We’ve seen a significant increase in the number of custom rally bikes and desert racers in recent years. From features of rally-style custom bikes to actual rally-raid race bikes, these bikes focus on long-range speed, durability, and navigation over brutal power output or hyper-agile handling. However, they tend to be much lighter and more focused than adventure touring machines. Many builds take inspiration from the Paris-Dakar Rally or Baja 1000 bikes of yesteryear.
Below, you’ll find some of our favorite custom rally bikes we’ve featured over the years.
Dakar Legends: Gilera RC600 & RC750 Rallye - Italy’s Big Thumper in the Twin-Cylinder Era… By the late 1980s, the Paris-Dakar Rally was no longer a romantic expedition but an escalating arms race among the major manufacturers. Twin-cylinder prototypes were growing larger and […]
Underworld Champion: Royal Enfield 865 “Wildfire” Rally Bike - What if Royal Enfield had Built a Big Twin Paris-Dakar Rally Bike? While we love to watch the 450 singles of today’s Dakar Rally, we can’t help but harbor a heavy nostalgia for the big […]
Desert Bomber: BMW R80G/S Paris-Dakar Rally Bike - The Boxer That Changed the Desert Forever… In 1981, the Paris-Dakar Rally was still raw — more expedition than sport, more survival than spectacle. Riders crossed the Sahara on machines that were barely adapted from […]
Gravel Express: Suzuki XF650 Freewind Adventure Rally - Hessler Motorsport’s Suzuki Freewind ADV Rally… Available from 1997 to 2002, the Suzuki XF650 Freewind was a European-style all-rounder built around the proven air-cooled lump from the DR650 dual-sport. Though a single cylinder, the Freewind […]
Desert Boxer: BMW R900RR Dakar Rally Bike - Dakar Legends: Last Roar of the Desert Bombers… In the late 1990s and early 2000s, BMW found itself at a turning point in rally-raid racing. The boxer twin had already written one of the most […]
The Honda EXP-2: The Two-Stroke Desert Racer - Honda’s 400cc “Experimental 2-Stroke” Baja 1000 / Dakar Rally Bike… In the mid-1990s, as emissions regulations tightened worldwide and the future of two-stroke off-road bikes looked increasingly uncertain, Honda did something nobody expected: it built […]
A Lighter T7: Custom Yamaha Ténéré 700 - From Superslab to Singletrack: A Lightweight Yamaha T7 from SPKS Lab… The Yamaha Ténéré 700 (T7) represents something of an answered prayer for ADV riders who’d been wishing for a modern, affordable, streamlined middleweight adventure […]
Xuxu’s Team Sandraiders: Honda NX650 Dominator Rally Bikes - Two Classic Rally-Raid Bikes from a Father-Son Rally Racing Team… Today the Dakar Rally takes place each year in Saudi Arabia. While the landscapes and competition remain as epic as ever, there are those of […]
Dakar Legends: BMW F650RR Rally Bike - BMW F650RR: Grandfather of the Modern Rally Bikes… In the late 1990s, BMW quietly executed one of the most important strategic pivots in rally history. They developed and unleashed the BMW F650RR — a lean, […]
The Four-Cylinder Dakar Bike: Yamaha FZ750 Ténéré - The Yamaha FZ750 Ténéré (0U26): Yamaha’s Radical Dakar Experiment… Before Super Ténéré, before big twins ruled the desert, before Dakar logic fully settled in, there was the sportbike-powered FZ750T. The 1986 Yamaha FZ750 Ténéré (0U26) […]
Lucky Explorer: Cagiva Elefant Paris-Dakar Rally Bike - The Italian Powerhouse That Conquered Dakar… The Cagiva Elefant occupies a unique place in Paris-Dakar history. Where other manufacturers leaned on clinical efficiency or engineering conservatism, Cagiva brought Italian audacity to the table: massive V-twin […]
TDM Power: Yamaha Super Ténéré 850 Sonauto Replica - Scott Verrall’s TDM 850-powered Sonauta Super Ténéré… Introduced in 1989, the Yamaha XTZ750 Super Ténéré sported a new DOHC 5-valve parallel-twin with a 360-degree crankshaft and output of 69 bhp. The styling came from Yamaha’s […]
