenam hadaganna puluwan
http://motohive.in/story-of-modified-dio/
me thread eke dapu dio eka hadapu hati hamabawuna
lankawe ayatath onenam hadaganna puluwan
MaXXi Dio : Story of a modified Dio
At the first glance you get a feeling of a maxi scooter being rolled out. A proper maxi scooter. But a glance again and a diminutive machine starts taking shape. Ladies and gentlemen, behold this passionately modified Dio!
Dio front side
By now, everyone must have seen the photo of this two-wheeler, getting virally shared across all the social media platforms. Did anyone ever wonder – who did this extraordinary job? why did he/she do that? what was the thought process behind; right from conceptualization to the execution? Well, we at Motohive, did wonder.
Not only did we wonder, but we went a step further and contacted the owner of this impressive design. In this exclusive post, Motohive, in its typical style of going to the root of every article we publish, serves you the insight & glimpse into the world of the designer himself and we try to understand what does it take to pull off something like this.
Dio front
Being true to the Motohive spirit, we just don’t go gaga over this project. Rather we approach a senior automotive designer to assess this design critically. The idea behind this is simple – “Let this post be a guiding light to anyone who wishes to transform and modify his ride into something spectacular”.
The Designer
Meet Varun Awale and his “GenNext ‘Concept’ Dio” as he fondly calls his creation.
Back in 2012, he was just 22 years old when he started working on this project and that too without any prior experience. He was engulfed by the maxi scooter design (viz. the Kinetic Blaze) and decided to design one on his own. And he had 100cc Honda Dio at his disposal. What followed was an incredible form of plastic bent and turned at places which raises quite a few eyebrows in disbelief!
The Genesis
They say, “Necessity is the mother of all inventions”! And they say this for a reason. What else could be the better burning desire than showcasing the design/prototyping skills to the premier design institute and thus proving your dexterity. Also Varun aspires to make a career in automotive prototype designing industry and this project would be the perfect platform for him.
Like any other humble beginning, this one also starts with covering the basic needs, in this case, filling the gaps that the stock Dio had. For Varun, these gaps were primarily the optimal utilization of the space between seat & handlebar and having a waterproof storage of his laptop bag.
The other design goals that Varun had in mind were:
The design goals - Modified Dio
With this, Varun started with the basic sketches and design. Side by side, he also started collecting information on where to procure materials from, which part he will need help with and a workshop to carry out this project.
Modified Dio initial sketch
Modified Dio initial sketchThis followed by the prototyping on the basis of the original sketches. During prototyping, he hit first of the many hurdles. There were some hard points on the stock chassis of the bike which could not be further altered as it could have weakened the trajectory of the bike. After putting lot of thoughts, he got an idea. Instead of altering those hard points, he used those hard points as strong bolting junction point for the body panels. As a result of this decision, the entire body became modular. To access any internal part, the entire body need not to be removed but only the required panel/part.
Dio body work and finish
The Metamorphosis
Once the basic design was ready, the execution started. It began with developing the initial draft of the design with the thermocole carving. The painstakingly manual job that this actually is, what made it more tedious was getting the left and right part symmetrical. Without any computer aided design/tool, Varun literally had to use the Plumb Bob (most commonly used by mason for vertical alignment) to get this symmetry right.
The entire process right from design to prototyping and then to modelling can be summarized with this picture:
transformation process
The thermocole model was further finished by a POP (Plaster of Paris) layer. From this, the moulds were prepared. For the actual fabrication, Varun had to take help from an expert fabricator and he chose to become his helper so as to learn the nuances of this process as well.
Working full time on this, it took 6 months for Varun to complete this project. First 2 months for ideation, conceptualization & final design for prototype. Another 2 months for resourcing and technical upgrades and then 2 months for modelling to its final working prototype.
The Mean Machine
The next part in the process was assembling the finished fabricated part together and thus building the basic structure of the bike. Varun had also figured out the replacement parts that got on his creation to complement and complete the look and feel.
Here’s the list of the parts that came from the other motorcycles:
Windscreen – Yamaha R15
Mirrors – Yamaha Fazer
Indicator – Yamaha FZ16
Rear Number Plate Tray – Yamaha R15
Rear Tyre Mudguard – Bajaj Pulsar 220
Ignition & Light Switch – Bajaj Pulsar 220
Brake Levers – Bajaj Avenger
Seats – KTM Duke
Pillion Foot Rest – TVS Apache
Front Telescopic Shocks – Honda Aviator
Front Disk Brake – Honda Aviator
Dio mirror and windscreen
Dio handlebar
Dio front fork and body work
The riding aesthetics and ergonomics were never compromised while designing or modelling. The riding stance is very different for this genre of scooter
Dio side riding
Dio front riding
For those who are still wondering about the total make over of this puny bike into something alien, here are the before and after shots.
honda-dio-yellow
Dio - After
Such a splendid job, keeping in mind the resources Varun had. Nowadays, everyone knows the mettle of college dropouts in every field, no wonder that Varun was a college dropout himself while he was doing this!
