Deus Ex Machina Yamaha 400 Thumper Scrambler Kit

Deus Ex Machina Yamaha 400 Kit

The crew at Deus has put together a kit for customizing the Yamaha SR400. It's got that vintage XT500 scrambler vibe; think of it as kind of a tribute to that popular classic. They call it a "custom meant to be customized." Put your own spin on it, make it more streettracker than scrambler, for example.

More on the SR400 here.

Here's another builder's take on the XT500 at the Pipeburn blog, this one an actual customized version of the original, from Mark Apland of Thumper Stuff in Monroe, WA.

The Return of the Yamaha SR400

2015 Yamaha SR400 

This just knocks me out... Yamaha is bringing the venerable SR400 thumper back to the US market after 20 years of absence. Bikes will be in US dealerships in May as an early 2015 model. The list price is said to be $5,990.

As you can see in the photo here, this bike has truly retro late-Seventies styling. The original SR400 was first introduced in 1978. You can go to Yamaha's SR400 history page and see how closely the 2015 model resembles the 1978 original.

The 399cc aircooled engine is mated to a five-speed transmission, and has a chain drive. Surprisingly, it is kickstart only, no electric starter. Now that is retro.

It's apparent that Yamaha is responding to the success that custom builders like Deus Ex Machina, Classified Moto, and Spirit of the Seventies are having, and the buzz they are generating, with simple, low-cost, retro bikes that appeal to both the new generation of riders (Millennials) and Baby Boomers nostalgic for the bikes of their youth. There also seems to be more than ever a thirst for bikes that, unlike the typical crotch rocket, are easy to customize... Go to Yamaha's SR400 webpage and note the tagline there: "Retro Cool. Built to Customize." I am also sure the success of the 500cc Royal Enfield Bullet thumpers has come to their notice, too.

It's wonderful to see this clean and elegant lightweight bike come back to market. The AutoEvolution.com website has a gallery of eight pics of the bike here.

Photo credit: Autoevolution.com 

We Have a Winner: Greg Hageman's Star Bolt Takes First Place Honors in Build-Off

Hageman Bolt Scrambler

Greg Hageman of Hageman Engineering (formerly known as Doc's Chops) won first place in the Star Bolt custom build-off with this retro-styled scrambler. He had stiff competition: Yamaha shipped Bolts to ten top custom bike builders, including Hageman, last Spring. Each builder was free to design and build his own vision of a Bolt-based custom. Yamaha setup a Facebook page where viewers could see and vote for their favorite build.

A photo album for the bike can be seen at professional photographer Erik Runyon's Facebook page.

We first became aware of the Bolt build after finding online articles about the street tracker-styled entry from Roland Sands, which is, in fact, our favorite here at Cool Stuff We Like blog.

JPD Customs Yamaha Star Bolt Street Tracker

JPD Customs Entry in Bolt Build-Off

Pipeburn has a post up about the JPD Customs entry into the Star Bolt build-off.  Builder Jeff Palhegyi, the proprieter of JPD Customs, was one of ten top custom bike builders selected by Yamaha to participate in the Star Bolt custom build-off last summer. He went the street tracker route, a style that really suits the V-twin from Yamaha's Star division.

Chappell Customs Yamaha Star Bolt Bobber

Chappell Customs Bolt Bobber

We've been posting here about Yamaha's rollout strategy for the new Bolt V-twin: They gave ten prominent custom bike shops a Bolt to see what the builders would make of it. This is the second in a series of posts about each bike that began with the Roland Sands Design street tracker. Today's post is about the Chappell Customs bike.

The Chappell Customs Star Bolt build, a bobber, is complete now. The monoshock rear end they've designed will be available as a kit. It will require some frame cuts, but is a bolt-on affair, so no welding is required. The shock was specifically designed for the Chappell Bolt by renowned SoCal motorcycle aftermarket suspension shop, Works Performance. The kit will also include the custom seat and subframe you see here. The chin spoiler will also be for sale soon.

Custom Monoshock Rear End

Check out the Chappell Customs blog for a series of posts about the build, including some videos of the shop action.

