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In the strict sense, Kiska is KTM’s design agency. But the Austrian

studio is so much more than that... W hat began in 1990 as a one man outfit designing watches and the like, has since become

the last word in motorcycle design and the biggest design house in Austria, boasting a list of some of the most enviable clients in the world. The latest design from the firm is surely the greatest, too. As the world awaits the arrival of the new KTM 1290 Super Duke R, its designers have no time to bask in its creation’s glory. No, 2018’s bikes won’t design themselves…

Kiska is the eponymous firm of Gerald Kiska, and he and his expanding team have designed every KTM motorcycle since 1992 – as well as taken on projects for the likes of Audi, Adidas and Opel. When KTM went pop in 1991, the resurrected firm knew that the new firm would have to be different; it had to retain its edgy product range, but just communicate its message better.

Motorcycle performance is one thing – the ability of KTMs on and off road attests to this – bike design is another. Thanks to Kiska, you can tell a KTM from a mile off – and that’s not because it’s on one wheel. So a third crucial

factor comes into play in the commercial world we live in; branding. Kiska’s vision for KTM is stamped right across everything it does, from the signature orange colour to the awesome new 1290 Super Duke R to the entire motocross range to exhibition stands to that bloody toaster they sell. It’s a firm that’s ‘Ready to Race’ because Kiska told them that’s what people wanted, and KTM has delivered this message consistently for over 20 years now. Kiska got KTM to play on core themes like ‘Extreme’, ‘Performance’, and ‘Pure’, creating brand values that customers were buying in to. Cynical? In a way. Successful? There’s no doubt.

Nestled under the Alps that scythe Austria from Germany, Kiska is based out of an office you’d expect of a design agency; clean lines

matters

Without the vision of this man, KTM’s would look very different indeed...

Kiska’s designers put their experience in a vast array of products to create KTM’s aggressive looks and to experiment with new designs and materials

The number of the beast is no longer 666, but 1290

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kiskafeature

W o r d s : s i m o n ‘ r o o t s y ’ r o o t s p i c s : K t m

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first ten years the working relationship was based on a handshake alone. Pierer is the first to admit the huge influence Kiska has had on his company, “We needed to bring in good design concepts and Gerald Kiska was one of the key guys from the beginning because he is fantastic and an emotional motorcycle rider and understands the product, and that is important from the design side – it is not just about making a good looking bike, it must work.”

And with Kiska’s input, KTM had the final piece in the jigsaw. Developing a visual language distinct to the brand, and that all important orange colouring that was decided on in 1994 (“There were no other colours left” – Kiska). KTM was bossing offroad – but on road was a different story. 1994 was when KTM decided to compete here, and the Duke fitted the bill – radical, edgy but accessible

to all those with the wherewithal to give it a go. From here, further inroads were made on Tarmac, all with Kiska at the design helm, “I was so happy when KTM decided to move to the street,” says Kiska. “It was the greatest day of my life!” And as KTM’s ambitions got bigger, so did the vision of Kiska – as did sales. 6,976 KTMs were sold in 1992, all off road, but now KTM is Europe’s biggest bike manufacturer, having seen consistent growth over each and every year. 107,142 KTMs were sold last year – in a market that’s had the shit kicked out of it.

Kiska, like so many of his employees is a biker, and active participation is encouraged by the boss. “We need to hire motorcyclists because they speak the same language as the consumers. And our guys are all keen to break their bones every weekend! And sometimes they really do, but that is the price we have to pay.”

Kiska’s background in bikes is top notch,

KisKa: on X-Bow“The X-Bow was the outcome of a board discussion, along with Audi. It was about what car and bike manufacturers could do, about what a quad could do. We all agreed there was no solution for the quad. But there was something, and a team was put together for a couple of months to see what product could be imagined. Audi later decided not to take part, but this was at the 80 per cent stage of design. In 2007 at the Vienna car show it got an amazing reaction, and that was at a point when money was not a problem. If we believed in it, Pierer said, there was nothing else to do but build it. The car also helped KTM get noticed a little bit better. It’s the only car that motorcyclists wave at you.”

It Is not just about makIng a good lookIng bIke, It must work ”

and open spaces form the building while beautiful beings stare at giant Mac screens, imperceptibly tweaking the look of this and changing the hue of that while tattoos leak down their arms to the mouse that connects them to their computer generated design. Employing 120 staff from 15 countries, this is a melting pot of design. From the stunning concept KTM Venom in reception (think naked RC8 R), to umlauted new product samples of drinks packages scattered around the office, this place has design coursing through its veins. To someone who can’t even draw and whose concept of fashion is a Dainese hoodie, it’s an almost choking working environment.

But this atmosphere feeds creativity, and it’s clear that Kiska’s employees revere him and his massive body of work.

In many ways, Gerald Kiska and his firm is KTM, but KTM isn’t Kiska, as the motorcycle business accounts for ‘only’ a third of Kiska’s revenues (although KTM has a small equity share in the business). This diversity is good for the company and enables other design elements and market research principles to filter into Kiska’s two wheeled design work. KTM boss, Stefen

Pierer, and Gerald Kiska go way back and for the

drooling at pictures of the Kawasaki Z900 when he was a kid, before later owning the likes of Yamaha’s RD350 and 500. And with the latest small capacity Dukes in the range, Kiska can hark back to these halcyon days, “With these bikes, you realise you don’t need 150bhp to have fun. The 390 Duke has 35bhp, but you can squeeze it all out like a lemon. It’s a feeling I’ve forgotten for the last 20 years. It flicks into corners, because there’s no big 190 rear tyre. It’s easy to ride a motorcycle.”

