Olivier Ortolani has a flair for the dramatic. This is a guy who once wrapped a Ducati Panigale 1199 S in hand-shaped polished aluminum bodywork, so there’s no line he won’t cross. Which is exactly why his newest client was happy to let him loose. The owner of this 1982 Yamaha TR1 didn’t have a…
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Despite having a population of almost ten million people—more that Denmark or Switzerland—Hungary has a pretty low profile on the European custom scene. Maybe it’s because the country is tucked away in Central Europe. Or maybe Hungarians hide their lights under a bushel. Judging by this very sharp custom Yamaha TR1, however, there’s at least…
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The European sprint scene has exploded in the past few years. As well as the famous Glemseck 101 sprints, we’ve now got the Sultans of Sprint and Essenza series. And no self-respecting festival is complete without the roar of tuned machines racing down the eighth-mile. The bug has bitten many custom builders, but the adrenaline…
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Every manufacturer has a few oddball motorcycles in its back catalog. Bikes that sounded like a great idea on paper, but never really caught the imagination of the public. In Yamaha’s case, one of those bikes is the TR1—a V-twin tourer from the 1980s, closely related to the more successful XV750.
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