Dakar Legends: Yamaha YZE750T Super Ténéré - The Bike That Built a Dakar Dynasty… The Yamaha YZE750T Super Ténéré is one of the most important motorcycles in rally-raid history. Purpose-built from the ground up for the Paris-Dakar Rally, it was the machine […]
Desert Freight Train: Yamaha XTZ850R Paris-Dakar Rally Bike - The big twin that ruled the desert at the height of the Paris-Dakar era… In the early and mid-1990s, Yamaha dominated the Paris-Dakar Rally, the toughest off-road endurance race on the planet. At the heart […]
Battle Runner: BMW F650 Funduro Rally Bike - ‘99 BMW F650 Funduro “Battle Runner” by BCK Motorcycles… In the 1990s, some 50,000 BMW F650 Funduros were produced in partnership with Aprilia and Rotax before BMW brought production in-house in 2000. A bike with […]
R9T ADV: BMW R nineT Rally Bike - Long-Travel R NineT Adventure Bike from Loose Screw x R9T ADV… When BMW launched the R nineT in 2014, they wanted to honor 90 years of BMW Motorrad with an 1170cc air/oil-cooled retro roadster that […]
Desert Queen: Honda NXR750 Paris-Dakar Rally Bike - Honda’s NXR750: Queen of the Desert… Few motorcycles in history can claim to have dominated the most brutal race on earth the way Honda’s NXR750 did. Built specifically to conquer the Paris-Dakar Rally, the NXR750 […]
Dakar Spec: KTM 450 Rally Replica - The Privateer’s Long-Range Rally Raider… The Dakar Rally is widely regarded as the toughest off-road race on the planet — a brutal test of endurance, navigation, speed, and resilience. Spanning thousands of miles across deserts, […]
Adventure Bike Rider Festival (ABR) 2025 - “Three Days That Feel Like Freedom…” The UK’s Adventure Bike Rider Festival (ABR) is hailed as the “world’s greatest celebration of adventure motorcycling.” Held on the grounds of the Ragley Hall Estate in Warwickshire, it […]
War Machine: Honda XL125S Baja 1000 Racer - Greg Gilson’s 1980 Honda XLS 125 “War Machine”… Today we’re back with a follow-up piece about the 1980 Honda XL125S desert racer of Greg Gilson (@greggils42), whose 2025 Baja 1000 experience we profiled in our […]
Desert Ironman: Racing the Baja 1000 on a 1980 Honda XL125S! - “Even if this race is hell, I am super motivated to go back there and do some wheelies in front of Satan! Haha!” The 58th running of the Baja 1000 — “the Mother of […]
Chesterfield Scrambler: Retro-Kitted Yamaha Ténéré 700 - Chesterfield-Style Yamaha T7 Scrambler from Holy Moly Motorcycles… The Yamaha Ténéré 700 — aka T7 — has been one of the biggest hits among newly designed motorcycles in the last half decade. While other manufacturers […]
Ténéré Runner: Yamaha XTZ750 Super Ténere - ’89 Yamaha XTZ750 “Ténéré Runner” from BCK Motorcycles… In 1989, Yamaha released their latest desert racer clone, the Yamaha XTZ750 Super Ténere. Styled after the company’s Paris Dakar race bikes, the Super Ten boasted […]
Moto Guzzi “Gran Sasso 750” Adventure Bike - For Sale: Guzzi ADV Bike from Officine Rossopuro… Moto Guzzi launched the NTX 750 in 1988 as a shaft-drive adventure bike with the Mandello factory’s signature transverse 90° V-twin. The X Publicca Amministrazione (X PA) […]
Baja-Style Weapon: Honda XR400R - Time Machine with a Modern Twist: Prutti’s XR400R… In 1996, Honda introduced the XR400R — a 266-lb four-stroke destined to become a legend among multiple generations of dirt riders, garnering a cult following. While Yamaha […]
One Moto Show 2025: Best Scramblers, Trackers, & Fighters - Straight Outta PDX: Scramblers, Trackers, Streetfighters, and more! The 2025 One Moto Show was the biggest yet, featuring more than 300 custom, rare, vintage, and just plain strange bikes from all over the world. The […]
Queen of the Desert: Suzuki DR-Z400 “Sirocco” - Desert DR-Z: Aluminum-framed 400 from Giorgio de Angelis and Marco Graziani… La Ruta del Nabab is an annual desert rally that stretches across 1000+ kilometers of Moroccan Sahara. In many ways, the La Ruta […]
