Motorcycle Modification

Top 5 Yamaha SR500s Everyone loves a thumper—and few thumpers are as loved as Yamaha’s popular SR500. Manufactured for just over 20 years, from 1978 to 1999, it shared the same single-cylinder, air-cooled 499cc engine as the XT500 and TT500. Looks-wise it was styled to resemble its big brother, the XS650. While the popularity of some motorcycles has risen and fallen, the SR has remained a regular favorite within the new-wave custom scene, thanks to its easy-going nature. It sounds clichéd to say that it was tough to pick out just five SRs for our list, but it’s true. Just this week two more great examples landed in our inbox, both of which could easily have been included. Instead, we’ve decided to give each on its own feature, so look out for those in the next week or so. In the meantime, take a look at our top five below—and let us know in the comments what your own favorite SR500 customs are. Deus Ex Machina ‘Oddjob’ There are a few Deus-built SR500s that c...

Husqvarna Nuda customs I was pretty excited when the Husqvarna Nuda 900R was released in 2012—and equally disappointed when it was discontinued, following Pierer Industrie AG’s acquisition of the Italian marque a year ago. The supermoto-esque naked featured a punched out, 898cc version of the Rotax twin-cylinder mill found in BMW’s F800 series, and a tubular steel frame. This particular Nuda belongs to Marc Woodward, an ex-motorcycle racer based in Brighton who builds café racers as a hobby. As an ex-racer, Marc says his philosophy “is to try and create café racers that handle and go as good as they look.” He takes this philosophy fairly seriously—his radically restyled Nuda now kicks out a healthy 110bhp, thanks to a full Arrow race exhaust system and a remapped ECU. It also features the front end from a Ducati 1198S, earning it the ‘Huscati’ nickname. The Ducati’s Öhlins forks have been re-sleeved to fit the Nuda’s stock yokes, which have been milled to remove...

Top 5 Harley Sportster customs like it or hate it, the Harley Sportster has been an American motorcycling icon since 1957. Around 50,000 are built every year, taking up a fifth of the Milwaukee factory’s production capacity. Not surprisingly, quite a few XLs—to use the official designation—have found their way into custom shops. They’ve been turned into choppers, bobbers, café racers and trackers. And although most Sportster owners use their bikes for cruising and bar hopping these days, there’s a solid racing history behind the name, grounded in the US dirt track scene. Setting the choppers aside for the moment, we’ve picked out the best recent customs from well-established builders in the USA. As always, it’s a purely personal selection. But if you’ve got a Sportster in your garage and an itch to take it apart, let your inspiration start right here. Mule Motorcycles ‘Web Surfer’ If anyone can turn a Harley Sportster into a fire-breathing high-performance ma...

Top 5 Yamaha XS650 customs It feels like the Yamaha XS650 has been around forever, and that’s not far from the truth: it was offered in various guises from 1968 until 1985. But the air-cooled, parallel-twin engine has an even longer history—it was based on a 500cc German Horex copied by the now-defunct Hosk Motorcycles. The XS was conceived as an alternative to the classic British twins, and the original XS ‘Standard’ was styled in the vein of contemporaries such as the Triumph Bonneville T120. Riders of a more relaxed persuasion could choose the cruiser-styled ‘Special,’ which had a teardrop tank and high, swept back bars. The XS was popular among racers, with Kenny Roberts piloting it to victory in the 1973 AMA National dirt track series. It’s since become even more popular on the custom scene, probably due to its familiar engine and natural good looks. Here we’ve picked five of our favorite Yamaha XS650 customs, showcasing its versatility and potential. An-Bu...

 Vintage Cafe Racer Here’s a little beauty by Deus ex Machina (god from the machine). If you ride and haven’t heard of these guys I’m sure you’ll be reconsidering your next bike. This late ’70s Honda S90 Cafe Racer has been restored to the finest detail. Stripped down to the bare bones; forged Café Racer Seat, overhauled engine and carburetor, they polished up the shiny parts and put a classic coat of white on it to turn heads. The S90 also includes custom-built and polished clip-on handle bars, converted ignition from point to CDI, and gave it a custom Japanese exhaust so you hear it coming. KTC small switches, Daytona speedometer built into Suzuki GT front headlight, Polaris tail light all resting on 18-inch front and back TK Japanese wheels. This may not be the fastest bike on the road but you’re guaranteed to ride in pure vintage style. If you happen to miss out on this classic, you won’t be disappointed by Deus ex Machina’s .

