What's in an R?

March 29, 2010

This one comes at us from Paul Lozba at Romania’s Motoflash who noticed that while all the Japanese and European competition use heavily stylized Rs in their logos, the BMW S1000RR makes do with a fairly plain, italicized font. That and red really, really doesn’t go with baby shit green. Is BMW failing to properly convey the class-leading performance of its new superbike with dull graphics? “Bottom line is,” says Paul, “BMW are very bad with sports type graphics.”

johnny

nice to see them all together. very hard to top the good old GSX R, I think
gappy

I refrain from commenting, but posts like this one, or the one on the cool plastic Triumph logo, or the one on the allegedly bad new Ducati logo, only show that you’re a bunch of superficial bikers. Should I point out that your persistent bashing of H-D is a tad inconsistent? At least I wish I could say that you favor style over substance. The problem is that I have yet to find an intelligent comment about the former. It boils down to bad fonts for Rs, really. Embarrassing.
- Tomahawk
  
  I think it actually shows that HFL are paying close attention to details, unlike many others. And that’s one of the many reasons HFL is great.
- http://www.thisblueheaven.com Mark D
  
  Nothing wrong with enjoying aesthetics and good design. Its just all part of the HFL experience! Performance, style, humor, irreverence, and culture are all on the radar here. How many times can you read tech specs, anyways?
  
  I really like the RC8 graphic, actually, even if it reminds me of software typography. The BMW graphic is clean, but those colors are HIDDEOUS. Why not use the red-white-blue “M” motif?
http://www.heng.jp Sen Heng

The BMW’s RR also has a slight drop shadow. The entire logo is nice, subtle and elegant even. I believe it says more about BMW as a whole, having a common design language throughout the brand no matter the type of machine.

Also, I’ve never understood why racing graphics always have to be sharp and angular, with bright bold colours and a lot of that graffiti-style stuff.

What happened to good old typography and simple, clean graphics?
http://www.damiengaudet.blogspot.com damien

The BMW logo doesn’t look Japanese at all. Which makes sense.

*I realize some of the other manufacturers listed are not Japanese either, I’m simply commenting on the BMW.
Skipper

Who gives a shit……
- http://www.damiengaudet.blogspot.com damien
  
  why the hell would you come to this site, and then bother posting if you don’t find it interesting?
  
  just asking.
Michele

For me… beacause the sound is cool..
R, GTR, RR, GSXR, R1… it’s like a beast..a lion…you know? its a sound really aggressive..

AAAAAAAAAARRRRRRR
EEEEEERRRRRRR

:)
- http://www.ashonbikes.com Kevin
  
  Michelle, that doesn’t work if you’re English, RR sounds more like you’re doing something pleasurable and physical… Er, okay thinking about it, it does still work.
  - spectator
    
    Guys, Michele is obv. a dude, no need to hit on him.
Esteban

gappy: you don’t get it, the looks of a bike are selling important point for manufacturers..
Michele: you totally get it! ;)
Komet

Michele: I always thought it was because sportbike riders were way into pirates: GSXRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!
- John
  
  CB Yaahhrr?
robotribe

The Triumph Street Triple R trumps the BMW for fugliest of them all (and this is coming from a 17 year design professional who owns an ST3).

Suzuki ‘R’ FTW. At least they’re consistent with their Anime cultural connection. BMW ‘R’? That shit is just LAZY.
Ian

It’s this stuff that makes me come back to HLF. Looking at the details rather than the usual “woo 200bhp and its got funny headlights!”

BMWs often have awful graphics, we have an F800S in the workshop and the ‘logo’ looks like it was drawn by a child.
caferacer

I think Aprilia have a new classic logo on their hands. It’s killer and really goes with the angles and triangles on the bike. There’s not a curve on that bike… (The design-inverse of my 1000 Multistrada — not a straight line to be found there.)

BTW, it’s a shame that model designations seem to have lost all their meaning, or at least consumers have long forgotten or never really knew. Let’s see who can fill in the actual definitions / translations? And there have to be more…

RR
TT
GS
GT
ST
S
RS
L
- Hiwatt Scott
  
  RR: Race Replica
  TT: Tourist Trophy
  GS: Gelände/Straße or Gran(d) Sport
  GT: Gran Turismo or Grand Touring
  ST: Sport Touring
  S: Sport or Special
  RS: Rally Sport
  L: Limited or Luxury (although most cars that are “L” models tend to be the most basic model)
http://www.thisblueheaven.com Mark D.

RR: Race Replica
TT: Tourist Trophy
GS: ?
GT: Grand Touring
ST: ?
S : Sport?
RS: Really Sporty?
L : Long-wheel base?
Ammerlander

GS = Gelände/Straße
if I´m not mistaken.
Japanese graphics are incipid

Oh you forgot SS, thankfully BMW steers clear of that one.
- vic
  
  can’t imagine why http://www.axishistory.com/fileadmin/user_upload/m/motocycle-sidecar1.jpg
  - TeeJay
    
    Oh, grandpa and his friends! Just joking.
    
    Seriously guys, WWII was finished some 65 years before, it is really time to move on.
    I understand that it is funny to make a joke of “Sie Jermans”, I understand that you’ve been taught that fascism is bad (ok, it is), but just take a look at the facts. Your previous president had more common speeches and acts with the Austrian painter than any (West) German leader in the recent decades.
    
    Further, BMW does everything in a little bit different way then others. You cannot compare an Italian bike to a Jap, and it is the same nonsense to compare a BMW to any other brand.
    
    Well, if there were real French bikes I’d be really interested in your opinion…
    http://www.msxnet.org/humour/world-according-to-america.png
eric

I like the BMW’s graphics. No bogus flashiness, just substance; kind of like the bike, honestly. No boasting here, BMW just has confidence that their bikes are sold on the basis of solid engineering ability, not flash. For that, I applaud them.

I was disappointed when Triumph went to silly japanese-style graphics on the Daytona 675. They have a sharply styled bike, and they muck up the lines with silly angular graphics. They always seemed to be sportbikes for adults, rather than the silly poser-style graphics seen on many of their competitor’s machines.

This is a bit of a ‘broad-brush’ statement, though, as Kawasaki has lately refrained from these treatments on the Ninja series, and Honda does offer simpler graphics packages on some of their CBR’s. Maybe the japanese manufacturers are coming around…
nathan

Maybe BMW should have put a few thousand dollars of scary monster pictures airbrushed into the paint along with a performance enhancing pair of R’s…
6mt

i always like the BMW “M” logo, not that it has anything to do with bikes, but when i see “M” i know it’s gonna be pretty fun; atleast it appears to be that way.

now i’m just thankful that Ducati didn’t try to come up with a logo for the “Monster” could you imagine that? a Monster??
http://twitter.com/greatistheworld will

They should have made it simple and non-italic. The rest are overwrought. If they just made the “RR” a statement of two Rs it would stand out from the pack tremendously.

All those Japanese graphics look like a Super Soaker package from 1992, trying to convey excitement to immaturity through sharp loudness.

That said, the RC8 does it best.
Timmah

BMW seems to be letting the bike’s performance do the talking. Hear Hear.
Japanese graphics are insipid

@TeeJay- Yeah and besides, they were all just following orders.

You’ve got point there about the war criminal Bush. I liked the way Gehard Schroder, revealing his Badder Meinhoff sympathies supported the US after 911- such reliable allies.

I dig that map, it’s hilarious.