With availability of LEGO sets still being so spotty and many physical stores closed, I find myself more and more in a situation where I’m actually struggling to find something to buy. the availability of many sets is still spotty and prices just all too often don’t drop to a level that I would feel comfortable with. That’s why the Superbike (31114) ended up finding its way to me despite many other sets having been in front of it in the purchase queue.
Point in case: I had some concerns and reservations about this set, mainly its overflowing with too many Technic pieces for my taste in the context of a Creator 3in1 model, and only might have bought it much later, if at all. So essentially this is a case of “Something is better than nothing.” rather than something I was totally crazy about.
Contents and Pricing
The set retails for an official suggested price of 20 Euro. That’s technically not bad for a 236 pieces model, among which are some recognizably large Technic pieces. However, since I already have a sizable collection of Technic elements (which I rarely use these days) I did not have much interest nor any specific urgent need to get those. This of course skewed my perception of the value of this set. I would not have bought it at full price for reasons I’m going to explain later.
Thankfully the market corrects itself and since this set doesn’t seem to sell that terribly well, the actual street prices are much, much lower. Whether that’s always a good thing or not is open to discussion, but being dependent on the good graces of some decent discounts due to my situation you can imagine which side I’m on. I got this package ultimately for 13 Euro, which is acceptable. Given the low yield of interesting parts I still would have loved to see it drop even further, but one has to be realistic. So for all intents and purposes that’s a good price, after all.
The Model
I’m not much of a motor aficionado to begin with and even less so for bikes. therefore my knowledge about this subject is limited to occasionally watching MotoGP on TV and whatever motorcycles are driving around now that it gets warmer outside. Beyond that I just don’t get the appeal of riding around on an overpowered machine and risking life and limb. Then of course I used to cycle like crazy, which on some level is not much different. So this is not a judgement, just my opinion.
As I wrote, I was somewhat reluctant to even get this model because of the Technic parts and this shows right away. The front and rear suspension are built completely from liftarms and axles. Aside from not fitting with my overall perception of what the 3in1 series should be, it just looks a bit too simplistic and crude overall for my taste. There’s nothing wrong with it, as it also provides playability, I just would prefer the model emphasized good looks. Additional details would certainly enhance the appearance and personally I could perfectly live with a non-functional faux suspension.
From a technical point of view I think the rear section of the model is poking up a bit too high. Granted, I’m not an expert, but having the “ass” so far up in the air is something I only have seen on cross bikes where the suspensions are very soft and have a huge range of deflection to absorb the impacts from those crazy jumps. This IMO boils down to being a bit of a scale issue. To make the bike appear a bit flatter it would have to be one row taller and the liftarms a bit longer, so the spring element could be placed at a different angle. Then I guess something else would have looked off, though.
The central section is more or less one big block onto which everything else is clipped one way or another, but there’s a lot of trickery going on in that there is no actual frame or motor. Everything hinges on the few colored elements in Dark Azure selling the illusion, while the underlying construction consists of layers and layers of brackets and very few bricks. This makes the actual build extremely boring because at any given point during the assembly you are wondering when you get to the good parts. Mind you, it’s far from the repetitiveness of sets like e.g. the large Jurassic World T-Rex (75936), but for such a relatively small set you surely spend a good chunk of your time with something that isn’t very rewarding.
The cover pieces and decorations are rather sparse and limited a minimum number required to hide the block underneath. Arguably this could count as mimicking the thin sheet metal/ glass fibre/ carbon fibre shells those motorbikes have, but still feels like there’s not much substance. On the bright side, LEGO at least had the good sense to produce this arched plate in Dark Azure exclusively for this set. It looks the part and follows the contour of the front wheel, making it appear as if it was aerodynamically optimized.
The cockpit is a pretty barebones affair and aside from the use of the new 2020/ 2021 version of the dashboard slope there is not much going on here. Representing the steering handle with ratcheted hinges also does not feel ideal.
Concluding Thoughts
On the face of it this set wouldn’t be that bad – once you finish it, it looks quite nice and you can play with it. You also get some good Technic parts with the slip-free robot wheels and the shock absorber along with usable regular system pieces, few as there may be other than a ton of brackets. However, it still leaves you somewhat unsatisfied and pondering the possibilities of what might have been. I for instance would have loved if the Dark Blue elements came in Yellow or Bright Light Orange, but apparently this wasn’t in the cards. It would have made the model look a bit more attractive and contrasty.
Ultimately this is not a play set nor something that really fits into the Creator 3in1 series. More to the point this really feels like they should have gone the full mile and made this a completely Technic-based model so at least it would stylistically match the older BMW motorcycle (42063) or the current Ducati (42107), though even then the scale wouldn’t line up. So for what it’s worth, this model sits somewhere inbetween and is neither fish nor flesh, in a manner of speaking. That doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy it (and at least the quite similar secondary model of an alternate bike), but strictly from the viewpoint of a LEGO builder, not a motorcycle fan, there is little to be had here.
If it wasn’t for the current “drought” in LEGO land and my budget limitations I might have preferred other options. As a snack it’s okay for the price I got it for, but I bet that I will have forgotten that I ever built it pretty soon.
Mylenium's Brick Corner 