Sbay Flying 1800   Here’s to starting Monday morning off right as we bring you the Spanish-made Sbay Flying 1800 custom café racer from Sbay Motor Company. If cruisers from a certain American manufacturer could look like this, we imagine that talks of an aging demographic would cease to exist as the Flying 1800 has ample doses of eye-candy, sportiness, and innovation. Between the 3.7 gallon carbon fiber tank that is hangs below the oil-holding frame and above the motor, the rear taillight that integrates into the tail section like a Ducati GP9/GP10, and the tasteful use of copper pipes that we liked so much on the Confederate Fighter, there’s plenty to get you drooling on this bike as it borrows from some of the best ideas in motorcycle design. Basing its name off the 1840cc Rev-Tech v-twin motor, the Flying 1800 puts out 115hp, and weighs a paltry 465 lbs. Using a Rev-Tech five-speed transmission, Sbay has also tapped Öhlins for the suspension, Galfer and...

Wrenchmonkees I’ve always liked the Yamaha XJR1300. It’s an uncomplicated bruiser of a bike, an unassuming retro-style naked powered by a air-cooled motor with a lineage over a quarter of a century long. Yamaha knows that if it ain’t broke, you don’t fix it. But the XJR1300 is also ripe for a makeover, so the Japanese factory called in the Wrenchmonkees. The result is MonkeeFist, the first in a series of “Yard Built Specials” commissioned by Yamaha from leading custom builders. A year ago, the Wrenchmonkees watched Yamaha’s “Hyper Modified” custom VMAX project with interest. “Generally we work on older bikes and have modified Yamaha SR500s and XS650s,” says Per Nielsen. “Working on a new bike raises its own unique set of challenges: The number of sensors, wires and emission controlling devices makes customizing very tricky. And when you take off a panel you need to relocate things such as cables and electrical items—it is very complicated.” With the XJR1300,...

Clean Café Racer and Street Tracker Richard Pollock knows a thing or two about street trackers. Doing business as Mule Motorcycles out of a converted two-car garage in suburban San Diego, he’s built about 100 trackers to date, and shows no signs of slowing down. In fact, now that his full-time job as an aerospace fabricator has morphed into part-time consultancy, he has more time than ever to devote to two-wheelers, including doing R&D and prototyping for Streetmaster, a small Southern California speed house for new Triumph Bonnevilles. Pollock’s bread and butter, though, are specials based on two powerplants: Harley-Davidson’s Evo Sportster V-twin and Yamaha’s venerable XS650, the so-called “Japanese Bonneville” and about as good an air-cooled parallel-twin as anybody has ever made. Mule’s latest build is an XS650 with a difference. Strictly speaking it’s not a street-tracker; there are touches of café-racer mixed in. Let’s call it, then, a “café-tracker.” ...

This is one of those motorcycles that’s going to make it onto websites that don’t normally feature motorcycles. It’s exotic and terrifyingly quick, and it’ll cost as much as the GDP of a small African nation. It’s called the ‘Millona 16’ and it’s the latest road missile from NCR the wraps came off just a few hours ago at the Misano racetrack, at the World Ducati Week event.    Ducati NCR M16  NCR takes a $72,500 Desmosedici D16RR straight off the factory floor, transports it round the corner to its neighboring Bologna factory, and makes it lighter and more powerful and a lot faster.     It’s easy to see where the money goes: carbon fiber is everywhere on the M16, and that includes load-bearing parts such as the frame, swingarm and wheels. The fuel tank, fairing, tail and fenders are carbon too. Mechanical parts are either titanium, right down to the bolts, or ‘avionic grade’ aluminum.  A stock 989cc V-f...