Written by Marlon Slack
Germany?s Diamond Atelier craft motorcycles so clean you could eat off them. And they don?t do one at a time – the team work and refine a design, gather the parts and build a limited run of them. It?s a clever process that keeps the workshop humming and price well below frightening. This year they?ve nipped, tucked and tidied one of their previous classics to make the Mark II Evo, a lean cafe racer based around a BMW R100R.

The basis for the new Mark II Evo is, funnily enough, their stellar Mark II. ?It was our most successful project,? Diamond Atelier?s Tom Konecny says, ?But as you know, we never just sit back and relax. The idea behind our ?series? bikes has always been to perfect the building process and deliver the highest level of craftsmanship?. Cleaner that the Pope?s mind
Look at the pics. The fit and finish and attention to detail are as stellar as you?d expect from the teutons at DA. But what?s the biggest difference between the Mark II and the Mark II Evo" The donor bike. ?It?s the more modern and technically advanced BMW R100R Paralever, rather than the R80RT Monolever we used on the original series,? Tom says.

There?s a host of reasons for the switch. ?The swing arm and shaft drive in themselves are considerable improvements,? Tom explains, ?The paralever uses two links to connect the rear drive to the transmission. That keeps the rear drive at a constant angle? and the torque of the wheel doesn?t result in suspension move...