VOL. 56 ISSUE 19 MAY 14, 2019 P85
suspension slanted at 45 degrees and
attached directly to the swingarm. The
FTR 1200 S frame gets the trademark
Indian maroon red paint with black for
the base model, although one of the
most significant differences is the fully
adjustable suspension for the S versus
preload and rebound only on the rear for
the base model.
Brakes are the same across both
machines in the Brembo M4.32 monob-
loc front calipers biting down on 320mm
discs, with the rear a 260mm disc and
a single Brembo P34 two-piston caliper
with ABS as standard on both models,
but switchable only on the 1200 S.
The show rolls on beautiful 19-inch front
and 18-inch rear wheels with Dunlop de-
veloping a street version of their DT3 race
tire in the DT3-R. The DT3 is a tire that's
won more races than even Dunlop cares
to remember, and the street version
Christoph's love of design is
infectious, and he takes great pride
in his creation of the FTR1200.
ficient design. Much like the FTR750,
with the 1200, we had to intelligently
position where the airbox was, where
the fuel was, where the battery was,
and then wrap that body and all that
musculature with skin and you form
this beautiful silhouette. It's very bal-
anced. It's very sleek and sensual.
"I was always inspired by the MV
Agusta F4, Ducati 916 and the 996.
I grew up on a Suzuki TL1000S.
Aprilia was very nice, but there was
something a little bit more harsh
about it in the way it was executed.
So I took that kind of application of
celebrating engineering. How do
you make the engineering sexy,
passionate? That's where the
real challenge comes in. But if
you just ignore engineering, then
it just looks like a form that was
done for no reason. So it really
takes a close relationship between
engineering and design to design
in all of those details but make
them look sculpted, make them
look passionate. To make it look
like bone and muscle and tendon.
That's a very muscular way and a
very strong and performing way to
execute kind of this foreign lan-
guage and all the details."
SPEAKS
