This curvy, flat-helmeted thing is the result of an all-British partnership between Aston Martin and the revived Brough Superior brand. Built on a 180-horsepower turbo V-Twin, the AMB 001 is Aston's vision of what a cutting-edge motorcycle should be.
One of a flurry of new bikes to be released at EICMA 2019 in Milan, this isn't a concept bike. It's a limited-edition piece of "automotive art" that Aston and Brough plan to build just 100 examples of for the well-heeled. It's not, however, street-legal, lacking much of the compliance gear you'd need to get out on the road, but which would also sully the purity of a beautifully weird design.
Beyond the big 997cc V-Twin motor, little remains to identify it as a Brough build – and even that takes a back seat to the big, variable geometry, intercooled turbo spools. Aston's creative fingerprints are all over this thing, and its car-like curves are not unintentional. Look at that front fairing – you've never seen anything like that on a bike before. But that underhanging carbon shape will be familiar to car people, because it's a riff on a front splitter. Will it do anything on a bike? Look, probably not. But it's cute, that can't be argued.
The chassis uses the motor as a stressed member, and includes a CNC-machined "backbone" with a carbon fiber rear subframe and "titanium interfaces." The CNC machined swingarm has a very pretty curve to it, and the front suspension is built on a double-wishbone aluminum fork with a monoshock behind the front fairing, separating braking from suspension forces and removing brake dive from the riding equation as well as looking deadly cool.
The carbon bodywork features a unique ridge down the centerline, which terminates right in the middle of the full-color dash, splitting it in half and blocking a sizeable portion out of the middle. We're not sure why you'd put one of those there, but perhaps that's part of why these guys are Aston Martin and we're not. The saddle is a thin two-tone leather pad, and there are leather handlebar grips matching one of those two tones, along with very minimalist controls and buttons. The brakes are racy radial jiggers on non-vented discs, and the rims are barely-there forged aluminum jobbies.
As far as motorcycle designs made by car companies go, the AMB 001 would have to rank as one of the better examples going around. Aston's car designs are among our favorites in the auto world, and it seems the design aesthetic works on two wheels as well as four. Its looks are fresh, strange and shocking, and yet it still looks like it'd work as a motorcycle if you can deal with the seating position. That's hardly a worry, as it's only ever going to be ridden on racetracks and up onto display stands at events, anyway.
It's got more than enough special bits and street cred to make it a collectible, and we doubt Aston will have a problem moving those 100 individually numbered units – even at a price of €108,000 including tax. That would equate to around US$120,000, but prices can do weird things as they cross the Atlantic, so who knows what it'll fetch on American soil.
Enjoy lots more photos in the gallery – although rather oddly none of the left-hand side of the bike.
Source: Aston Martin
