Alpha: A Redesigned BMW K75 Motorcycle That Takes Inspiration From Great White Sharks

Feb 26, 2017 08:00 AM EST | JP Olvido

A BMW K75 ends up sporting a custom sleek futuristic design thanks to the efforts of two people. The result of the coming together of a mechanical and an industrial designer is the Alpha, a powerful and beautiful two-wheeler.

Alpha, the custom BMW K75 motorcycle. The Alpha is the product of Utah-based mechanic Mark Atkinson and Turkish hi-tech industrial designer Mehmet Doruk Erdem. It sports a sleek design that hints at the future of motorcycles.

It all started two years ago when industrial designer Erdem saw celebrated and legendary Bonneville racer Alp Sungurtekin on amazing two-wheelers. Sungurtekin is responsible for the world's fastest Triumph pre-unit motorbike.

Erdem then began designing models of the motorcycles ridden by Sungurtekin. The industrial designer eventually decided to design a motorcycle for the Bonneville Salt Flats after seeing the movie The World's Fastest Indian.

Industrial designer Erdem takes inspiration from great white sharks in designing the Alpha. He wanted a looked that was both powerful and beautiful.

"Great white sharks have always been an inspiration to me. So I decided to mimic their anatomy for Alpha's bodywork. It had to look powerful and beautiful at the same time," Erdem says of the Alpha's design. He further added, "If you look at the body of a shark, you can see that it's clean and perfect. But inside, it's so complicated. So Alpha's front end is clean and smooth, while the back is the powerful and ugly side symbolizing the tail of the great white."

Bringing the design into life was mechanist Atkinson's doing. He hauled a wrecked BMW K75 into S&K Machine, his place of work, and asked his bosses a few weeks to figure out a chassis for the motorbike. It took months for Atkinson to get the chassis done but his superiors didn't mind even showing it off to customers who came by the shop.

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