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.
Based in a country where sub-250cc bikes rule, it’s no surprise that K-Speed has a serious knack for transforming small-displacement models into mean, menacing-looking machines. Despite the Thai shop’s proclivity for pint-sized projects, K-Speed has worked with all manner of donors, including full-size models—which again, shouldn’t come as a surprise considering it completed almost five…
Read more »
Bad Winners is one of those shops that consistently do good work. It’s owned by Frenchman Walid Ben Lamine, who has an unusual and very performance-focused CV—including stints as a championship rower and a race team mechanic. It’s not surprising that the machines he puts together in his workshop in the 19th arrondissement of Paris…
Read more »
Yamaha’s latest push into the European custom scene has yielded some of the best XSR builds yet. The most recent Yard Built initiative involves nine different customizers, each producing bikes with a ‘Back to the Dirt’ theme. We’ve already seen stellar work from Germany’s Hookie Co., and a Portuguese build from Capelo’s Garage and Elemental…
Read more »
After an incredible seven years, Yamaha’s Yard Built custom program is still firing on all cylinders. In 2012 it kicked off with the Wrenchmonkees’ iconic ‘MonkeeFist’ XJR1300, and there have been over 60 pro builds since. This is the latest, an XSR900 called ‘CP3’ from Jens vom Brauck of JvB-Moto in Cologne. It tips the…
Read more »Any custom Yamaha XSR700 we feature is sure to spark discussion about the base bike’s design. The XSR700 draws criticism for its…
Read more »If you live in the USA, you probably won’t have seen the Yamaha MT-125. But the mini ‘hyper naked’ is popular in…
Read more »Every time Maarten Poodt completes another project, we feel like we’re looking at some obscure, classic Yamaha that we’ve never heard of.…
Read more »It’s just over three years since Yamaha launched the XSR700, and sales have been slow. That’s almost certainly down to the awkward…
Read more »Any designer knows: sometimes you need to give your client what they need, rather than what they’ve asked for. When Yamaha asked…
Read more »There are many ways to visualize a custom motorcycle before actually putting grinder to metal. Some builders start with a pencil and…
Read more »This week’s all about Yamaha, with a veritable squadron of cool customs from every genre—including a new SR500 from Shinya Kimura. There’s…
Read more »When we were talking to Brad Peterson about his XR750 street tracker a month ago, he let slip that he also had…
Read more »
