Young guns Diamond Atelier burst onto the new wave scene a couple of years ago and somehow managed to build bikes that stand out in a very crowded space. Their first couple of Airhead Beemers were aggressive, meticulously finished and exuded class. Tom Konecny, 23 and Pablo Steigleder, 25 founded their Munich workshop in 2013 and haven't had a moment to look back. They split duties 50:50 on the mechanicals but Tom excels at design, Pablo at electronics and intern Charles Murillon is helping them out for a few moths, so between them all bases are covered. A couple of weeks ago the guys arrived at Bike Shed Paris 2016 with their fantastic display of daring to be different, in the form of a slammed DR650 and this BMW R nineT, built in collaboration with Bavarian based basketball brand K1X. Both companies were established within a stone's throw of BMW's HQ so it made perfect sense to build an urban assault weapon based on a new R nineT. Despite this model having been fettled by every man and his dog over the last 18 months Tom and Pablo have succeeded in creating a truly distinctive machine. Rather than just bolt on some trick parts from a catalogue and paint a corporate stripe down the tank the Diamond Atelier crew invested over 400 hours into this project. DA#4 was built to wow and not to appease an accountant. The fuel tank is a beefy vessel, handmade in-house from aluminium and not only looks mean but serves as a home for the myriad of wires, control units and relays that are part and parcel of modern motorcycles. The Linergy battery pack and modified loom share real estate with the fuel and as a result the rear end is a whole lot tidier. The functional and subtle intact tracts on the stock bike have been binned, replaced by aluminium tubing that passes right through the tank, and anti-camouflaged with a cow print type pattern. Inspiration for the paint scheme was taken from the extensive K1X apparel and footwear catalogue but I'm going with racy cow. The tail and seat unit have been fabricated from aluminium and kept as svelte as possible. Rear lights and indicators are neatly grafted in, combined with the Motogadget inconspicuous M-Blaze bar end flashers the intrusion of legality is pretty minimal on this build. Keys and ignitions are a bit passé these days so here you'll find the Motogadget RFID M-lock. BMW's boxer engine isn't exactly short on performance so an ECU remap was all that was required to make the most of more open headers, fabricated in-house of course, the altered intake trumpets and quick action Domino throttle. German machining powerhouse ABM produce an array of CNC'd components for the R nineT and helped out with a few parts the DA#4. The clipons and fluid reservoirs are a pleasant change from Rizoma and seeing as the guys wanted to keep the project as patriotic as possible ABM seemed the obvious choice. The timing cover took a while to programme on the mill but was worth the effort. Partisan parts sourcing continues with the chassis. Wilbers Blackline forks out front and adjustable rear shock are more exotic than the usual gold anodised setup craved by the masses. The wheels have been rebuilt with reinforced spokes, plenty stout enough to cope with the added grip offered by the Metzeler Racetec superslick tyres. As if all these trick components weren't enough there's a 0.17 carat diamond set into the top triple clamp and solid sterling silver K1X logo tank badges - proper bling. Despite so much effort being placed on aesthetics, the DA#4 ain't no show pony, expect to see those Metzelers shredded at Glemseck later this summer. If you can't wait that long and happen to be near Munich next Friday there's a launch party at House of HRVST. They'll be plenty more to come from Tom & Pablo but for now Facebook | Instagram | Web Photo credit: Lukas Magerl Photography