Back in 2006 one of the first motorcycles that really got me excited about the custom scene was a Yamaha...
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.
If you’ve been following Enginethusiast for a while, you’ve probably noticed that Anthony Scott has a soft spot for vintage...
There have been many custom workshops that have evolved their brand into an apparel range. In Taiwan, the clothing label...
David Gonzalez from Ad Hoc is renowned for customizing Yamaha motorcycles. He gained international acclaim for his work on the...
Cafe Racer SSpirit, located in San Sebastián, Gipuzkoa, is a motorcycle customization workshop founded in late 2014 by a family...
To start with can you tell us where the bikes name “Tramontana” comes from? Spartak: This is the bike’s name...
British vs Japanese engineering. It’s a debate that I’ve often heard between motorcyclists. It’s easy to see why each party...
The custom Yamaha SR250’s are taking over! After last week’s C59R “Little Blue” custom Tracker build from Barcelona we’ve headed...
The Yamaha XS650 could easily be labelled as the greatest British motorcycle ever built outside of Britain. Powered by a...
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...
Buying any customised or incomplete motorcycle can be fraught with danger. That’s why we recommended against it in our 10...
Firstly a design was rendered in conjunction with Oberdan Bezzi Design which took styling cues from the Yamaha FZ750, a...
What you’ll also notice about this Yamaha XS850 Special is it’s a tad rough around the edges (which makes it even more appealing...
In motorsport, race teams are always looking for new ways to improve lap times. Back in the fifties when motorcycles...
The bike Spartak’s customer found was a rare find in his hometown of Minsk, a late eighties Yamaha XJ600. The...
“I guess, it’s a modern take on a Cafe Racer, but I was born around 20 years too late to...
Few motorcycles have the cult status of Yamaha’s SR400. During the past decade, the SR has come into the spotlight...
When you are the organiser of what is arguably the biggest custom motorcycle event in the world it goes without...
If you ask me there’s two types of custom build, the clean and the down right dirty. Richard and Lex...
I recently stumbled across the Instagram profile of Cyu-G and his Yamaha SR400 cafe racer. Despite a language barrier we...
On a recent trip to Sydney I stuck my head in at Deus (as always) and grabbed a copy of...
Vintage Steele of Brattleboro, Vermont, transformed this 1975 Yamaha XS650 into a café-racer. The bodywork, featuring the original four-gallon fuel...
Is it just me or does this look like insanely good fun? There’s no denying that Yamaha’s legendary SR400 is...
“My name is Teguh Setiawan. I’m a 23 years old and studying at a university in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. In 2012...
Due to the surging demand for nostalgia-infused motorcycles with a retro aesthetic, it was no surprise that Yamaha decided to...
Despite its huge success, the Yamaha XSR700 is, in my opinion, one of the least classic-looking modern-retro motorcycles on the...
“Raw & Rough. I´ve always wanted a little Cafe Racer for the urban and offroad section. It’s a kind of a...
The Yamaha XV920 ‘Double Shot’ is a prime example of Yamaha’s timeless cruising motorcycle, skillfully transformed and rebuilt in the...
This may sound ridiculous, but sometimes I wish I lived in a place where riding during winter wasn’t an option....
As 2014 comes to an end I thought I’d take a (close up) look at some of the incredible work...
Well, that wraps up yet another year of amazing cafe racer builds from custom workshops and backyard builders around the...
As anyone starting up a new company should do the pair decided to launch their brand with a bang. So,...
In the early 1980s, Yamaha introduced a new family of four-stroke motorcycles, with the XJ550 being one of them. These...
Jamie’s younger years were spent in the UK. He was bitten by the motorcycle bug at an early age after...
Deus Bali appeared on the scene only a few short months ago and it seems they are already wheeling some...
“Stop dreaming, just start building!” These are the words you’ll find on Andy Megerle’s Instagram profile. I’ve featured a couple...
Just got home after spending the day out with the guys from Fuel Tank TV and Christian from Modern Motorcycles....
There was a time when it seemed that every other custom build to roll out of a workshop was built...
It wasn’t until I featured our first Yamaha TRX850 cafe racer back in 2013 that I learned of their existence....
Gold Rush is Daniel’s 3rd XJR1200 based build. As you would expect by now he’s become somewhat of an XJR...
I first met the Ask Motorcycle guys when I went to the Mooneyes Yokohama Hot Rod and custom show in...
Yamaha XS650 Classic Cafe built by the Wheely shop. A beautiful balance of old styling and modern technology. ...
There’s beauty in simplicity. Apple have proved that with their design approach and in the custom motorcycle world that...
“Years ago I rode a ’72 Yamaha XS650 from California to Sturgis. I was wearing a Walmart rain suit in...
This 1981 Yamaha XV750 Virago has been transformed into a cafe racer, featuring a metallic gray finish with gold accents....
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...
Yamaha’s Yardbuilt series is the brainchild of the companies visionary project manager, Shun Miyazawa. The series kicked off back in...
