Yamaha Yard Built

Bikes

factory after market kits for Yamaha produce nice bikes...

It’s been well-documented that the mainstream bike industry have been looking to the custom scene for a while now for ideas.

Thing is, Yamaha’s ‘yard-built’ programme has been out there and supporting small builders and helping to produce really attractive bikes for a while, too. The idea is, apparently, that once they’ve built an inspiring take on a Yam stock bike, they have the opportunity to build and sell after-market kits that reflect the bikes’ aesthetic, to stock Yamaha owners.

Our favourite one of these builds is the Yamaha XV950 ‘EL RATÓN ASESINO’ BY German custom guy Marcus Walz.

There’s a host of other Yam customs on this programme that appeal – particularly in the muscular, bigger bike arena that appeals to hairy men like me.

If you’ve ever actually explored the idea of getting a custom bike you’ll have quickly realised – unless you’re a dyed in the wool, fully tooled-up mechanic with a workshop, a lot of time, space, and knowhow – it’s incredibly expensive to create a machine that will satisfy your specific needs.

Purists might turn their noses up at after-market ‘kits’ but at least it makes interesting looking bikes a little more accessible to mere mortals who aren’t blessed with mach skills or a massive bank balance.

We reckon this is probably at least one version of the future for the custom bike scene.

Power to Yamaha’s elbow.

Walz-XV9501
XV950-El-Raton-Asesino-001_tcm230-593890

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