Bandit9’s 650 Royal Enfield

He’s the Frank Zappa of the custom motorcycle scene, a totally independent, avant-garde artist who cares only about the creative process and the places it takes him. Daryl Villanueva is unlike any other builder we’ve encountered over the years, and along with the team around him, could easily adopt Zappa’s band name, Mothers of Invention. But instead, they are known worldwide as Bandit9, and their commitment to innovation and nonconformity is legendary, often sparking both enthusiasm and controversy. After putting in the hard work in the early years, high-end collectors, museums, and manufacturers have all come calling. And this bike, bound for a client in Germany and named Arthur II, is Daryl’s all-new take on an earlier design, adapted to the form of a Royal Enfield 650.

t’s not the first time Bandit9 has worked with Royal Enfield’s product. The original Arthur was built on the single-cylinder 535cc platform, as was a stunning bobber called Merlin. In 2021, Royal Enfield commissioned Daryl to create a kit for the GT 650, a true bolt-on affair that transformed the traditional lines of the company’s bike into a futuristic fire-breather, all with an instruction manual and a few hand tools. This gave Daryl a new challenge, creating a motorcycle that maintained true Bandit9 DNA, while still being easy to reverse. It was a far cry from his one-off, handbuilt bikes, but it taught him a huge amount about the RE parallel twin platform.