It?s a Yamaha XSR900 built for the Dutch watchmaker TW Steel and called ?Æon.? And yes, there?s a huge gap where you?d normally expect to see a tank.
Diamond?s Tom Konecny takes up the story: ?We?d never ridden, let alone built a XSR900 before, so there was a moment of silence when the Yamaha courier dropped off the brand new bike. But we quickly spotted the most striking feature of the XSR900: the organic shape of the frame hugging the three-cylinder engine.?

?Style-wise, the edgy panels and exposed bolts and rivets come from the early B?s?zoku scene,? says Tom, ?and since been adopted by brands such as TRA Kyoto and Liberty Walk. We decided to go down this route because we haven?t seen anybody in the motorcycle scene pick up on these styling features.? It?s one hell of a radical approach for sure. Is it a step too far" ?Because it?s ultra aggressive yet minimalistic, we did question if we were going too far,? Tom admits. ?But our progress has always come from pushing the boundaries. And with TW Steel wanting something over the top, we went for it.?

Extending the monochrome color scheme are ABM steel braided brake lines, and the (already exceptional) handling of the XSR gets a boost from Pirelli slicks.
The engine is the XSR900?s great strength, so Diamond Atelier have just tickled it lightly with a set of K&N filters and a one-off SC Project exhaust system.

Æon is one of the boldest approaches to custom styling we?ve seen in recent years, and sure to po...