The Critical Analysis
As stated earlier, Motohive believe in calling spade – a spade. We went to a seasoned designer who is currently working for an international automotive client. Here’s what he had to say for Varun’s creation:
“He wanted to create an enclosed space between the seat and handlebar fork. He managed to design a fibre body structure which makes it look like a maxi scooter. But the riding stance is that of a motorcycle. This is quite an odd style. A scooter being made into a motorcycle with a big empty engine space.The riding stance is definitely not that of a scooter. But a motorcycle which makes you feel that you are carrying a plastic box between your legs. The fake tank is a lid to a humongous storage space beneath. As per the designer, he needed carrying space which could save his laptop bag from water. This problem was indeed solved by these panels. And now he can carry a big bag without the fear of monsoons.”
Dio custom tank
Dio storage space
“We can sense the struggle for packaging faced by the designer. He could not extend panels out of the existing frame.What ends up is a constrained piece of sculpture trying to suggest a larger bodywork. The stance becomes awkward when the headlight is positioned very low. Almost as if it were to fall over front wheel. We see influences from various styles combined into one. The scooter hence having no style of it’s own. A twin exhaust setup completes the look.”
Dio custom exhaust
“Execution of design: There is no homogeneity in the design. The front follows one design language and the rear follows another. All trying to connect in the middle. Parallelism and family of lines is also absent. Color and textures could have been better. Though the left and right sides aren’t exactly matching, but then only human hands were used for this fabrication (no complex milling machines). This makes us appreciate the sincere effort being put by a design aspirant.”
The Epilogue
At the end, Varun was able to showcase his creation to his dream college (which is Istituto Europeo di Design, Turin, Italy ). The jury panel were impressed by the effort and enthusiasm put by the designer. And they accepted him for the prestigious 3-years course ‘Masters in Transportation Design’. Not only that, they rewarded him a scholarship for this design degree as well !
Varun completed his masters in this year only (2015) and currently, he is looking forward to join an automotive company in the prototyping department. Looking at his tenacity and grit, we are sure that he will land in his dream job pretty soon.
Motohive wishes him best of luck for his future endeavours and hope that his creation never cease to amaze us!
Amen.
– Motohive Research team
At the first glance you get a feeling of a maxi scooter being rolled out. A proper maxi scooter. But a glance again and a diminutive machine starts taking shape. Ladies and gentlemen, behold this passionately modified Dio!
Dio front side
By now, everyone must have seen the photo of this two-wheeler, getting virally shared across all the social media platforms. Did anyone ever wonder – who did this extraordinary job? why did he/she do that? what was the thought process behind; right from conceptualization to the execution? Well, we at Motohive, did wonder.
Not only did we wonder, but we went a step further and contacted the owner of this impressive design. In this exclusive post, Motohive, in its typical style of going to the root of every article we publish, serves you the insight & glimpse into the world of the designer himself and we try to understand what does it take to pull off something like this.
Dio front
Being true to the Motohive spirit, we just don’t go gaga over this project. Rather we approach a senior automotive designer to assess this design critically. The idea behind this is simple – “Let this post be a guiding light to anyone who wishes to transform and modify his ride into something spectacular”.
The Designer
Meet Varun Awale and his “GenNext ‘Concept’ Dio” as he fondly calls his creation.
Back in 2012, he was just 22 years old when he started working on this project and that too without any prior experience. He was engulfed by the maxi scooter design (viz. the Kinetic Blaze) and decided to design one on his own. And he had 100cc Honda Dio at his disposal. What followed was an incredible form of plastic bent and turned at places which raises quite a few eyebrows in disbelief!
The Genesis
They say, “Necessity is the mother of all inventions”! And they say this for a reason. What else could be the better burning desire than showcasing the design/prototyping skills to the premier design institute and thus proving your dexterity. Also Varun aspires to make a career in automotive prototype designing industry and this project would be the perfect platform for him.
Like any other humble beginning, this one also starts with covering the basic needs, in this case, filling the gaps that the stock Dio had. For Varun, these gaps were primarily the optimal utilization of the space between seat & handlebar and having a waterproof storage of his laptop bag.
The other design goals that Varun had in mind were:
The design goals - Modified Dio
With this, Varun started with the basic sketches and design. Side by side, he also started collecting information on where to procure materials from, which part he will need help with and a workshop to carry out this project.