Handbuilt Show 2025: Scramblers, Trackers, & More! - Scramblers, Trackers, Dirt Bikes, and More from Handbuilt Show 2025 The 2025 edition of the Handbuilt Motorcycle Show coincided with the MotoGP Grand Prix of the Americas in Austin, Texas just last weekend. Handbuilt Show […]
Enduro Dominator: Honda NX650 “EDNA” - “Enduro-ized” Dominator from Guido Gerretti… The NX650 Dominator may have gone out of production over two decades ago, but it remains a favorite among adventure riders and custom builders alike. This is particularly true in […]
Dust Trail: Himalayan 450 Rally Bike - From OrMotors: Hima 450 for Portugal’s “Dust Trail”… In 2024, Royal Enfield launched an all-new 450 version of their popular Himalayan adventure bike. The new Himalayan 450 features Enfield’s first-ever liquid-cooled engine, the Sherpa […]
Dakar Dream: Germany to Dakar on 2-Valve Boxers! - Reliving the Paris-Dakar Rally route with SWT Sports… In 1978, 182 vehicles embarked from Paris’s Place du Trocadéro bound for the Senegalese capital of Dakar, a 10,000-kilometer journey that would take them across Algeria, Niger, […]
Sonauto Edition: Yamaha XTZ750 Super Ténéré - Dakar-inspired Super Ténéré 750 from BIKE Factory… In 1947, famed French racing driver Toto Veuillet founded Saône-Auto (Sonauto), which would become France’s first importer of Porsche cars and Yamaha motorcycles. Sonauto was involved in many […]
G/S Rally Adventure: BMW R80GS Restomod - For Sale: BMW R80GS “Rally Adventure” from Codex Moto… Introduced in 1980, the BMW R80G/S is widely considered the world’s first “Adventure Bike.” While early naysayers questioned the use of a 400-lb multi-cylinder machine built […]
Chesterfield Edition: Yamaha XTZ750 Super Ténéré - Dakar Tribute: Smoking Hot Super Ténéré from BIKE Factory… The 1980s were a heady time for the Paris Dakar Rally and other African rally raids. Machines like the Yamaha XT600 Ténéré and BMW R80GS had […]
Top 10 Scramblers and Dirt Bikes of 2024 - Here at BikeBound, we’re big fans of scramblers, desert sleds, dirt bikes, rally bikes, and adventure machines — pretty much anything with knobby tires, skid plates, and an appetite for dirt. So are you, our […]
Rally-Made: Royal Enfield Himalayan 450 Rally Bike - Himalayan 450 Rally from OrMotors… In 2016, Royal Enfield launched the original Himalayan, featuring a 411cc single-cylinder air/oil-cooled engine developed from the ground up for the midsize adventure bike. The bike generally received strongly […]
All-Road 680: Suzuki DR650 Rally - Suzuki “DR680” All-Roader by Moto Adonis… The Suzuki DR650 has been in the Suzuki lineup since 1990, remaining virtually unchanged for over three decades of production. Although we don’t tend to think of it this […]
Doctor Big: Suzuki DR800 “Big Loko” - Upon its introduction in 1991, the Suzuki DR800S Big — aka “Doctor Big” — was the largest single-cylinder mass production bike ever produced, displacing 779cc with a cylinder bore of 10.5 centimeters…talk about THUMP! The […]
Win This: 1990 BMW R100GS Paris-Dakar! - Make your 1990s adventure fantasies a reality… The BMW R100GS Paris-Dakar remains one of the most iconic adventure bikes of all time. The 980cc boxer-twin GS was an evolution of the original R80GS, which won […]
La Bambina: Rally-Ready Honda CRF450RX Custom - Hand-painted Honda ready for La Ruta Del Nabab… The Honda CRF450RX is Big Red’s big-bore competition off-road racer designed for closed-course GNCC, NGPC, and WORCS events. Unlike the green-sticker trail-legal CRF450X, the RX looks much […]
Rally Raider: Honda Dominator 650 Rally Bike - NX650 Desert Thumper from Manara Artwork… We’ve long said that many of our favorite bike-builders have racing backgrounds. Motorcycle racers tend to have a deep knowledge of geometry and mechanics, but racing doesn’t always […]
