Cafe Racers, Scramblers, Trackers, and Bratstyle
Purists Beware: Tim Coughlin’s 1990s-Style RD400 Road Ripper… In 1979, with the motorcycle world hurtling fast toward four-stroke dominance, Yamaha released the Yamaha RD400F Daytona Special — a lightweight, giant-killing smoker that would be one […]
Twin-Cylinder Super Scrambler from Bigger Than Bikes… From its conception as a Japanese version of the British parallel-twins of yesteryear, the Yamaha XS650 has thrived as a bike of many roles. It’s hard to […]
Tarty Two-Stroke: Manx Road Racer and Toolmaker Builds a 70s-Style Smoker… No street bike is as infamous as the Kawasaki Triple. For the 1969 model year, the original H1 Mach III 500 came howling and […]
Big Dream Motorcycles builds a tribute to Canada’s first and only Grand Prix winner… Born in 1939, Michelle (Mike) Duff was destined to become a legend of Canadian motorsports — notably the only Canadian […]
Two-Stroke Woods Weapon from a Former Factory MX Race Mechanic… The IT (International Trial) series was Yamaha’s range of two-stroke enduro motorcycles, based largely on the YZ motocrossers but tailored for enduro competition, hare and […]
Aluminum-Clad Vinduro from FONK Motorcycle… In the mid 1970s, Yamaha’s market research showed that American ranchers and off-road riders were interested in a replacement for the British single-cylinder scramblers of yesteryear. BSA and the other […]
From Enduro to MX: Yamaha DT-1 GYT Motocross Conversion from DG2 Motorsportz… Before there was a YZ, before monoshock, before the production moto wars, there was the DT-1. When Yamaha introduced the DT-1 250 […]
Raw and Honest: The Final SR250 from Trinta&Um Motorcycles… It’s always to treat to hear from a builder or workshop for the first time in a few years. So we were thrilled to receive a […]
Big Bore Retro: Motorieep turns the XT600E into a 60-hp monster… In 1990, Yamaha introduced the XT600E, an electric-start version of their fabled 595cc air-cooled single-cylinder dual-purpose machine. The original XT500 was a legend in […]
Double-Engine XS650 Land Speed Racer from Japan’s Rocket Motorcycle… There’s an old joke that the Yamaha XS650 is the best British twin ever (or never) built. It’s a tongue-in-cheek nod to the parallel-twin XS resembling […]