H/T to BikeEXIF blog.

Ten Bolt Customs at Star Motorcycles Facebook Page

Bolt Custom by Jesse Rooke of Rooke Customs

In an earlier post about the Roland Sands Bolt street tracker, we noted that as part of its rollout strategy for the new Star Bolt V-twin, Yamaha shipped new Bolts to a number of prominent custom bike shops to see what the builders would do with it. It was a total of ten shops, in fact. As part of our followup on that subject, here's a link where you can see all ten of the Bolt customs at Star's Facebook page.

The Bolt: A Sportster Killer from Yamaha?

Yamaha Star Bolt

Earlier today we did a post about the Roland Sands street tracker based on the new Yamaha Bolt. The 58ci  air-cooled V-twin is targeted right at the Harley-Davidson Sportster. So, we thought we'd followup here with a link to Cycle World magazine's Bolt vs. Sportster comparison test, which was published online just yesterday.

Back in March Cycle World published a "first look" at the Bolt and the Bolt R-Spec models here.

Roland Sands Yamaha Bolt Street Tracker

RSD Yamaha Bolt Street Tracker

The new Yamaha Bolt is a 58ci aircooled V-twin with bobber styling aimed right at the Harley-Davidson Sportster (see this recent Cycle World comparison test). As part of its rollout strategy, Yamaha shipped Bolts to a number of America's top custom bike shops to see what builders would do with it.

Among those prominent builders is pro roadracer turned custom bike designer and builder Roland Sands of Roland Sands Design (RSD) in Southern California. The street tracker you see here is his answer to Yamaha. Sands saw the Bolt as an natural conversion to the street tracker he'd been wanting to build for a while. He says that off the showroom floor the Bolt is lighter and better-handling than the Sportster.

Sands made surprisingly few changes from stock. There are the 19" Sun gold-anodized Sun wheels laced-up by Buchanan's Spoke & Rims of Azusa, CA and shod with Dunlop flattrack tires. A fiberglass seat assembly was designed and fabricated at RSD, as was a custom stainless steel exhaust system with carbon fiber tip. The stock handlebars and risers were replaced with RSD Step Moto bars and Nostalgia risers, finished in what RSD calls its "Black Ops" finish. The stock headlight was replaced with a Piaa projector-style headlight mounted on the left side of the engine.

This radical transformation of the Bolt's looks was accomplished with no welding or cutting. The only metal that was touched was some minor cleanup of the tank seams before painting.

Check out a couple of our previous posts featuring RSD, this one about the RSD Technics Sportster and this one about the RSD YouTube channel.

H/T to BikeEXIF, jump over and see their post about the RSD Bolt.

Lossa Engineering Cafe Racers

Lossa CL350 Cafe Racer

Lossa Engineering of Long Beach, California builds a lot of clean and sweet cafe racers on vintage platforms, like the Honda CL350 pictured here. Owner Jay LaRossa and his crew also build some bobbers and do restorations.

LaRossa grew up in a family where both father's and mother's sides owned SoCal motorcycle dealerships. He started his professional life in the four-wheeled world, building hot rods and SEMA showcars, then relatively recently switched to bikes and opened Lossa Engineering.

Jay LaRossa says the SR500 cafe racer pictured here is "by far the best bike I have turned-out."

Lossa SR500 Cafe Racer

Check out the gallery of completed bikes, and keep up to date on Lossa builds and doings at the Lossa blog. Check out the online store for Lossa designed and manufactured custom parts.

BikeCraft Magazine Issue No. 1 Has Hit the Newstands

So-Cal Triumph Featured in BikeCraft

 BikeCraft magazine is here at last... bobbers, cafe racers, streettrackers, oh my. I just bought a copy of issue numero uno, Summer 2012, and I love it already... great photography, excellent writing, and lots of bikes... in this issue alone, more than a dozen innovative and novel customs from across a wide spectrum of brands. 