Beyond the Line: Husqvarna FE 450 Baja Racer - For Sale: Husky 450 “Paloma” Desert Racer by Deus USA… Until 2019, the Husqvarna FE 450 was a high-performance dual-sport bike — basically a 450 dirt bike that was street-legal. For model year 2023, Husky […]
Harley-Davidson XL1200 “Adventure Sportster” - A Go-Anywhere Sportster from FrenchMoto… Even as Harley-Davidson promotes their liquid-cooled Sportster S, the air-cooled Evolution-powered Sportster is experiencing something of a renaissance in racing circles. Built from 1986 to 2020, the Evo Sportster is […]
Honda XR628R: Street-Legal Baja Tribute - Hot Rod XR from Italy’s GPgarage Moto… Introduced in 1985, the Honda XR600R was destined to become one of the most successful off-road bikes in motorcycling history. The air-cooled thumper would win the Baja 1000 […]
Bring the Kick Back: Yamaha XT600Z Ténéré - 80s Rally Bike from The Kickback Company… At the 1985 Paris Motorcycle Show, Yamaha unveiled the second-generation XT600Z Ténéré 1VJ — a bike intended to be even closer to the company’s factory rally bikes. As […]
Yamaha Ténéré 250: Rally Edition! - STG Tracker builds a Yamaha Ténéré 250 Rally… The Ténéré (Tuareg for “Desert”) is a desert region in the south central Sahara — a vast plain of sand that covers some 150,000 square miles, said […]
Blue Camel: Yamaha MT-25 Adventure Bike - All Terrain Adventure from Batakastem Workshop… Yamaha’s MT “Master of Torque” series of naked streetbikes has become extremely popular in recent years. While the MT-07, -09, and -10 share most of the limelight for their […]
Scram Africa: Royal Enfield 650 Rally Bike - OrMotors transforms a wrecked Continental GT into the “Scram Rally.” Our friends at Fuel Motorcycles recently celebrated the 10th running of the Scram Africa rally — a ~10-day, 2500-km ride across the rugged mountains and […]
Spirit of the 80s: Honda XR600R Dakar - From ZZMoto: Cyril Neveu-inspired XR600R… French racer Cyril Neveu is an off-road legend, best known for winning the Paris Dakar Rally five times in the motorcycle class: 1979, 1980, 1982, 1986, and 1987. As the […]
Dubai to London: BMW R80GS Desert Bomber - Project Zero 30: A Transcontinental Airhead from Cafe Rider Customs… The BMW R80GS is the grandfather of the modern adventure bike, and remains one of the most important and influential motorcycles of the modern era. […]
Marlboro Man: Suzuki DR Big Rahier Tribute - Suzuki DR800 Gaston Rahier Tribute from La Oveja Negra… The late Gaston Rahier remains one of our favorite off-road racers of all time. Known as “the little man with the giant reputation,” the 5’5″ Belgian […]
Rahier Replica: BMW R1150GSA Marlboro Edition - From Ormotors: A Modern Tribute to Gaston Rahier’s Dakar-winning BMW… In 1985, Belgian rider Gaston Rahier campaigned the Paris Dakar Rally on a massive factory-built BMW R80GS sponsored by Marlboro and Playboy — a bike […]
Baja Monster: Honda XR667 Desert Racer - GPmoto Garage recreates Honda’s 1991 “Stealth Boomer”… In the 1990 Baja 1000, Honda’s XR600R entry ran a near flawless race against the mighty Kawasaki KX500 two-strokes…and still lost, keeping pace in the rough sections but […]
Himalayan Hitter: Royal Enfield 411 Enduro - Monduke Moto builds an Enfield Enduro… Introduced in 2018, the 411cc Royal Enfield Himalayan struck a resonant chord among motorcycle enthusiasts, who found the size, design, and low price hard to resist. No less than […]
Rally Bred: Suzuki V-Strom 800DE Desert Express - Dual Explorer to Desert Express: Hessler Rallye Team’s V-Strom 800DE! With the 2023 Dakar Rally in full swing, many of us are wondering whether we need a rally-bred adventure bike in the stable. At the […]