KTM and Kiska were quick to realise the market was moving this way, towards smaller bikes. “That happened in 2007, a long time before the crisis showed up. Some manufacturers didn’t read the signs, and they will suffer for some years to come yet. Emerging markets are coming up, developed markets are coming down, so they will meet somewhere in the middle.” Kiska then spells it out. “We live in the future. There is some

KTM’s move to Tarmac prompted a radical new look

Kiska HQ. You weren’t expecting an industrial

unit, were you?

The gnarly Stunt was eventually formed into the 690 Duke

The Venom, left. was dropped when the ergonomics of the RC8 couldn’t be sorted

KTM’s move into the four wheeled world hasn’t been straight forward, but the X-Bow has made its mark

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58 november 2013 www.fastbikesmag.com

insecurity because you never know what will really happen, so you have to make some assumptions. So now we are currently figuring out where electric vehicles would make sense.”

Looking around the design floor we see new projects for us, but for Kiska this is very different. “To us, our studio with the bikes you can see looks like a museum. We took a long time to cover up everything! We have three clay models currently in progress that will be launched in three years time. We work three to four years in advance. KTM needs this time to develop a bike from top to toe.”

The design process is born from a philosophy developed 20 years ago. “The DNA of KTM has been consistent for two decades.

The customer must recognise you instantly. The colour is important but so are the design elements. The design is aggressive, the styling is edgy. Ducati, for instance, has the fourth head of design over the last 15 years, and this has an impact. So the principles of KTM since 1991 have remained the same. ‘Ready To Race’ is not a statement, it is a way of living for KTM. The way a KTM guy thinks is this. This is the spirit of the company. It also shows the innards of the company. So it is edgy, more aggressive.”

The aesthetics of a bike, however, are not initially the prime concern, because as a rider Kiska is guided by what he wants a machine to do first and foremost. “Our philosophy is that a motorcycle is a workplace for a pilot. So we put a lot of effort into ergonomics. When we started designing the bikes we invited riders into the studio and got feedback at such an early stage.

In offroad we always reference everything against Stefan Everts, because I’ve never met a man as picky as him. He fights for the last millimetre. He gave us such a hard time.”

And designing a bike isn’t easy. “The difficulty about motorcycle design versus car design is that everything you see has a function. A tank has to have a certain volume, house a fuel pump, it needs to suck every last drop of fuel and it needs to have an ergonomic use. Everything is like that on a bike. There are not many parts of a KTM that you can screw off and it still works. People that move from the car side to the motorcycle world find it hard in the beginning. The rest is a compromise between cost and aesthetics.

It’s our job that a KTM has to be recognised from a certain distance. So we make it look like a KTM and make it work for the pilot.”

The integration between the designers, modellers an in house engineers and the teams at KTM is close. “You have to discuss everything with engineers on a day to day basis, so there is a high level of integration necessary. And the distance to the factory is 25 minutes on a bike – and 45 in a car. This is good, because you don’t go there for no reason. So you have half an hour to think and prepare. But it gives us freedom from KTM and their engineers too.”

Not everything works, and there is a project management committee that meets every six weeks to give projects either the green or red light. “KTM said no to our first proposal of the 950 Adventure. The reaction from the public after the Intermot show was horrible. They said

Craig Dent: Designer of the BeastThe most exciting bike to be built in years was the brainchild of a British designer, Craig Dent. Dent’s background was working with the likes of BMW and Honda, but the move to Kiska has elevated him to the big league where he has since taken over the design work from Kiska himself on a day-to-day basis. “I started on the Duke 125, which led to the Adventure project and then the highlight of my time at Kiska, working on the 1290 Super Duke R. On a day to day basis, I have the responsibility of running the design for KTM, with Gerald overseeing everything. So he is there whenever I need him. Everyone thinks we are the exclusive design agency for KTM and that’s all we do all day, but we do a lot more than that. Our core competence and main philosophy behind our projects is performance. And because we get to work on a broad range of products that’s what differentiates us and what helps us to develop a different look for KTM.”

no to a 640 prototype in 1996, but the engine was so rough it took the whole bike apart. We have ideas for a project similar to the Diavel a few years ago, but they didn’t make it. But KTM is a company that never looks back. They are so forward thinking they forget what happened yesterday. So it is a trap to do retro or classic bikes. There is no follow up. You have to build a bike over two or three generations to make money, but you can’t get this with retro bikes.”

But when they get it right, boy do they get it right. From the early Duke to the first Super Duke to the RC8 to the X-Box and then finally to the Beast, KTM’s prototype 1290 Super Duke R, it’s all killer, no filler. Kiska is convinced why this is the case, “Design is a form of communication, so each KTM is saying pick me.” Marry this to the ebullient performance of every KTM and it’s no wonder that KTM is in rude health – and the imminent launch of the 1290 Super Duke R will only cement KTM and Kiska’s place at the top of the design hierarchy. Their future is certainly is bright, and there’s no doubting it’s orange… •

to us, our studIo wIth the current bIkes In looks lIke a museum! ”

It’s the stuff that’s under the sheets that’s really interesting...

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