Yamaha Piano Designers Create "Root" Concept Motorbike

The 9th Edition of the Biennale Internationale Design Saint-Etienne 2015 (a prestigious design exhibition in France) is coming up and Yamaha is going in with a rather odd entry this time. Instead of getting their bike design team deployed on the project, Yamaha decided to do something outright eccentric.

One day, the chap in charge of assigning the team picked himself up during the board meeting and said, “Hey, don’t we have a couple of boffins who design pianos and guitars? How about we get them to design a bike?” And the rest of the suits in the room nodded in agreement.

READ MORE: The Risks of Not Riding a Motorcycle | RideApart

Jokes aside, Yamaha Corporation and Yamaha Motor Co., Ltd. decided to joint forces and exhibit at the event. In preparing for "project AH A MAY," the design divisions of the two Yamahas exchanged their design fields, and without any constraints related to production or commercialization, created a plan according to each Yamaha’s method and way of thinking.

Thus the Root (√) was born. Yep, they called the concept bike the “√”. To build it, they took a brand new MT-01, stripped it off whatever little body panels it had, replaced the fuel tank with one that is the size of a mineral water bottle, and essentially reduced the bike into an engine and two wheels.

READ MORE: The Best of The One Motorcycle Show Will Leave You in Awe | RideApart