We’re officially putting Dennis Sedov on our watchlist for design talents this year. Sedov has an unusual way of playing with forms, introducing new combinations and new perspectives to his designs. His cars look mesmeric, his products look unusual and inviting, and his motorbikes, a category we’ve covered practically in entirety, bring a new way of looking at form design in the two-wheeler category.

Sedov’s bikes aren’t designed to be practical. They’re clearly outlandish, but they’re outlandish enough to be celebrated for their outlandishness. Sedov plays wonderfully with proportions, materials, negative space, and geometry to create a bike that is a bike in theory, but looks like something from a parallel universe. The B4 is one such example.

Thinner and leaner than his other bikes, the B4 has a skeletal design that looks more bike-like than his previous motorbike designs. It splits into two broad volumes, connected at two points, one right below the seat, and one under the handlebar unit. The bikes sport a black + copper finish, but what’s most alluring is the bike’s wheels. Sedov’s usually relied on airless, solid tires that showcase unusual patterns that also provide the suspension function, but the B4’s tire is more traditional. The tire comes with a pattern around the hub that looks eye-catching but also flexes under pressure to provide a smooth riding experience. I can’t tell you how much I’d love to see a proof-of-concept!

Designer: Dennis Sedov

Call me a fan of Sedov’s redefined, simple motorbike aesthetic. His bikes may be purely conceptual, bordering on impracticality in the current scenario, but they sure are eye-catching. Sedov boldly uses straight lines and geometric shapes in his vehicles, deviating from the aerodynamic, organic designs most automobiles have. The result is a motorbike that has the essence, but changes presentation, much like a deconstructed dessert. Sedov also gives tires complete visual priority, often reducing the motorbike’s body to be as tall and as wide as the tires themselves, and even experimenting with airless tire designs. The B3, in that regard, is classic Sedov.

The B3, much like the B1 and B2 in Sedov’s ongoing series, follows the capsule-body silhouette. However, unlike the B1 and B2, the body is relatively smaller than the tires, and doesn’t leave any negative space in the center. The B3 also highlights Sedov’s obsession with triangles, not only using them to create a taillight pattern, but to also create the tires’ airless design. The different sized triangles would help keep the tire sturdy, but give it its bounce. The tires are connected to the bike using a novel single-sided fork design that alternates between the front and rear tires. Like all of Sedov’s B-series motorbikes, the B3 doesn’t have a dashboard either, and boasts of a gently curved leather seat, followed by relatively simple handlebars. There’s also a chance that the seat has a suspension at its base, hidden away in the motorbike’s slim, alluring body. I vote for a proof-of-concept!

Designer: Dennis Sedov

Following yesterday’s ‘unbikely B1 bike’, today we look at the B2, the next in Sedov’s series of motorbikes to crush one’s misconceptions of what a bike must look like. Unlike the simplistic B1, the B2 has a little more detail. Roughly the same capsule shape, the B2 can be broken into a few visual elements. The front and the back are two distinct and separate volumes, with hollowed out details that expose parts of the wheel. Even the seat is a separate visual element that just ever so slightly out of the rear half of the B2. What’s noteworthy, however, is the B2’s wheels, which feature a rather unique looking set of airless tires that rely on a pattern of varying-width circles to achieve the effect of bounce/suspension that regular tires provide. They also mean that when both stationary or moving, the bike is bound to look interesting and eye-grabbing.

Unlike the B1, the B2 comes with two headlamps, and features taillamps similar to the B1. The B2 also leaves out the dashboard from its design, probably indicating at a self-driving feature of some sort. Its overall design is unlike the stereotypical motorbike. Its form is much more integrated (if not monolithic) and gives much more visual priority to the wheels, allowing the bike form to pretty much be the same diameter and thickness as them. This would obviously mean a much lower ground clearance, but I’m not complaining. If these bikes can drive on their own, that shouldn’t really be a problem!

Designer: Dennis Sedov