Modified Dio initial sketch
Modified Dio initial sketchThis followed by the prototyping on the basis of the original sketches. During prototyping, he hit first of the many hurdles. There were some hard points on the stock chassis of the bike which could not be further altered as it could have weakened the trajectory of the bike. After putting lot of thoughts, he got an idea. Instead of altering those hard points, he used those hard points as strong bolting junction point for the body panels. As a result of this decision, the entire body became modular. To access any internal part, the entire body need not to be removed but only the required panel/part.
Dio body work and finish
The Metamorphosis
Once the basic design was ready, the execution started. It began with developing the initial draft of the design with the thermocole carving. The painstakingly manual job that this actually is, what made it more tedious was getting the left and right part symmetrical. Without any computer aided design/tool, Varun literally had to use the Plumb Bob (most commonly used by mason for vertical alignment) to get this symmetry right.
The entire process right from design to prototyping and then to modelling can be summarized with this picture:
transformation process
The thermocole model was further finished by a POP (Plaster of Paris) layer. From this, the moulds were prepared. For the actual fabrication, Varun had to take help from an expert fabricator and he chose to become his helper so as to learn the nuances of this process as well.
Working full time on this, it took 6 months for Varun to complete this project. First 2 months for ideation, conceptualization & final design for prototype. Another 2 months for resourcing and technical upgrades and then 2 months for modelling to its final working prototype.
The Mean Machine
The next part in the process was assembling the finished fabricated part together and thus building the basic structure of the bike. Varun had also figured out the replacement parts that got on his creation to complement and complete the look and feel.
Here’s the list of the parts that came from the other motorcycles:
Windscreen – Yamaha R15
Mirrors – Yamaha Fazer
Indicator – Yamaha FZ16
Rear Number Plate Tray – Yamaha R15
Rear Tyre Mudguard – Bajaj Pulsar 220
Ignition & Light Switch – Bajaj Pulsar 220
Brake Levers – Bajaj Avenger
Seats – KTM Duke
Pillion Foot Rest – TVS Apache
Front Telescopic Shocks – Honda Aviator
Front Disk Brake – Honda Aviator
Dio mirror and windscreen
Dio handlebar
Dio front fork and body work
The riding aesthetics and ergonomics were never compromised while designing or modelling. The riding stance is very different for this genre of scooter
Dio side riding
Dio front riding
For those who are still wondering about the total make over of this puny bike into something alien, here are the before and after shots.
honda-dio-yellow
Dio - After
Such a splendid job, keeping in mind the resources Varun had. Nowadays, everyone knows the mettle of college dropouts in every field, no wonder that Varun was a college dropout himself while he was doing this!
The Critical Analysis
As stated earlier, Motohive believe in calling spade – a spade. We went to a seasoned designer who is currently working for an international automotive client. Here’s what he had to say for Varun’s creation:
“He wanted to create an enclosed space between the seat and handlebar fork. He managed to design a fibre body structure which makes it look like a maxi scooter. But the riding stance is that of a motorcycle. This is quite an odd style. A scooter being made into a motorcycle with a big empty engine space.The riding stance is definitely not that of a scooter. But a motorcycle which makes you feel that you are carrying a plastic box between your legs. The fake tank is a lid to a humongous storage space beneath. As per the designer, he needed carrying space which could save his laptop bag from water. This problem was indeed solved by these panels. And now he can carry a big bag without the fear of monsoons.”
Dio custom tank
Dio storage space
“We can sense the struggle for packaging faced by the designer. He could not extend panels out of the existing frame.What ends up is a constrained piece of sculpture trying to suggest a larger bodywork. The stance becomes awkward when the headlight is positioned very low. Almost as if it were to fall over front wheel. We see influences from various styles combined into one. The scooter hence having no style of it’s own. A twin exhaust setup completes the look.”
Dio custom exhaust
“Execution of design: There is no homogeneity in the design. The front follows one design language and the rear follows another. All trying to connect in the middle. Parallelism and family of lines is also absent. Color and textures could have been better. Though the left and right sides aren’t exactly matching, but then only human hands were used for this fabrication (no complex milling machines). This makes us appreciate the sincere effort being put by a design aspirant.”
The Epilogue
At the end, Varun was able to showcase his creation to his dream college (which is Istituto Europeo di Design, Turin, Italy ). The jury panel were impressed by the effort and enthusiasm put by the designer. And they accepted him for the prestigious 3-years course ‘Masters in Transportation Design’. Not only that, they rewarded him a scholarship for this design degree as well !
Varun completed his masters in this year only (2015) and currently, he is looking forward to join an automotive company in the prototyping department. Looking at his tenacity and grit, we are sure that he will land in his dream job pretty soon.
Motohive wishes him best of luck for his future endeavours and hope that his creation never cease to amaze us!
Amen.
– Motohive Research team
http://motohive.in/story-of-modified-dio/
