Yamaha has revealed the latest project in its ongoing Yard Built series. Whereas previous customisers enlisted by Yamaha had chosen to experiment with bobbers, street trackers, cafe racers and choppers, this new project involved transforming the new Sport Heritage Yamaha XV950 into a street racer with an artisan flavour.
Motorcycles built under the Yard Built label are typically meant to serve as ideas for customers who want to customise a Yamaha model. For this latest styling exercise, Yamaha chose Italy’s LowRide magazine as its collaborative partner.
The editorial staff at LowRide subsequently turned to Yamaha’s heritage and decided to dust off the Eighties style with a replica of the famous Yamaha FZ750 sports road bike.
A key aspect of the project was to achieve an impactful design with only a handful of reversible and easy-to-do alterations, without radically changing the product philosophy, reliability and functionality of the standard model.
According to the editor at LowRide, Giuseppe Roncen, the style choice is a tribute to pragmatism spiced up with a pinch of 1980s nostalgia, “We tried to unleash its sports soul but without compromising the easy ride-ability, comfort and enviable balance. Without indulging in an exercise of style just for style’s sake, our team set about restyling with absolutely no compromises on dynamics and functionality.”
Wanting to combine aesthetics with real-world custom build potential, LowRide brought in Italian motorcycle designer Oberdan Bezzi to help define the style of the renamed “Pure Sports” special; the latter serving as a reference to the name written on the fairing of the orginal FZ750.
As a result, all the work is bolt-on, reversible and replicable, which Yamaha says makes it easier for dealers, customisers or bike enthusiasts to build their own interpretations.
The project’s technical coordinator was Andrea Radaelli from Radikal Chopper, a Milanese customiser and winner of the Scrambler & Racer category in the contests at EICMA Custom 2013 and Motor Bike Expo 2014. Based on his suggestions the bodywork was handcrafted by Simone Lecca from Metal Bike, a workshop located just outside Turin. The adaptations were carried out without using any custom moulds or dimensional drawings, and were built directly onto the motorcycle based solely on sketches and renderings. The steel tubular bars used to reinforce the half fairing and the tail unit are attached to the frame’s preexisting mounting points. The indicators and mirrors supplied by Rizoma together with the double joint clip-on-handlebars from Motocicli Veloci are all standard, off-the-shelf products.
The standard setup devised by Yamaha’s designers remains largely unchanged. The tyres, rims, ABS braking system, forks, frame, mechanics and all the electrics are totally standard issue. The only concession to sound is the 2-into-1 exhaust pipe which is custom designed by HP Corse; the trapezium section tip is more compact and lighter than the original.
The XV950 Pure Sports unveiling follows the reveal of three Yard Built models at EICMA 2013 that were built by selected representatives from the custom bike scene, based on new models from Yamaha’s Sport Heritage range. From Deus Ex Machina came the revamped Yard Built XJR1300 ‘Eau Rouge’. The Danes at Wrenchmonkees reinterpreted the new Sport Heritage Yamaha SR400 by creating their Yard Built SR400 GibbonSlap, and the SR400 B.S.R. was built by an original Japanese-based bike builder.
Source: Yamaha
