Desert Motorcycle Company's '81 Yamaha XS650 - “Golden Spike”

Yamaha's XS650. It seems like there's not a single style or genre that it can't morph itself into. Chopper, bobber, rat, brat, cafe, tracker - hell, I've even seen it do a decent board tracker. It's like some Japanese designers in the 1960s locked themselves in a room with a load of bad drugs, a Swiss Army Knife, a rubber mask from mission impossible, Optimus Prime, a doppelganger, the liquid metal robot from Terminator 2 and one of their mates who liked to wear his wife's underwear on the weekends and exploded out three weeks later with blueprints that would transform the way the world thought of Japanese bikes and the way we think about a custom bike platform. Of course, this one is no different. It's the retro brainchild of one Greg Hebard from Salt Lake City, Utah, and as you can see it looks about as close to the original bike as night looks like day.

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1982 Yamaha XS650 - Stout 33

Like most brothers, the Chappell Brothers have different tastes. Rob prefers to live in Ontario, Canada while Chris chooses to live in Los Angeles. Their taste in bikes is different as well. Rob’s style leans more towards racing and café racers while Chris loves bobbers and choppers. So when they decided to build their latest project they chose (after much debate) to build a bike in the middle – a board track influenced bike that would have a custom frame, traditional girder front end and tall skinny wheels. If time allowed they would also tackle their first custom gas tank! (which they did). They found the perfect donor bike in the form of a 1982 XS650 Heritage Special and got to work on this project that was really going to challenge these part time bike builders.

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Maria Motorcycles '80 XS 650E - ‘Eva’

Anyone who's ever attempted a custom bike build will know just how much work a seemingly simple little "tidy-up" can amount to. Something that looks like it'll take two weeks tops ends up being an 18 month project with more dead ends, u-turns, and detours than a Sunday drive with Stevie Wonder. So imagine the work involved in starting a bike shop "a few months ago" and then going public with not one, not two, but three killer bikes. At very best that's a bike every three weeks. Now I can't speak for you guys, but if I had three weeks to build a bike the results would be humble at best. A few rattle cans, and angle grinder - hell, even a custom seat would take that long to throw together. But it seems as if the guys at Maria Motorcycles in Lisbon, Portugal have either worked their asses off these last few months or they've invented time travel and brought these bike back from the future. And the real icing on the cake? Both EXIF and little ol' us are doing features in the same week on their stuff. Take your stinky hats off and give a little nod to Luis Correis and his latest bending of space and time, the beautiful "Eva."

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Yamaha XS650 - Holiday Customs

One of the most common donor bikes these days is the very versatile Yamaha XS650. In the right hands it can be turned into a number of genres. One of the most common forms that grace these pages is the bobber. So when we received these photos from Jared at Holiday Customs of his latest creation we were genuinely excited about his interpretation of the XS bobber. Sure, it's not too far away from his last bobber which he liked so much he couldn't part with it. "I always end up building bikes I want to keep" says Jared. "I wanted to make another schwinn inspired motorcycle after getting a nice response from the original XS from a year ago." he says. Like a lot personal projects by builders they often start off strong but then customers paying jobs take precidence and they sometimes take a lot longer to finish than originally planned. "I think it worked out well because it gave me more creative time instead of rushing the build" he says.  

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Matt Machine's 1978 XS650 Street Tracker

Ever caught one of those documentaries on TV where some unsuspecting Joe Average pays $1.95 for an "old painting" at a junk sale and ends up being told by some expert or another that he is the proud new owner of a multi-million-dollar Van Gogh? Or the spotty kid who gets given a dusty old guitar and amp from an dead relative and later realises he has one hundred large in mint 1952 1954 Fender Strat and Tweed Deluxe clutched in his sweaty little fingers. Never happen to us, right? Well looky over here and please do meet one very lucky Sydney-sider who goes by the name of Rob. Now when the rest of us combine beer, eBay and a "little bid to start things off", we usually end up with something that looks a little like this. But not Rob. See, he had a tipsy mash of the "bid now" button and ended up buying a bike from Australia's king of customs, Matt Machine. Pipers, say a big hello to Mr Ayres and the newest member of his personal rolling stock; the Matt Machine 1975 XS650 Street Tracker.

