Low flyer: Yamaha XS650 by Clutch Custom

We’ve probably used every superlative in the book to describe the Clutch Custom style by now. Propriétaire Willie Knoll builds bikes that we just can’t tear our eyes away from. As we’ve come to expect from the Paris-based builder, this XS650 is low-key and refined. But it’s stacked with hand-made bits and pieces—details that M. Knoll prides himself on, but claims won’t be noticed at first glance. For starters, the XS650 now packs an extra wallop thanks to an engine rebuild with a 750cc big-bore kit. Helping the extra cubic centimeters do their job are a pair of Dell’Orto carbs, K&N filters and classy Spark mufflers. The front-end has been thoroughly re-engineered too, with a set of Yamaha SR500 forks mated to custom-made triple trees. The front drum brake is also from an SR500. Like the stock XS650 rear hub, it’s laced to a new 18” rim, wrapped in Avon Roadrider rubber. To clean things up visually, Willie’s cut the wiring right down. (Since the XS650 has a kick starter, he’s also eliminated the battery.) The stock fuel tank has been re-tunnelled to accommodate the remaining electrical components. The café-esque seat unit and cowl are hand-made, perched on top of a re-worked subframe. Other one-off bits include new clip-ons, foot pegs, exhaust and headlight brackets and a very neat gas cap. Minimalist lighting rounds off the package. Willie has kept the finishes on the XS650 raw and industrial—with just a splash of color on the fuel tank and headlight lens. We applaud Monsieur Knoll for his impeccable taste. And we’re intrigued to hear that what started out as a personal project is now for sale. Would it fit in your garage? First appeared in www.bikeexif.com

Momoto SR500: blueprint for a budget cafe

Half a century ago, a café racer was a bike stripped to the essentials. Tuned for maximum performance over the short haul, it was usually a secondhand bike that didn’t break the bank—and was tweaked on a budget.
These days, the true modern café racer is probably a ‘streetfighter,’ a battered GSX-R or Ninja stripped of its bodywork. But we prefer the charm of bikes like this German-built Yamaha SR500—a thoroughly modern custom with a nod to the classic British style of fifty years ago.

It’s a 1979 SR500 belonging to Hannover-based Patrick Frey, an industrial designer with petrol running through his veins. He’s imbued his Yamaha with a clean, understated look—and boosted the dynamics without compromising usability. You could say it’s a textbook ‘new wave ‘ custom.
Yamaha’s bulletproof single gets added pep from a Mikuni TM36 flatslide carb and a K&N air filter. Gases exit via a free-flowing SuperTrapp megaphone exhaust with a satin finish.

The tank is from an XS400, modified with knee indents. And the flow into the custom seat unit is dead flat—as it should be. (“It was very important for the bike to have an absolutely horizontal line,” says Patrick.)
To get the right stance, he’s lowered the forks four centimeters and fitted shocks from a Kawasaki Zephyr 550. The tires are sporty Bridgestone Battlax BT45s.

The braking system is upgraded too, with Brembo P4 components and an EBC 320mm floating disc. Brembo levers are slotted onto Telefix clip-ons, and the rearsets are from LSL.
Patrick has installed a new loom to keep the wiring to a minimum, and hidden a gel battery and most of the electrics under the custom seat unit. Tiny indicators are built into the bar ends, and the brake light is a slim LED strip at the back.

The lower half of the SR500—all the engine and mechanical parts—is coated in graphite metallic powder. “There are so many elements on a bike and so many different forms, but having one color settles it down,” says Patrick. Up top is a simple, creamy gloss white. It’s stark but effective.

If you’re hankering after a cost-effective and stylish bike that’ll keep running until the gas supplies dry up, consider this as the blueprint.
Patrick Frey | Studio Momoto

First read in http://www.bikeexif.com

The Bone Shacker

Yamaha XT 600 Teneree "Spacca Ossa" ( transl. Bone shaker)

by Lorenzo Fugaroli a.k.a. Fugar Metal Worker - Ancona, Italy

Photos by Ruben Lagattolla

When I first published the early photos of this bike, the feedback of my readers was good but probably less of what I expected. Having admired this bike live, heard her voice screaming and felt my bones shaken, I decided to publish some more shots professionally taken by our friend Ruben... Enjoy the photoshoot and read -just in case you missed- the Lorenzo's intro to his iron horse. 

"Fuck the purists and the nostalgic lovers of the old and obsolete big enduro bikes... Huge elephants with tanks that need a capital to be filled, equipped with ugly plastic fairings and shock absorbers that make you seasick... I cut, welded and forged an old Yamaha Teneree, making it an unconventional bike which cannot and doesn’t want to be categorized in any cliché... It's not a scrambler: too low. It's not a dirt-track: the handlebar is too bent. It’s not a street-tracker, because of the knobbly wheels. It’s a male machine. Evil mechanics and a doubtful exercise in style. Are you brave enough to ride it? 55cv and 105 kg, all-aluminum, kick start. Its name is Spacca Ossa (Bone Shaker). The electrical system is ridiculous. The engine is pissed off. The work on the details? Titanic. If you don’t like... I still have all the fairings: pale blue and loose bowels yellow". Lorenzo 

 

First read on http://inazumacafe.blogspot.it/

2015 Yamaha XJR1300- the morder cafe

Intermot just received its first look at the new Yamaha XJR 1300 and XJR 1300 Racer. Both bikes fall into Yamaha’s “Sport Heritage” model line positioned between the likes of the V-Max, XV950, and SR400. Taking a few styling cues from collaboration with amazing bike builders such as Deus Ex Machina, Wrenchmonkees, and Keino, these two new models continue Yamaha’s interest in producing customized “Yard Built” bikes harnessing modern day technology mixed with classic styling.

