Flying Flea aims to bring sculptural design and soul to electric motorcycles

Promotion: motorcycle company Royal Enfield has put the focus on design and accessibility with its new electric brand, Flying Flea, hoping to attract a new demographic of riders, its creative team told Dezeen.

Flying Flea's first motorcycle, the C6, is lightweight and agile – just like the brand's namesake, the famous World War Two-era British military bike, which was dropped out of planes by parachute to help soldiers reach the frontline.

Its design references the iconic lines of the original Flying Flea, as the company aims to marry the benefits of electric technology with an appreciation for history and heritage.

"If you look at motorcycles or cars right now, they often look the same," said Royal Enfield chief growth officer of Electric Vehicles and Flying Flea, Mario Alvisi. "As if electric technology means to build a product that almost has no soul, that is very futuristic in terms of look and style."

"We don't want to do that," he continued. "We believe that behind the technology there is a soul."

The Flying Flea C6 is Royal Enfield's step into the world of electric motorcycles and represents a movement to transform the market by focusing on urban mobility, safety and style.

Flying Flea describes itself as creating a new category of "City+" mobility – for urban environments and their surroundings – and says riders can enjoy charging on their terms, whilst enjoying a coffee.

Keyless to start and ride, it is intended to be both lightweight enough to be wheeled into an apartment and attractive enough to sit there on display.

Believing that the true potential of electric technology would be most valuable in a lightweight motorcycle without a heavy engine, Flying Flea looked to an authentic story from Royal Enfield's history for inspiration.

The lightweight and nimble Flying Flea – which went on to be adopted by civilians for urban transport after the war – became the muse, with both design legacy and functional purpose.

One such homage is in the C6's forged aluminium girder fork, a modern reinterpretation of the suspension system on the front of the original vehicle.

"The girder fork was something in the '30s, '40s and '50s that was pretty popular in motorcycles," said Alvisi. "The incredible effort that our industrial design and our product development teams did together was to recreate a girder that looks beautiful and also creates a very unique riding style."

Reimagined with modern materials and engineering, the girder fork improves stability and provides sharp steering, explained Royal Enfield global head of industrial design Siva Kumar.

"Another thing is, you need to see this in action," added Kumar, explaining that the segments of the fork move at each joint. "It's mechanical excellence. It's mechanical beauty."

Elsewhere on the motorcycle, Kumar said his team endeavoured to take inspiration from the "innovativeness" of the Flying Flea with original features.

This is most visible on the magnesium battery case at the centre of the vehicle, where the fins that are required for cooling are given a sculptural form. This was imagined by Kumar, who is from a family of artisans whose sculptures grace the temples of Tamil Nadu in India.

In his creation, protruding front fins represent the disruption and dynamism of technology, and merge with more fine and elegant lines that travel from the rear, representing history and legacy. Where they meet, a subtle wing shape emerges, symbolising harmony.

Kumar originally presented the battery fin design to the Royal Enfield team in clay, leaving them "feeling something special," said Alvisi.

The team's vision is that the focus on design, artistry and lifestyle will allow Flying Flea to appeal to people who have so far been alienated from the motorcycle market, whether petrol or electric.

"For example, some of my closest friends and my wife have always loved motorcycles, but they’ve never had one because they’re like, 'I don't want to deal with the clutch, I don't want to deal with the gearbox, I don't want to deal with the noise'", said Alvisi.

"This appeals to them, this lifestyle approach, they're gonna buy one."

To learn more about Flying Flea follow the brand on Instagram.

Partnership content

This article was written by Dezeen for Flying Flea as part of a partnership. Find out more about Dezeen partnership content here.

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