"Collective creativity", that’s what we call it. There’s no other way to describe what happened during the 2 weeks after we announced the Amarok competition.
The 150 and then some entries amazed all of us. It’s not just the number of entries but the quality and the high level of work, the friendly spirit of helping each other on with comments about technical solutions, design choices and aesthetics - all rather mind boggling. After taking some extra time to shorten the list down to 50, then to 10 and then finally to three we’re ready to announce the winners.
We were looking for:
- Low weight
- Reasonable ease of manufacturing
- Originality of design
- Aesthetic strength (vis a vis the bike)
And the winners are…
1st place - Danny Tas! Danny takes home a brand new Apple iPad 2, Amarok crew tshirt and a poster. In addition the Amarok Racing guys will do a feature with him on their website.
2nd place - Benjamin Garson who gets the Amarok crew tshirt and a poster.
3rd place - Scott Bruins gets the Amarok crew tshirt and a poster.
Why these three?
The model from Danny (569 grams) caught our eye right away. It’s got everything we love about great mechanical design - it’s elegant, simple, light and strong. The design is very smart and it’ll be easy to machine the piece. Did we mention that it’s light?
The webs and arc shape in plain view personify the Amarok fuselage philosophy.
Benjamin’s 2nd place winner (under 700 grams) is quite different from Danny’s entry. It’s angular, it’s sharp, it rugged, yet simple. It communicates great strength.
We love the contrast of the mechanical brutality of this design against the softness of Amarok’s bike’s fairing.
It doesn’t hurt that Benjamin really knows how to bring out the strong points of his design with excellent renderings.
Scott, like Benjamin, took several stabs at designing the triple clamp and this one (758 grams) really stood out for us. Once again simplicity is the key, it looks "airy" yet strong. The design is "nice and techy" with a beautiful clamping solution.
This clamp would make any bike look good and "faster".
If anything then a small diet would make it even better.
Which one was your winner and why? See all the triple clamp models submitted to the contest.
What’s next?
We’ll contact the winners about receiving the prizes and I will post a second update with runner ups - models that we really liked and that deserve a special mention.
Meanwhile, Amarok Racing team will mill the winning clamp for the bike but due to tight timing with the upcoming race it’ll take some time. The team is hoping to get it tested in the summer when the weather is the best for testing. We’ll keep you posted on the progress with this as details become more clear.
And here’s the Amarok poster that the winners will get. Go see them race
Amarok photo: Arash Moallemi