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Yamaha XS 650

I can't believe it's almost been a year since we featured Scott Halbleib's CB450 bobber. Lucky for us, Scott has been wrenching again, but this time choosing a trusty XS 650 as the donor. "The bike 'began' over a year ago when I saw the '69 Aermacchi scooter tank on Ebay for $65," says Scott. "I had seen a custom 650 with a similar tank and kind of dug it." The tank then sat in the corner of his garage while he took a long break from the CB450 which he finished in May of last year. And then winter came, so Scott started looking for a XS 650 to hibernate with. After a few weeks, he found the right specimen at the right price. "It ran, but was a little rough around the edges." 

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1978 Yamaha XS650

Another little video from our friends at Deus. This time featuring a freshly painted red 1978 XS650 cut to Al Barry & The Cimarons song 'Morning Sun'. The bike has been hiding out in the Deus 'Temple of Enthusiasm' since they opened their doors. Now it's off to a new home where she'll be enjoyed by some lucky bugger.

Holiday Customs XS650

This year has been no vacation for Jared Johnson at Holiday Customs. "We built some 13 bikes this year and didn't have time to build for myself" says Jared. After finding a rusty old 1976 Yamaha XS650 in Portland for $400, Jared knew exactly what he wanted to create. "I had been thinking of how I wanted this thing to look. I really like the lines on Schwinn cruiser bicycles, flowing with curves." The bike sat in his shop for a few months until he was ready to fully immerse himself in the project. "I made everything on the bike except for the seat. The frame alone took a week. I rolled the tube metal, welded it up, then put the tires on and realized it wasn't low enough, so I cut off the tail and started over." After the frame was complete, the idea for the curved pipes that follow the lines of the frame came to him. "The pipes took 4 long days, rolling the tube, notching out for the rear axle bolt, walking around looking at it for hours" he says.  

The other features include an old Hap Jones tank which he found online with "some awesome rust on it". He also made the fork covers out of exhaust tube, the front wheel came off a SL175 and the beautiful seat was upholstered by the very talented Ginger at New Church Moto.

Not only have they been busy building motorcycles but Holiday Customs have a new blog up and running. Judging by their blog, it looks like this XS650 has been getting some well-deserved attention, recently being featured in a Nike shoot – maybe their new slogan should be 'Just build it'.

[Photos by Neil DaCosta]   

1981 Yamaha XS650 Bobber

This is a story about a young man named Cassio Silva who fell in love with a bobber sitting outside a tattoo shop in Texas. "That same day I went home and spent hours researching how to build one for myself" recalls Cassio. You see, this 20 year old had never even ridden a motorcycle, let alone tried to build one. "I’ve been building and modifying cars for years and knew i had the skills to take on the project" he says. After finding a suitable XS650, Cassio took the bike home and within days it was cut in half in his garage.

The entire bike was built on a tight budget, not because Cassio wanted it to be cheap but to show that this can be done by anyone, with any budget, and almost any experience. The hardtail is a pre made unit made by TC Bros. "It stretched the bike 3 inches, making it very comfortable for my 6'3" body" he says. "The bike originally came with a 16in wheel that i swapped for a 18in from an older japanese bike. Wheels were wrapped in 450 rear and 400 front Firestone replicas. The velocity stacks were a NOS part off ebay and really one of my favorite things on the bike. The seat is a West Eagle and uncovered, keeping with the raw theme. The lights were ebay items that I then took apart for some paint. The rear fender is the stock front one that i cut up to save some coin. The entire bike was painted with rattle cans."

After working hard on the build for a month, the bike was almost ready to hit the road. There was one small problem though, Cassio didn't know how to ride it. So in the same week he finished the bike, he took a motorcycle class and got his license – talk about a 'crash course' in motorcycles.

[The beautiful photos were taken by a photographer named Banzai Steve. You can check out more of his work on his Flickr page and blog.]