Dave Edwards, editor-in-chief of Cycle World  for many years, is at the helm of this new quarterly from Mark Barnett, publisher of the now-defunct Barnett's Magazine (which I really liked and bought on a regular basis). The design and layout of the mag reminds me very much of Cycle World.

The Triumph streettracker pictured here was one of the very cool featured bikes. It was designed and built by the legendary designers and craftsmen at So-Cal Speed Shop for Champions Moto, the first in a limited production run of ten bikes.

Harleyton 45 Featured in BikeCraft

At the other end of the spectrum, there was a great piece about Englishman Nick Roskelley's Harleyton 45 Cafe Racer, a Harley 45ci flathead in a Norton frame. 

I've been eagerly awaiting the debut after seeing the preview of BikeCraft at the back of the now-defunct  Barnett's Magazine final issue. It's better than I hoped for. Check it out at your favorite newstand now, or get setup with a subscription online for $14.99 per year (four issues) at their website.


Update: Actually the Champions Moto Triumph will be a limited production run of twenty bikes, not ten... my mistake

         

Classified Moto Virago Cafe Racers & Customs

Classified Moto XV920 (Photo by Adam Ewing)

Classified Moto of Richmond, VA works wonderous transformations upon the likes of the Yamaha Virago, and other seemingly unlikely machines. I like the way they present themselves and their mission:

Classified Moto is a tiny workshop in Richmond, Virginia (USA) that specializes in affordable alt-moto customs and random creative expressions.

Classified Moto founder John Ryland has an interesting, inspiring story to tell, especially to those of us who have taken the hit in this crummy economy:

Change comes in all sizes. New pair of shoes — small change. New career/business/lease on life — extra large change.

One year ago last week, I got my walking papers from the ad agency where I worked for 11 years. It was like being punched in the face and knocked into the next room. Only the room was full of sweet motorcycles and some of the coolest people I’d never met.

What could have been a disaster of super-sized proportions, instead opened the door for Classified Moto, which might go down in history as the luckiest company on the planet.

From the day I got laid off and set out to make my living in the motosphere, I’ve had something to be psyched about on an almost daily basis — one of our bikes in a magazine, a killer road trip, an email from one of my heroes, a project wrapped. There’s a kind of constant gratification for us at Classified, and we’re trying our best to keep it going.

Interesting thing is, John says he wasn't really all that interested in motorcycle's until just a few years ago.

By the way, the Yamaha XV920 pictured here was created for director Sunny Zhao's experimental film, Reciprocity.

Check out their blog here. Also very interesting is the blog of founder John Ryland. And keep your eyes peeled for a Classified Moto feature at Cafe Racer TV Season 4.

UPDATE: Check out this Vimeo video that features the build of Classified Moto's famous lamp from recycled motorcycle parts.

Dime City Cycles, Vintage Bobbers & Cafe Racers

Dime City Honda CB450 Bobber

Dime City Motorcycles, "Redefining the motorcycle, one rusty bolt at a time."

Great tagline for an outfit that transforms everything from classic Hondas, Kawis, Suzukis to modern Triumph twins into nicely crafted cafe racers and bobbers. Their work has gained them some recognition... Herm Narciso of Dime City has been featured on Cafe Racer TV.

In addition to complete bike builds, Dime City design and sells parts for the do-it-yourselfer. They also offer a lineup of parts from other small, boutique makers, such as Roccity Cafe Racers.

Dime City is located in Largo, FL, but is setup to take orders domestically and internationally.

Dime City Honda Shadow VT800 Cafe Racer

Dime City has a very extensive, well-designed and well-organized website with plenty of technical content. Their blog here is good place to start.

Update May 12: Dime City guys just tweeted about their interview at Cafe Racer Podcast. 

Yamaha RD400 Cafe Racer with a Kenny Roberts Look

Found this classic Yamaha two-stroke cafe racer. Looks like the Kel Carruthers-tuned Yamaha 350 that I saw King Kenny ride at Laguna Seca back in the Seventies... It was really cool to see him wheelie out of the hairpin up the front straight while he flipped the peace sign at the crowd in the grandstand.