The words ‘Made in Taiwan’ probably don’t conjure images like this Yard-Built Yamaha XSR700.
Built by Winston Yeh of Taiwanese custom specialist Rough Crafts, the bike can be converted from café racer to scrambler in under an hour using bolt-on parts. The chassis is stock, but the addition of interchangeable kits of bodywork and mechanical components creates two distinct machines that are both a far cry from the normal XSR700.
First is the ‘Corsa Scorcher’. This café racer style bike gets carbon fibre wheels from Rotobox and clip-ons from Gilles Tooling. It also uses an Akrapovič titanium tail pipe designed for the Yamaha R1 attached to a custom header.
The scrambler version, dubbed ‘Soil Scorpion’ uses the same custom-made carbon bodywork. It adds a handmade set of flat bars and a titanium Akrapovič end can modified from the optional XSR700 high pipe.
The key to the interchangeable style is a new set of triple clamps holding R1 forks. Shark Factory X2E remote control digital suspension allows the setup to be switched between tarmac and off-road.
“This is our first ‘double-style’ custom build from one machine,” said Yamaha Motor Europe Marketing Coordinator, Cristian Barelli of the Yard-Built XSR700. “The build really proves for me the versatility of the XSR700 as a base for customization. Whether you want to create a café racer, or a scrambler, this proves that you can do both, without losing the core soul and rideability of the original machine.”
Winston Yeh said: “The XSR was an amazing base to start with. I love the tubular frame of the 700, and the power to weight ratio is perfect for a motorcycle. With the newly designed shorter frame and detachable rear frame loop you really don’t need to cut the frame to make a proper custom shape.”
“I found myself having a hard time deciding should I go with clip-ons and make it a cafe racer, or with flat bars and make it a tracker, that’s where the idea came in: why not make the shaping as a body kit, and customers can use their own idea to mix and match suspension, wheels, brakes, handlebars, to build the bike they want?”
