What do you do when you’re one of the world’s best motorcycle manufacturers and want to impress crowds at a prestigious design exhibition? If you’re Yamaha, you’d hand over the task to Yamaha Corporation, to the guys that make pianos, trumpets and other such musical instruments of course. Well, the Yamaha Root Concept is the result of such an effort – between Yamaha Motor Co. and Yamaha Corporation – for the upcoming 9th Edition of the Biennale Internationale Design Saint-Etienne 2015.

Part of “Project AH A MAY”, the eccentric √ (yes, that’s what it’s called) Concept is based on the MT-07, and as Yamaha puts it “By taking the meters on the instrument panel off the motorcycle rider’s view, the idea of the design is to enable him or her to be a part of the passing scenery. The form was created to flow from the seat to the fuel tank and was inspired by a horse motif that aims to give a sense of unity among people, nature, and the vehicle.” Whatever that means, the donor bike had all its panels stripped off, alongside the addition of a tiny fuel tank. The highlight has to be that weird seat though, strteching like a leather surfboard from the front to the reduced rear subframe.