The Winning Loser. Saved from a scrapyard and transformed in to a piece of custom motorcycle art, this Yamaha SR 250...
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 bike Spartak’s customer found was a rare find in his hometown of Minsk, a late eighties Yamaha XJ600. The...
Unless you’re living in one of those rule-free American states where they let tipsy 13-year-olds ride drag bikes on public...
Trevers father, John Scales, was a 2 stroke road racer during the 1970s. “I heard so many stories from my...
It wasn’t until I featured our first Yamaha TRX850 cafe racer back in 2013 that I learned of their existence....
I met Michael Capraro some years ago at a communal motorcycle workshop I was involved in. His enthusiasm for bikes...
I’ve worked on my fair share of custom builds to know that things can get a little stressful. When I...
Sadly it looks like Yamaha’s venerable SR400s time is coming to an end. Like so many other motorcycles falling victim...
If you ask me there’s two types of custom build, the clean and the down right dirty. Richard and Lex...
On a recent trip to Sydney I stuck my head in at Deus (as always) and grabbed a copy of...
David Gonzalez from Ad Hoc is renowned for customizing Yamaha motorcycles. He gained international acclaim for his work on the...
These days you don’t get much of a bike for 300 quid. Every now and then though you hear about...
As 2014 comes to an end I thought I’d take a (close up) look at some of the incredible work...
Dressed all in black the Skullmonkee is easily recognisable as a Wrenchmonkees build. Tight proportions, clean lines, killer finishes...
Gold Rush is Daniel’s 3rd XJR1200 based build. As you would expect by now he’s become somewhat of an XJR...
Nothing makes me happier than featuring custom motorcycles that have been built in my hometown. Today’s café racer is the...
Back in 2016, Yamaha bit itself off a decent-sized chunk of the modern retro market with the release of the...
The Arcanum build began when I picked up a ‘78 Yamaha SR500 from a guy in Newcastle, it was an...
If you’ve been following Enginethusiast for a while, you’ve probably noticed that Anthony Scott has a soft spot for vintage...
The Yamaha XV920 ‘Double Shot’ is a prime example of Yamaha’s timeless cruising motorcycle, skillfully transformed and rebuilt in the...
For the Hyper Modified campaign Yamaha approached three well known custom builders and gave them a straight to the point...
In the early 1980s, Yamaha introduced a new family of four-stroke motorcycles, with the XJ550 being one of them. These...
Looking at this custom Yamaha SR500 built in Japan turns me in to the equivalent of that crazy fish in Finding...
Andrew Starkman and the team at Roast Moto in Phoenix Arizona pride themselves in spotting the potential in an old...
While the idea of belting down a freeway at a ton and a half on a big bore Cafe Racer...
After my recent purchase of a Yamaha TW200 I have rediscovered my love of “little” bikes. While I’m not about...
To improve the v-twin’s power and torque Yamaha fit the SRV with a beefier cam profile, two carburetors rather than...
This 1981 Yamaha XV750 Virago has been transformed into a cafe racer, featuring a metallic gray finish with gold accents....
Despite its huge success, the Yamaha XSR700 is, in my opinion, one of the least classic-looking modern-retro motorcycles on the...
To transform the XV950 cruiser into a cafe racer styled machine Marcus began by dramatically modifying the bikes rear end....
Nothing beats a hand me down, especially when it’s in the form of a motorcycle. When Christian was given his...
For the Yardbuilt 2017 XSR700 project, Yamaha selected 7 workshops from different European locations to take part in the event. Representatives from Italy,...
The Skorpion Sport was produced by German motorcycle manufacturer MZ (Motorrad und Zweiradwerk) between 1994 and 2004. Although you may have never...
Jamie’s younger years were spent in the UK. He was bitten by the motorcycle bug at an early age after...
Just got home after spending the day out with the guys from Fuel Tank TV and Christian from Modern Motorcycles....
For a motorcycle that once laid claim to being the quickest street production bike, the Kawasaki 500 Triples certainly have...
“Building motorcycles is probably the only thing I am good at.” professes Aseem. “The FS350, my first custom motorcycle, was...
“Raw & Rough. I´ve always wanted a little Cafe Racer for the urban and offroad section. It’s a kind of a...
“We want to challenge the trope of nostalgic and aesthetically led custom motorcycles by encouraging others to experiment with the...
Yamaha’s Yardbuilt series is the brainchild of the companies visionary project manager, Shun Miyazawa. The series kicked off back in...
If you’re going to customise a motorcycle it’s always best to start out with a bike that’s got a good...
Well, that wraps up yet another year of amazing cafe racer builds from custom workshops and backyard builders around the...
With a workshop name like “it roCKS!bikes” the Portugese builders Osvaldo Coutinho and Alexandre Santos have set the bar high...
Thanks to their continued support of custom workshops, Yamaha Motorcycles have played an integral role in the growth of the...
There are a handful of motorcycles that became the poster children of the “new wave” cafe racer scene at the...
Boner…That’s what this custom Yamaha XS650 is called. Not your usual custom build title but Death Spray Customs isn’t your...
