Yamaha’s Yard Built line of one-off custom bikes has long provided eye-candy and inspiration to others wanting to make their bikes something special. But the newest, called ‘Speed Iron’ and made by Moto di Ferro, could be a little more than that.
Why? Because Yamaha is known to be preparing the ground for a new model going by the name ‘SCR950’ intended to take on the latest crop of modern retro machines.
At the moment, the evidence for the new bike includes the facts that Yamaha has registered several SCR950 trademarks and bought multiple web domains incorporating the name. It leaves no doubt as to the capacity and at 950cc there’s only one existing Yamaha that the new model is likely to be based on; the XV950.
The SCR initials could be taken to mean ‘scrambler’ or they might as easily related to a café racer. The Speed Iron is the latter, and shows just how easily Yamaha’s XV950 custom bike can be converted into something far sportier.
Yamaha Motor Europe’s marketing coordinator Christian Barelli explained how the Yard Buil
t machine came about when he met Moto di Ferro’s Marco Lugato at Wheels and Waves in Biarritz.
He said: “As we met and talked in Biarritz with Marco it was clear we shared the same passion and love for motorcycles. One of the most important aspects for us when considering Moto di Ferro to work together on this collaboration was that Marco doesn’t consider this to be just a one-off machine, but a concept he can build based on the XV950 for multiple customers. Marco has shown the maximum expression for him of the XV950 and I’m really happy with the ‘Speed Iron’. It has a clear Moto di Ferro design whilst retaining the simplicity and performance of the XV950, it’s a beautiful bike that is still very much fun and rewarding to ride, and potentially available for a wide audience of Yamaha riders to own.”
The bike is made using a handmade aluminium tank and seat unit, Borrani wheels and VMAX forks and brakes.
Even if Yamaha doesn’t use the idea as inspiration for the SCR950, XV owners will be able to create their own versions as Moto di Ferro plans to make several of the bike’s parts available to customers.