Stu Lloyd grew up in the UK during the late ’70s and early ’80s. As a young boy, his leisure...
Not content with simply building a tidy Yamaha SR based Cafe Racer, the crew at Rocker Classic Cycles decided to...
Greg Hageman, aka Hageman Motorcycles, aka Doc Chops may not have been the first to build a Virago cafe racer,...
Andi Akbar and his Jakarta based workshop Katros Garage aren’t showing any signs of slowing down. Katros Garage has continued...
Despite its 43-year production run ending in 2021, the SR400 remains a hot favourite amongst riders in Japan. The SR400’s...
I met Michael Capraro some years ago at a communal motorcycle workshop I was involved in. His enthusiasm for bikes...
The saying ‘to bite off more than you can chew’ is one that many budding bike builders can relate to....
Back in 2016, Yamaha bit itself off a decent-sized chunk of the modern retro market with the release of the...
But, dear reader, should you? Is it worth tracking down one of Yamaha’s cheerful little runabouts for your next custom...
Bernhard Naumann, aka Blechmann, grew up in Burgenland, a federal state of Austria in central Europe. Growing up in a...
After spying the Yamaha XJR400 cafe racer on their website we contacted C-Racer crew member Antonis Kapetanios who was kind...
To transform the XV950 cruiser into a cafe racer styled machine Marcus began by dramatically modifying the bikes rear end....
In the early days of Yamaha’s venture into motorcycle production their YA-, affectionately known as the Akatombo or Red Dragonfly,...
Most custom motorcycles rolling out of workshops tend to be polished to perfection or feature paint jobs more expensive than...
A collaboration with El Solitario seemed like the perfect pairing for Yamaha’s next Yard Built project, but as El Solitario’s...
“I have been riding motorcycles on and off road for more than a decade and I wanted to combine my...
For the Yardbuilt 2017 XSR700 project, Yamaha selected 7 workshops from different European locations to take part in the event. Representatives from Italy,...
Adrián Campos and the crew at Spain’s Bolt Motor Co. are back again with yet another impressive build. This time...
Yamaha’s beloved SR400 may have ceased production back in 2021, but it remains a hot favorite amongst custom builders in...
As with the other Yamaha XJR1300 Yardbuilt bikes the Botafogo-N was constructed without performing any modifications to the bike’s frame....
Shaft driven motorcycles have been around since the early 1900’s, but Yamaha’s shaft driven debut didn’t come until the late...
It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know there are very few commonalities between nautical craft and motorcycles. Infact the...
After building his own bobber and plenty of customer bikes, James decided it was time to set himself a new...
Daniel cut his teeth on cars and bikes at a young age. “I drove my first moped at the age...
The Wrenchmonkees have just released details of the bike that represents a half-century of custom motorcycle builds from the Denmark based...
Tower’s been messing about on bikes since he was a kid, but in 2008 a chance meeting with Ian Halcott...
I hate to say it but there is a downside to riding a classic British cafe racer. Sure you’ll revel...
In Osaka, Japan 28-year-old cafe racer enthusiast Yuya Ueda has been riding his SR400 for 8 years and it’s lead...
“Yamaha and Abarth have created the XSR900 Abarth – a lightweight high-performance retro special whose authentic café racer design reflects...
The Yamaha XS-V1 Sakura (Prototype ie coming soon!) oozes Cafe Racer style and should pck plenty of punch based on...
The Yamaha Yardbuilt series will soon be celebrating its 10 year anniversary. Originally the brainchild of Yamaha Project Manager, Shun...
After a complete tear down the XJR’s subframe was trimmed to tighten the bike’s proportions. In place of the original...
It’s getting easier and easier to build a cafe racer. It used to be that you’d either have to pay...
For a motorcycle that once laid claim to being the quickest street production bike, the Kawasaki 500 Triples certainly have...
Mark Bliss is a man of many talents, but it’s his work with motorcycles he’s most proud of. Both of...
While the idea of belting down a freeway at a ton and a half on a big bore Cafe Racer...
Dressed all in black the Skullmonkee is easily recognisable as a Wrenchmonkees build. Tight proportions, clean lines, killer finishes...
I know I’m probably going to get a few frowns for this as it’s certainly not a Cafe Racer,...
This Cafe Racer thumper hails from the Japanese workshop Gull Craft. It’s an extensively modified Yamaha SR400 Cafe Racer complete...
The Yamaha Yardbuilt series has been running for an impressive 7 years now. Since then Yamaha has commissioned over 50...
Unless you’re living in one of those rule-free American states where they let tipsy 13-year-olds ride drag bikes on public...
Moto Nisto of Ypsilanti, Michigan, expertly transformed this 1980 Yamaha XS650 into a stunning Cafe Racer. The modifications done on...
In 2007, Gregg DesJardins of GC Customs crafted an unparalleled streetfighter motorcycle, representing the pinnacle of customization. Starting with a...
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