When I think about Bobbers my mind conjures up images of cruising along a winding coastal road, sitting comfortably atop...
Yamaha Cafe Racer
Yamaha’s first motorcycle appeared in 1955. The 125cc two-stroke YA-1 went straight to the racetrack and started winning titles. Yamaha has built on those race credentials over the years, winning at the IOM TT and the Paris Dakar. Yamaha continues to run a successful factory race team in Moto GP.
Yamaha’s contribution to the custom motorcycle world includes the highly successful and long loved SR400 and SR500 singles we see in so many café racer builds. Other Yamaha custom favourites include the seventies XS650 twins and more recently their XSR700 and XSR900 Sport Heritage range.
Gold Rush is Daniel’s 3rd XJR1200 based build. As you would expect by now he’s become somewhat of an XJR...
The Winning Loser. Saved from a scrapyard and transformed in to a piece of custom motorcycle art, this Yamaha SR 250...
In 2007, Gregg DesJardins of GC Customs crafted an unparalleled streetfighter motorcycle, representing the pinnacle of customization. Starting with a...
Deus ex Machina came on the scene around about the same time I set up Return of the Cafe Racers...
I’ve been covering the Yamaha Yardbuilt series of custom bikes for some time now and have really enjoyed the projects...
The custom Yamaha SR250’s are taking over! After last week’s C59R “Little Blue” custom Tracker build from Barcelona we’ve headed...
Well, that wraps up yet another year of amazing cafe racer builds from custom workshops and backyard builders around the...
Yet another outstanding issue of Fuel Magazine is just about to hit the shelves. Grab a copy to see my...
There was always a motorcycle in our house when I was growing up, but my father’s real passion was collectible...
The Varkain (“Finnish for By Stealth”) Yamaha SR400 is one of my favourite creations to come out of Raider Motorsports...
The Eau Rouge Yamaha XJR1300 features a plethora of custom fabricated components made in house by the Deus Italian workshop....
I’ve always been intrigued by Yamaha’s MT-01 V-twin “muscle bike”. Back in 2008 I got really excited when they released...
If you ask me there’s two types of custom build, the clean and the down right dirty. Richard and Lex...
After spying the Yamaha XJR400 cafe racer on their website we contacted C-Racer crew member Antonis Kapetanios who was kind...
The Yamaha features the same Benelli 360 tank and custom seat combo that Greg used on the last Virago, but...
I first met the Ask Motorcycle guys when I went to the Mooneyes Yokohama Hot Rod and custom show in...
In the early 1980s, Yamaha introduced a new family of four-stroke motorcycles, with the XJ550 being one of them. These...
I recently stumbled across the Instagram profile of Cyu-G and his Yamaha SR400 cafe racer. Despite a language barrier we...
In motorsport, race teams are always looking for new ways to improve lap times. Back in the fifties when motorcycles...
After my recent purchase of a Yamaha TW200 I have rediscovered my love of “little” bikes. While I’m not about...
It’s not often that I feature Bobbers on the site and even less often that I feature custom motorcycles from...
We all know Kentucky Fried Chicken. It’s second only to McDonald’s for making Americans fat and scaring farm animals globally....
The Arcanum build began when I picked up a ‘78 Yamaha SR500 from a guy in Newcastle, it was an...
While the idea of belting down a freeway at a ton and a half on a big bore Cafe Racer...
The Yamaha Yardbuilt series will soon be celebrating its 10 year anniversary. Originally the brainchild of Yamaha Project Manager, Shun...
There’s two ways you can build a custom motorcycle. One way is to have a design idea that’s laid out...
Theo’s Frankenstein bike started out as a ‘96 Yamaha TRX but very few TRX components remain. The new engine hails...
With a workshop name like “it roCKS!bikes” the Portugese builders Osvaldo Coutinho and Alexandre Santos have set the bar high...
“Years ago I rode a ’72 Yamaha XS650 from California to Sturgis. I was wearing a Walmart rain suit in...
