While the idea of belting down a freeway at a ton and a half on a big bore Cafe Racer...
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.
The Yamaha XV920 ‘Double Shot’ is a prime example of Yamaha’s timeless cruising motorcycle, skillfully transformed and rebuilt in the...
Yamaha’s legendary XS650, it’s reputation precedes it. The XS is one of the most widely customised bikes in the world so to...
You’ll have to forgive me for veering off the Cafe Racer path slightly but when I see a custom motorcycle like this...
Greg Hageman, aka Hageman Motorcycles, aka Doc Chops may not have been the first to build a Virago cafe racer,...
I met Michael Capraro some years ago at a communal motorcycle workshop I was involved in. His enthusiasm for bikes...
Tim Kills BSA A65 Bobber On November 3rd & 4th I co-hosted a custom motorcycle exhibition in Melbourne named Oil...
I hate to say it but there is a downside to riding a classic British cafe racer. Sure you’ll revel...
Despite its 43-year production run ending in 2021, the SR400 remains a hot favourite amongst riders in Japan. The SR400’s...
The Modern Motorcycle Company is a custom workshop based in Melbourne, Victoria. Owned and run by Christian Condo the workshop...
This bike was built by George Woodman, a carpenter slash furniture designer slash interior architect from Biarritz, France. Yes, his...
When I think about Bobbers my mind conjures up images of cruising along a winding coastal road, sitting comfortably atop...
“I have been riding motorcycles on and off road for more than a decade and I wanted to combine my...
As it always goes, popularity affects price, so the days of picking up a bargain XS are gone and it...
The Wrenchmonkees have just released details of the bike that represents a half-century of custom motorcycle builds from the Denmark based...
This is the Mongrel. A custom Yamaha XT600 haling from the darker side of Sydney’s Cafe Racer scene. The Mongrel...
There was always a motorcycle in our house when I was growing up, but my father’s real passion was collectible...
But, dear reader, should you? Is it worth tracking down one of Yamaha’s cheerful little runabouts for your next custom...
For the Yardbuilt 2017 XSR700 project, Yamaha selected 7 workshops from different European locations to take part in the event. Representatives from Italy,...
The Yamaha Yardbuilt series has been running for an impressive 7 years now. Since then Yamaha has commissioned over 50...
Looking back over a few of our recent features it seems that building retro customs out of modern sports bikes...
Deus ex Machina came on the scene around about the same time I set up Return of the Cafe Racers...
Nothing beats a hand me down, especially when it’s in the form of a motorcycle. When Christian was given his...
After one full day of owning the 1979 XS650 Special Giancarlo’s called it quits. Stranded on the side of the...
There’s beauty in simplicity. Apple have proved that with their design approach and in the custom motorcycle world that...
Unless you’re living in one of those rule-free American states where they let tipsy 13-year-olds ride drag bikes on public...
After spying the Yamaha XJR400 cafe racer on their website we contacted C-Racer crew member Antonis Kapetanios who was kind...
Since launching Return of the Cafe Racers back in 2006 I have only come across two builders who have managed...
For a motorcycle that once laid claim to being the quickest street production bike, the Kawasaki 500 Triples certainly have...
As anyone starting up a new company should do the pair decided to launch their brand with a bang. So,...
Over in the UK Shaun & Carl of custom workshop ‘Down and Out’ Cafe Racers usually play with parallel twins, but...
Tower’s been messing about on bikes since he was a kid, but in 2008 a chance meeting with Ian Halcott...
Rapid prototyping, CNC machining, 3d printing! Whatever happened to good old hammers, spanners, and the occasional grinder? I get a...
Jesse attributes his interest in building bikes to a 1971 Honda CB175 he restored with his father at the age...
Gold Rush is Daniel’s 3rd XJR1200 based build. As you would expect by now he’s become somewhat of an XJR...
Established by Dare Jennings, Rod Hunwick and Carby Tuckwell, Deus ex Machina in Camperdown, Sydney, produces motorcycles for the post-modern world. What the hell...
Brrr… Lars and Jorg of Motorradtke GbR in Germany traditionally build and maintain Superbikes for the race track. However after...
I first met the Ask Motorcycle guys when I went to the Mooneyes Yokohama Hot Rod and custom show in...
