Minus the mid-century innovations by Yamaha, Honda, and Suzuki, one could argue that motorcycling might be a lost art today. With their small engines, low profiles, and street-rider stances, these lightweight hallmarks of design give new riders all over the world a way into the fray, and experienced riders the perfect minimal ride.
These days, Yamaha motorcycles are at the core of the custom scene. They offer the perfect platforms for stylish urban rides with cheap price tags.
Models like the Yamaha XS650, SR400, XSR700 and XSR900 are among a legendary line of Yamaha motorcycles that beg to be turned into café racers, bobbers and trackers—and they fill our galleries of great builds.
It’s getting hard these days to tell if a custom comes from an amateur or professional workshop; the part-timers are really leveling up. And then you have that curious middle ground—the growing number of serial custom hobbyists who could probably make the jump into full time if they wished. BaaM Garage is one of those…
Read more »
Back in the 90s, the Japanese manufacturers went through a phase of building Italian-style sportbikes. Honda had the SuperHawk, and Suzuki the TL1000S—both 90° V-twins. Yamaha, however, took the 10-valve DOHC parallel twin used in its sport tourers and came up with the TRX850. The critical reception was mixed, to say the least, but these…
Read more »
The garage tools and techniques might be the same, but there’s not a lot of overlap between race and custom bike building. At the simplest level, it’s a Venn diagram, with ‘function’ in one circle and ‘form’ in the other. Occasionally a bike falls into that tiny overlap though, and the results can be incredible.…
Read more »
This brutal-looking Yamaha RD350 is nearly fifty years old, but when the lights turn green, not much will be able to keep up. It might not be pretty, but it’s pretty fast. Built by land speed record holder Eric LeVine, it’s a street legal (just add mirrors) race bike. Designed to run in the Bonneville…
Read more »The Yamaha Virago is one of those bikes that just keep on giving. Yamaha’s V-twin cruiser first popped up in the early…
Read more »The Yamaha DT175 is one of those classic bikes that look ‘just right.’ With a small tank, fat seat and raised fenders,…
Read more »Forty years ago, Yamaha made a brief foray into the flat track scene in the States with its XV750 race bike. Like…
Read more »There’s nothing unusual about building a custom motorcycle with the primary purpose of taking it to a show. But what if the…
Read more »I just did a quick check, and my suspicions were confirmed: we’ve never featured a Yamaha TTR250 build on EXIF. Which is…
Read more »Like the Honda CX500, the Yamaha Virago is one of those “sow’s ear” bikes: it’s a challenge to make a silk purse…
Read more »It’s a newsier mix than usual this week, with the Yamaha SR400 finally down for the count, and a top European motorcycle…
Read more »Istanbul-based brothers Mert and Can Uzer are known for their sleek, super-clean custom builds, but their latest creation has a surprisingly practical…
Read more »