Jesse attributes his interest in building bikes to a 1971 Honda CB175 he restored with his father at the age...
The old saying ‘practice makes perfect’ rings true in the custom motorcycle community. Over the years I’ve seen many builders...
“We want to challenge the trope of nostalgic and aesthetically led custom motorcycles by encouraging others to experiment with the...
To start with can you tell us where the bikes name “Tramontana” comes from? Spartak: This is the bike’s name...
Neo-retro cafe racers have certainly become “a thing”. Merging retro styling with modern engineering is a very appealing proposition for...
Mark Bliss is a man of many talents, but it’s his work with motorcycles he’s most proud of. Both of...
Brrr… Lars and Jorg of Motorradtke GbR in Germany traditionally build and maintain Superbikes for the race track. However after...
Yamaha’s Yardbuilt series is the brainchild of the companies visionary project manager, Shun Miyazawa. The series kicked off back in...
The Skorpion Sport was produced by German motorcycle manufacturer MZ (Motorrad und Zweiradwerk) between 1994 and 2004. Although you may have never...
Is it just me or does this look like insanely good fun? There’s no denying that Yamaha’s legendary SR400 is...
Trevers father, John Scales, was a 2 stroke road racer during the 1970s. “I heard so many stories from my...
The Yamaha XS650 could easily be labelled as the greatest British motorcycle ever built outside of Britain. Powered by a...
Opening up the emails I receive through the “Submit a motorcycle” link on the site is one of my favourite...
Looking at this custom Yamaha SR500 built in Japan turns me in to the equivalent of that crazy fish in Finding...
For the Yardbuilt 2017 XSR700 project, Yamaha selected 7 workshops from different European locations to take part in the event. Representatives from Italy,...
This 1981 Yamaha XV750 Virago has been transformed into a cafe racer, featuring a metallic gray finish with gold accents....
The Blue Rhapsody takes its main inspiration from the 90’s race bikes Keinosuke saw on the streets of Japan in...
Vintage Steele of Brattleboro, Vermont, transformed this 1975 Yamaha XS650 into a café-racer. The bodywork, featuring the original four-gallon fuel...
“Raw & Rough. I´ve always wanted a little Cafe Racer for the urban and offroad section. It’s a kind of a...
Not content with simply building a tidy Yamaha SR based Cafe Racer, the crew at Rocker Classic Cycles decided to...
This 1982 Yamaha XV750 Virago has undergone extensive customization with a range of unique components. These custom additions include a...
This 1975 Yamaha RD350 underwent a café racer conversion in 2014. The changes encompassed an orange repaint over a black...
While Yamaha has previously focused on customising bikes from their Sports Heritage range during the Yardbuilt series, Faster Sons will...
As it always goes, popularity affects price, so the days of picking up a bargain XS are gone and it...
Tim Kills BSA A65 Bobber On November 3rd & 4th I co-hosted a custom motorcycle exhibition in Melbourne named Oil...
What’s not to love about two-stroke motorcycles? The alluring smell, the exhilarating sound and the white-knuckled terror of an unpredictable...
“Stop dreaming, just start building!” These are the words you’ll find on Andy Megerle’s Instagram profile. I’ve featured a couple...
Yamaha produced the mighty TZ 250 from 1973 all the way through to 2004. When the model was first released...
“Sport Heritage” Never has the combination of those two words made as much sense as when applied to the Yamaha...
I hate to say it but there is a downside to riding a classic British cafe racer. Sure you’ll revel...
During the early 1970s, Kenny Roberts shot to stardom as a rider in the American Yamaha racing team. In 1973...
Sadly it looks like Yamaha’s venerable SR400s time is coming to an end. Like so many other motorcycles falling victim...
The mighty Yamaha XS650 has been a hot favourite in the custom scene for decades and a personal favourite of...
Spotted this great Yamaha R5 “Giant Killer” custom on Garage Project motorcycles. After a bit of digging all I managed to...