If you’ve been following Enginethusiast for a while, you’ve probably noticed that Anthony Scott has a soft spot for vintage...
“My name is Teguh Setiawan. I’m a 23 years old and studying at a university in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. In 2012...
Down here in Australia it seems like Mother Nature’s hell bent on killing us all off. Our surrounding oceans are...
To improve the v-twin’s power and torque Yamaha fit the SRV with a beefier cam profile, two carburetors rather than...
If you ask me there’s two types of custom build, the clean and the down right dirty. Richard and Lex...
With 200bhp on tap and an astounding 2.5 second 0-60mph time, the Vmax V4 engine is well suited to dragstrip...
Most custom motorcycles rolling out of workshops tend to be polished to perfection or feature paint jobs more expensive than...
Shaft driven motorcycles have been around since the early 1900’s, but Yamaha’s shaft driven debut didn’t come until the late...
Feast your eyes on Jay LaRossa’s 1978 Yamaha SR500 “Solus” in this short video by Ricki Bedenbaugh. This video reminds me of...
Looking at this custom Yamaha SR500 built in Japan turns me in to the equivalent of that crazy fish in Finding...
To start with can you tell us where the bikes name “Tramontana” comes from? Spartak: This is the bike’s name...
Just got home after spending the day out with the guys from Fuel Tank TV and Christian from Modern Motorcycles....
Back in 2006 one of the first motorcycles that really got me excited about the custom scene was a Yamaha...
At the end of World War 2 many British motorcycle manufacturers were on the verge of closure or had already...
The red ‘Monster’ which was built back in 2013 for the Yokohama Hot Rod and Custom Show and the blue...
Is it just me or does this look like insanely good fun? There’s no denying that Yamaha’s legendary SR400 is...
It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know there are very few commonalities between nautical craft and motorcycles. Infact the...
There’s two ways you can build a custom motorcycle. One way is to have a design idea that’s laid out...
As with the other Yamaha XJR1300 Yardbuilt bikes the Botafogo-N was constructed without performing any modifications to the bike’s frame....
The saying ‘to bite off more than you can chew’ is one that many budding bike builders can relate to....
After more than 35 years of production, the Yamaha SR400 has had little in the way of design modifications. The...
Opening up the emails I receive through the “Submit a motorcycle” link on the site is one of my favourite...
Spotted this great Yamaha R5 “Giant Killer” custom on Garage Project motorcycles. After a bit of digging all I managed to...
The bike Spartak’s customer found was a rare find in his hometown of Minsk, a late eighties Yamaha XJ600. The...
We all know Kentucky Fried Chicken. It’s second only to McDonald’s for making Americans fat and scaring farm animals globally....
It’s getting easier and easier to build a cafe racer. It used to be that you’d either have to pay...
Some people find it a real struggle to sit still. Take Stu Lloyd for example. It hasn’t even been 4...
Firstly a design was rendered in conjunction with Oberdan Bezzi Design which took styling cues from the Yamaha FZ750, a...
This 1975 Yamaha RD350 underwent a café racer conversion in 2014. The changes encompassed an orange repaint over a black...
There was a time when it seemed that every other custom build to roll out of a workshop was built...
Here’s a great segment from the cutting room floor of Cafe Racer TV. In this online episode they reveal the...
Japanese workshop AN-BU Customs has developed an instantly recognisable style of their own. Their recipe involves mixing tight proportions, with...
The quick turnaround on this build was made possible when Pat acquired the Virago as an unfinished project. “The previous...
The Varkain (“Finnish for By Stealth”) Yamaha SR400 is one of my favourite creations to come out of Raider Motorsports...
Sadly it looks like Yamaha’s venerable SR400s time is coming to an end. Like so many other motorcycles falling victim...
There are a handful of motorcycles that became the poster children of the “new wave” cafe racer scene at the...
I never thought I was a fan of muscle bikes until I rode a Yamaha XJR1300. It was in 2015...
Yet another outstanding issue of Fuel Magazine is just about to hit the shelves. Grab a copy to see my...
Review Summary: The 2022 Yamaha XSR900 Retro Triple is a much meaner and more powerful bike than its sibling, the...
We love cafe racers trimmed to perfection. Bikes built for a narrow purpose. A ride with lights removed, brackets cut...
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