Custom chopper bikes have long departed from tuning and engineering, for decades now this field is moving to an area between what we can consider as expensive toys (performance bikes where performance is a mean, not the aim) and art. Shinya Kimura is one of the best examples of what inspired custom bikes could and even should be.

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This is a textbook case of great design through extreme simplicity. Common sense dictates that a toothbrush shouldn't contact other surfaces in order to stay clean. Placing the toothbrush to its stand however is usually inconvenient. The Dews toothbrush solves this problem by placing a weight in its rounded handle. The Dews toothbrush can stand by itself thus keeping its tip out of contact.

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I follow Yutaka Igarashi's work for some years now. I first notice him in a Cinema 4D ad in a magazine featuring his amazing one-seat helicopter. What he lacks in quantity, with a concept appearing every few years, he more than makes up in quality. The attention to detail and most importantly the imagination of his concepts is amazing.

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I am no big fan of the original 1982 Tron movie. Although it had pioneering CGI for the time its script was too far fetched. Syd Mead designed the famous light cycles but like most of his creations they are detached from any actual engineering or motorsport content. They look as if they want to impress people that don't have any special interest in motorcycling. After 28 years there is now a new Tron film ('Tron Legacy') and instead of Syd Mead, the major designer for the new film is Daniel Simon. He is mostly known from his excellent work on the 'Cosmic Motors' concepts and the book by the same name. Where Syd Mead had a mostly artistic view, Dan Simon, himself an avid motorsport fan has an approach mostly based on engineering and inspired from the world of high technology.

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Devon after the unfortunate GTX sportscar that failed to reach production because of the Dodge Viper production end (its donor car) now is focusing to smaller projects like this impressive wrist watch concept. The Tread 1 use a complex mechanism with four small precision stepper motors that move four very thin belts in order to show the time.

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Multiple electrical socket outlets are annoyingly bulky and they just collect dust if they are underused. A compact 5-plug socket that can retreat inside the wall when only one (or no) plugs are necessary is a very attractive invention. The concept is self-explanatory as you can see in the image above from ArtLebedev's Rozectus 3D concept. However there is an almost identical concept by Damjan Stanković. That could have been an extreme case of shameless copy but given the level and professionalism of both designers it should be another example of great minds that think alike.

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The small Toyota Sera coupe would have been long forgotten like the mechanically identical Paseo but its design and especially its doors gave it a timeless appearance that looks futuristic even after 20 years. The Sera used the mechanical under-printings of the Starlet and was introduced as a niche model only for the Japanese domestic market, however many cars found their way to RHD countries like UK and Australia. It was in production for 6 years and just below 16.000 Seras were made in total.

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Akiyoshi Takagi, a 36-year-old architect from Japan designed this 8-apartment block especially for residents who have a special place for the motorcycle in their lifestyle. Every apartment has its own separate garage in the ground floor which is connected to the respected apartment above it.

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The troubled Bertone design studio will present this concept car in the forthcoming Geneva motor show. It is named Pandion (a kind of sea bird) and it aims to showcase the potential of the studio. Pandion of course isn't a slightly camouflaged production car, it is just a design proposition showcasing some ideas that may apply to a future Alfa Romeo or (more likely) to any Bertone client. Studios usually use a brand for their concepts that sometimes may end up as production vehicles for other automakers. For example Italdesign Lucciola concept for a Fiat Cinquecento replacement lead to the Daewoo Matiz.

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