Nothing makes me happier than featuring custom motorcycles that have been built in my hometown. Today’s café racer is the...
The Wrenchmonkees have just released details of the bike that represents a half-century of custom motorcycle builds from the Denmark based...
After more than 35 years of production, the Yamaha SR400 has had little in the way of design modifications. The...
Japanese workshop AN-BU Customs has developed an instantly recognisable style of their own. Their recipe involves mixing tight proportions, with...
Cafe Racer SSpirit, located in San Sebastián, Gipuzkoa, is a motorcycle customization workshop founded in late 2014 by a family...
Back in 2005, when I first became interested in the Japanese custom motorcycle scene, finding insights into their world took...
As 2014 comes to an end I thought I’d take a (close up) look at some of the incredible work...
Boner…That’s what this custom Yamaha XS650 is called. Not your usual custom build title but Death Spray Customs isn’t your...
Bernhard Naumann, aka Blechmann, grew up in Burgenland, a federal state of Austria in central Europe. Growing up in a...
Stu Lloyd grew up in the UK during the late ’70s and early ’80s. As a young boy, his leisure...
Looking back over a few of our recent features it seems that building retro customs out of modern sports bikes...
Deus Bali appeared on the scene only a few short months ago and it seems they are already wheeling some...
I never thought I was a fan of muscle bikes until I rode a Yamaha XJR1300. It was in 2015...
The Yamaha TX650, introduced in the early 1970s, was a motorcycle designed to rival the dwindling popularity of British twins....
You could be forgiven for thinking that laying bricks and building custom motorcycles have nothing in common. But if you’re...
Yamaha’s legendary XS650, it’s reputation precedes it. The XS is one of the most widely customised bikes in the world so to...
Over in the UK Shaun & Carl of custom workshop ‘Down and Out’ Cafe Racers usually play with parallel twins, but...
Back in 2006 one of the first motorcycles that really got me excited about the custom scene was a Yamaha...
To transform the XV950 cruiser into a cafe racer styled machine Marcus began by dramatically modifying the bikes rear end....
The story of the TX750 is one that Yamaha would rather we all forgot. The bike, which was set to...
There’s beauty in simplicity. Apple have proved that with their design approach and in the custom motorcycle world that...
My dog doesn’t care for the Yamaha XSR900. When I arrive home on any other motorcycle the small ball of...
Buying any customised or incomplete motorcycle can be fraught with danger. That’s why we recommended against it in our 10...
Most custom motorcycles rolling out of workshops tend to be polished to perfection or feature paint jobs more expensive than...
Tower’s been messing about on bikes since he was a kid, but in 2008 a chance meeting with Ian Halcott...
Yamaha’s beloved SR400 may have ceased production back in 2021, but it remains a hot favorite amongst custom builders in...
There was a time when it seemed that every other custom build to roll out of a workshop was built...
Shaft driven motorcycles have been around since the early 1900’s, but Yamaha’s shaft driven debut didn’t come until the late...
Greg Hageman, aka Hageman Motorcycles, aka Doc Chops may not have been the first to build a Virago cafe racer,...
This post apocalyptic road warrior is Icon’s Kawasaki ZX-7 ‘Thunder Chunky’. It’s the latest addition to Icon’s series of custom...
The Yamaha XS-V1 Sakura (Prototype ie coming soon!) oozes Cafe Racer style and should pck plenty of punch based on...
There are countless failures throughout automotive history. All of the big motorcycle manufacturers have at least one they’d prefer to...
Nostalgia is a powerful thing. For seasoned motorcyclists, nostalgia can quickly become an obsession. A chance sighting of a beloved...
This is the Mongrel. A custom Yamaha XT600 haling from the darker side of Sydney’s Cafe Racer scene. The Mongrel...
As anyone starting up a new company should do the pair decided to launch their brand with a bang. So,...
“My name is Teguh Setiawan. I’m a 23 years old and studying at a university in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. In 2012...