This post apocalyptic road warrior is Icon’s Kawasaki ZX-7 ‘Thunder Chunky’. It’s the latest addition to Icon’s series of custom...
Adrián Campos and the crew at Spain’s Bolt Motor Co. are back again with yet another impressive build. This time...
Deus ex Machina came on the scene around about the same time I set up Return of the Cafe Racers...
Spotted this great Yamaha R5 “Giant Killer” custom on Garage Project motorcycles. After a bit of digging all I managed to...
The Varkain (“Finnish for By Stealth”) Yamaha SR400 is one of my favourite creations to come out of Raider Motorsports...
At the end of World War 2 many British motorcycle manufacturers were on the verge of closure or had already...
The Yamaha TX650, introduced in the early 1970s, was a motorcycle designed to rival the dwindling popularity of British twins....
Nostalgia is a powerful thing. For seasoned motorcyclists, nostalgia can quickly become an obsession. A chance sighting of a beloved...
Stu Lloyd grew up in the UK during the late ’70s and early ’80s. As a young boy, his leisure...
When great minds come together, great things happen. Often in the world of custom motorcycle building workshops keep to themselves....
As with the other Yamaha XJR1300 Yardbuilt bikes the Botafogo-N was constructed without performing any modifications to the bike’s frame....
In motorsport, race teams are always looking for new ways to improve lap times. Back in the fifties when motorcycles...
Back in 2006 one of the first motorcycles that really got me excited about the custom scene was a Yamaha...
I’ve been covering the Yamaha Yardbuilt series of custom bikes for some time now and have really enjoyed the projects...
Most custom motorcycles rolling out of workshops tend to be polished to perfection or feature paint jobs more expensive than...
Looking back over a few of our recent features it seems that building retro customs out of modern sports bikes...
The Yamaha Yardbuilt series has been running for an impressive 7 years now. Since then Yamaha has commissioned over 50...
As it always goes, popularity affects price, so the days of picking up a bargain XS are gone and it...
Yamaha produced the mighty TZ 250 from 1973 all the way through to 2004. When the model was first released...
Tower’s been messing about on bikes since he was a kid, but in 2008 a chance meeting with Ian Halcott...
Daniel cut his teeth on cars and bikes at a young age. “I drove my first moped at the age...
One of the biggest decisions you’ll make when building your own Cafe Racer, or any style of custom motorcycle for...
The quick turnaround on this build was made possible when Pat acquired the Virago as an unfinished project. “The previous...
The XJR1300 was delivered to the Denmark workshop of the Wrenchmonkees with the basic brief of “make it even better”....
“Stop dreaming, just start building!” These are the words you’ll find on Andy Megerle’s Instagram profile. I’ve featured a couple...
This 1975 Yamaha RD350 underwent a café racer conversion in 2014. The changes encompassed an orange repaint over a black...
The old saying ‘practice makes perfect’ rings true in the custom motorcycle community. Over the years I’ve seen many builders...
After spying the Yamaha XJR400 cafe racer on their website we contacted C-Racer crew member Antonis Kapetanios who was kind...
Mark Bliss is a man of many talents, but it’s his work with motorcycles he’s most proud of. Both of...
Neo-retro cafe racers have certainly become “a thing”. Merging retro styling with modern engineering is a very appealing proposition for...
The Wrenchmonkees have just released details of the bike that represents a half-century of custom motorcycle builds from the Denmark based...
No sooner had the doors of the 2015 One Motorcycle Show closed for another year, than the brothers Busch and...
The Eau Rouge Yamaha XJR1300 features a plethora of custom fabricated components made in house by the Deus Italian workshop....
A collaboration with El Solitario seemed like the perfect pairing for Yamaha’s next Yard Built project, but as El Solitario’s...
The mighty Yamaha XS650 has been a hot favourite in the custom scene for decades and a personal favourite of...
“I guess, it’s a modern take on a Cafe Racer, but I was born around 20 years too late to...
After building his own bobber and plenty of customer bikes, James decided it was time to set himself a new...
Due to the surging demand for nostalgia-infused motorcycles with a retro aesthetic, it was no surprise that Yamaha decided to...
With a name like “Vintage Addiction”, it’s odd to see the YZF sitting in their build portfolio, but when the...
With 200bhp on tap and an astounding 2.5 second 0-60mph time, the Vmax V4 engine is well suited to dragstrip...
Recently found XS650 Chopper website which has a load of custom Yamaha XS650 projects. Great for inspiration or to just perve on...
The Yamaha XS-V1 Sakura (Prototype ie coming soon!) oozes Cafe Racer style and should pck plenty of punch based on...
My dog doesn’t care for the Yamaha XSR900. When I arrive home on any other motorcycle the small ball of...
Since launching Return of the Cafe Racers back in 2006 I have only come across two builders who have managed...
“Sport Heritage” Never has the combination of those two words made as much sense as when applied to the Yamaha...
Yamaha’s ‘Race Developed’ series of motorcycles from the early seventies left a lasting impression on the motorcycling world. The 1973...
Theo’s Frankenstein bike started out as a ‘96 Yamaha TRX but very few TRX components remain. The new engine hails...
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