Rally Monster: Suzuki V-Strom 1050RR “Desert Express” - Hessler Motorsport’s “Yellow Rally Monster”… In 2002, the Suzuki V-Strom 1000 (DL1000) hit the market as a large-displacement dual-sport / adventure bike boasting a 996cc liquid-cooled 8-valve DOHC 90° V-twin originally designed for the TL1000 […]
Gelände / Straße: BMW R80GS Restomod - Meccanica Serrao d’Aquino resto-mods a 90s adventure bike… The BMW R80GS is widely known as the grandfather of the modern adventure bike. At the time of its introduction, BMW Motorrad was at risk of going […]
The Beast: KTM 990 Rally Bike! - “Crazy Race Animal” — Loko Dream Factory’s KTM rally bike… The KTM 990 Adventure was one serious dual-purpose machine, offering the 999cc LC8 V-twin engine from the fire-breathing Super Duke in a bike with more […]
Super Loko: Honda XR600R Restomod - A Baja-style XR600R from Israel’s Loko Dream Factory! Introduced in 1985, the Honda XR600R would become one of the most successful dirt bikes of all time, remaining in production until the liquid-cooled / aluminum-framed XR650R […]
Ruta Ready: “The Legend” Royal Enfield Himalayan - “Lose your mind, find your soul…” This is the motto of La Ruta del Nabab, an invitation-only rally across 1000 kilometers of Moroccan roads, trails, dunes, and creeks, scheduled to run May 28 – June […]
Big Red Baja: Honda XR680R Desert Racer - From 1988 to 1996, the big-bore Kawasaki two-strokes ruled the Baja 1000, ripping across the desert chaparral at more than 100 mph, covering the 1000-mile race in 10-20 hours. However, their arch-rival, Honda, has never […]
Baja Husky: 1985 Husqvarna 430 Baja Racer - Scott Sinclair restores a rare Husqvarna Baja racer to full glory… Back in the 1970s and early 80s, if you stood along the Baja 1000 race course in the dead of night, waiting for the […]
Island Runner: BMW F650 Funduro - BCKustoms builds a black Bavarian rally raider… Back in 1993, BMW launched the F650 Funduro, a lighter single-cylinder sibling to the mighty R1150GS. The Funduro was BMW’s first single-cylinder motorcycle since the 1960s, jointly designed […]
Dakar Dreams: BMW R80G/S Paris-Dakar Tribute - Roadburner Garage builds a Paris-Dakar tribute machine… The first running of the Paris-Dakar Rally took place in 1978, when 182 competitors (including 90 motorcycles) started from Place du Trocadéro, Paris, for the 6000-mile journey to […]
The Nomad: Suzuki DR650 Rally Bike - BCKustoms builds a DR650RS rally bike… In 1990, Suzuki introduced the DR650, a big-single dual-purpose machine destined to become one of the most versatile and bulletproof do-anything bikes in modern history. The DR has the […]
Rally Beast: Yamaha WR450F by Le Motographe - True to Form: Le Motographe builds a race-spec custom rally bike… The founders of France’s Le Motographe, Jérôme Mawois and Yvan Bertona, may have backgrounds as a product designer and metallurgist, respectively, but the pair […]
Johnny Campbell Tribute: Honda XR628R Baja! - Desert King: GPgarage Moto builds a tribute to the King of Baja… Johnny Campbell is a living legend of off-road racing, a man known as “The King of Baja” for his 11 Baja 1000 victories […]
Rally Raider: Suzuki DR-Z800 “MadaSuki” by Bandisca - MadaSuki: A Tribute to Suzuki’s Mighty DR-Z Paris-Dakar Rally Racers… In the late 80s, Suzuki decided to take the offensive in the legendary Paris-Dakar Rally, pitting a big single against the twin-powered “Desert Boeings” that […]
Dezert Runner: BMW F650 GS Funduro by BCKustoms - A #coronavirusbikebuildoff rally raider… The BMW F650 Funduro, introduced in 1993, aimed at a new sector of the motorcycle market. It was a single-cylinder, chain-drive, 48-hp dual-purpose machine that cost only $200 more than a […]
Africa Four: Honda CRF1000R by Brivemo - A 145-hp, ADV-inspired rally raider from Switzerland! The Honda CRF1000L Africa Twin is one of the world’s most formidable adventure bikes, a modern revival of the V-twin desert machines that won the Paris-Dakar Rally four […]