2015 Yamaha XJR1300

They both keep the old reliable air-cooled 1,251cc 4-cylinder with 98hp but get a new nostalgic take on the styling with a slim tank, reworked single seat, and black 4-2-1 exhaust.  Rear Ohlins suspension and Diamond-Like Carbon inner tubes up front keep handling sorted out.  The XJR 1300 has an upright riding position while the Racer on the other hand goes full-bore with a carbon cowling, carbon front fender, carbon rear seat cover and clip-on bars putting the rider in an advanced riding position.

READ MORE: 2014 Intermot Coverage
Each of the bikes get aluminum side covers which are supposed to harken back to the seventies number plates. I just can’t get over how much they stick out above the other styling and it would probably be the first thing I pulled off, or “customized”, if I had one. But seeing as how this bike won’t be coming to the states any time soon, I wouldn’t have a chance anyway.

READ MORE: 7 Reasons to Attend the Red Bull Straight Rhythm 
At least it gives us an idea of what Yamaha has up its sleeves and just how comfortable they are collaborating with custom bike builders. Many times these customized collaborations get left on the drawing room floor, so it’s nice to see some of the styling make it through to production.

READ MORE: Motorcycle Buyer's Guide 

First read on https://rideapart.com/articles/2015-yamaha-xjr1300

Orange Crush: Plan B’s Yamaha XV 750

The Benelli Mojave is an endangered species. In the 1960s, it was virtually disposable, and sold by a chain of department stores. But today it’s prized by the motorcycling equivalent of big game hunters.
They’re after one vital component: the Mojave’s immaculately proportioned, café racer-style tank. And the best place to show off that tank is on the frame of a Yamaha Virago.

Virago customs are two-a-penny these days, but this XV 750 is something special. It’s the work of Italian Christian Moretti, who runs Plan B Motorcycles and has an eye for a good line.
For several years, the orange tank hung on the wall in Christian’s living room. And then prospective client Mr. F. dropped in with his Yamaha. “I knew it was the perfect fit,” says Christian. “I have to thank Greg Hageman and Classified Moto for being the first to put the Mojave tank on a Virago, but I wanted to push it further.”

Christian reworked the frame to make the tank sit lower, and built a new tail unit from scratch. The visual flow of the bodywork is now worthy of any factory stylist.
The mechanical side is more than up to scratch, too. The 43mm Showa forks are from a Ducati 916, and installed with custom yokes to ensure the correct rake and trail. The shock is also Showa, but this time from a Yamaha R1. And a reinforced swingarm improves the handling even further.

It may seem strange to retain the drum brake at the back, but it looks good. And up front, a 320mm floating disc with Brembo calipers provides plenty of stopping power. The wheels have been converted to spokes—and dropped an inch in diameter, down to 18” at the front and 15” at the back. A bobbed Triumph Thruxton fender and clip-on bars add to the deportivo flavor.

The sinuous exhaust terminates in a pair of stunning HP Corse Hydroform mufflers. But we reckon the highlight is the orange paint—a Porsche color from 1973.
It looks just perfect on that tank, doesn’t it?
Hat tip to Megadeluxe | Plan B’s Yamaha XT600 | Plan B website | Facebook

The post Orange Crush: Plan B’s Yamaha XV 750 appeared first on Bike EXIF.

Yamaha XJR1300 by Keino Cycles

In the cuisine game they call it a fusion. In music it’s known as a mash-up. And in biology it’s a hybrid. Put simply, it’s when you take two different things and make something new, unexpected and original. Now take that thought and consider today’s builder, one Sasaki-san of Brooklyn’s Keino Cycles. He’s bringing the Japanese obsession with craft and dedication to America, the birthplace of cool. So let’s meet the latest result of this grand cultural collision – it’s an unexpected take on a Yamaha XJR1300 created for the company’s “Yard Built Specials” project, entitled ‘Rhapsody in Blue’.

The bike is a concept born from the search for inspiration by Yamaha themselves. The collaboration between themselves and Keino is one of many the Japanese company has sought out. It, like many of the world’s top manufacturers, has tweaked to the global bike community’s ever-growing love for bespoke transport and has kicked off projects with some of the world’s best custom builders, a list which also includes the Wrenchmonkees, Deus Ex Machina, Marcus Walz and Roland Sands.

As you can see, Keino’s work on the XJR is more than a little original. The first eye-catcher is probably the lower, slimmer fuel tank with the matching scalloped tailpiece. It’s just about now you’ll probably notice the inclusion of Keino’s signature springer front-end designed suspension. Sure, it’s unexpected on a bike like this, but it’s hard to argue that it doesn’t work well.

But the customising doesn’t stop there. There’s custom brake mounts, a new headlight assembly and custom handlebars. The bike also gets a Brembo brake upgrade, exposed air filters and a single seat on top of a custom rear frame. The special rear shocks match the front springer system and eagle-eyed classic car lovers will recognise the rear light is an original piece from a vintage MG sports car.

The retro, Yamaha-inspired paint job and gold wheels set the bike off well and a set of throaty side exhausts and mufflers completes the look. Keino’s inspiration for the XJR build comes from Yamaha’s 90s bikes along with a clear passion for the Japanese inline four air-cooled engine.

Considering Keino’s first motorcycle influences as a child were all Yamaha 650 ones, he somehow seems to have been destined to be working with Yamaha on a custom bike at some point. And judging by what we see here, we doubt this will be the last. Bring ‘em on, we say.