Yamaha RD400 - CHOPPRD

Written by Jason Cormier. Jason is a freelance writer and accomplished shade-tree mechanic based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. He is the editor of Odd-Bike.com, a selection of odd, exotic, unusual, and rare motorcycles from around the world.

In a modest garage a few miles east of San Francisco, there is a man who builds motorcycles. This might not sound particularly exceptional, as there are men building bikes in many garages in many cities, and some of them are exceptional enough to get profiled on sites like this. Julian Farnam is a different sort of builder though, and he has built a different sort of bike. He is a consummate tinkerer, a man who puts together unique machines of his own design in his spare time. It's not his day job, but he is damn good at what he does – producing some of the most interesting and thoughtfully designed custom bikes you'll come across anywhere. The bike we are featuring today is one of Julian's odd creations, a raked and chopped Yamaha RD400 that applies one of Julian's favourite concepts – alternative front suspensions. More remarkable is that the CHOPPRD, as Julian has christened it, was built in his spare time over a 30 day period for a total budget that could not exceed $1000 – that includes the donor bike and all the parts and modifications that go with it.

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Yamaha XS400 - Volure Cycles

Written by Ian Lee.

Ebay has changed the custom bike world in many ways. Anyone wanting unique parts can look all over the world for what they require, but on the other hand if the seller is unscrupulous, are you really going to fly across the globe to confront them because your fork gaiters don’t fit? One such customiser who has utilised Ebay to it’s fullest extent is Volure Cycles, based in Estonia. Using global buying ability, matched with neat engineering skills, a rather pedestrian Yamaha XS400 has been tranformed into a slick café racer. And with nearly all the work done in the owner Sander’s garage, Volure’s first build has come up looking like the work of a bike builder with a lot more experience. And best of all, it is proof for your boss or partner that trawling Ebay isn’t a complete waste of time. 

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Yamaha SR250 - First Notion

If you have ever tried to cut your own hair then you know how things can get out of control pretty quickly. I’ve tried it and it usually only goes one way. You just want to trim a bit off the sides and clean up the back, next thing you know you have totally butchered your locks and there’s no other option than to shave your head. That’s kind of what happened with this SR250 build. These part time builders from the newly formed First Notion in Belgium decided to “do a few things” to their trusty commuter bike. The next thing they knew they had stripped the bike down and were using carbon fibre, Italian leather and other fancy pants materials. The final result is this super slim SR250 with the best crew cut we have seen.

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Yamaha XS650 - 'YABSA'

Written by Ian Lee.

Some bike builders are like magicians. They take particular props, put them together and ‘hey presto’, produce something you didn’t think was possible. A mixture of new and old componentry on a bike build is an example of this. If you lean too far one way, or the other, you can ruin the concept of a build. Or at the very least, while trying to put a new image on an bygone concept, you have the motorcycle equivalent of David Hasselhoff. Roberto Totti and the team at Hook Motors have what it takes to mix new with old, and with over thirty years of experience in Robert alone, you can see the professionalism put into their builds. The Yabsa is one such bike, with a few different motorcycles, from a few different eras donating componentry, and the end result is magic. 

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Yamaha Scorpio - Thrive Motorcycles

When you think of a great motorcycle to customize, the Yamaha Scorpio probably isn’t on the top of your list. But to thousands of Indonesians, it's one of the most popular bikes on the road today. Unfortunately, the Indonesians don’t have a huge choice of bikes, due to their strict low displacement regulations. Luckily for us, we get to see what they can do with this reliable little Yamaha. Now we have seen a lot of Scorpio’s over the years – especially from Indonesia – but none have ever looked like this. The bike is the handy work of Indra Pratama from Thrive Motorcycles in Jakarta and although it is his first custom build, this design has been floating around in his head for a long, long time. 

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1984 Yamaha SR400 - Zoku Motorcycles

By guest writer Ian Lee.

Here at Pipeburn we have a soft spot for thumpers. The thud-thud-thud of a single cylinder is music to the ears… and when wrapped in a custom motorcycle, it is even better. Based in Sydney, Australia, Zoku Motorcycles are also fond of single cylinder power – especially in the form of the legendary Yamaha SR. These bikes make for an easy starting point for custom builds, easy for any novice to try it, as the boys from Zoku found out when commencing the build. But it was worth it in the end, as they have produced a great build, with that thumping sound to boot. 

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1981 Yamaha XV750 - 'Black Mat Ed'

Most builders using the XV750 as a base for their custom project have usually been inspired by the likes of Classified Moto – who have shown the amazing potential of these previously overlooked donor bikes. Not Tony Mroczek from Poland (yes another one, we are big there). He has been inspired by something completely different. "The inspiration came from Tim Burton’s Edward Scissorhands movie" he says. "From an early age I've been completely crazy about everything related to Tim Burton’s creation". Tony has also grown up with many different motorcycles. Actually, over the years he has owned numerous Yamaha's and Kawasaki's of every capacity, but now he is enjoying this custom XV he likes to call 'Black Mat Ed' – it's the latest creation to come out of Tonys garage named 'Fabryka Edwarda' or 'Edward's Factory' in english.

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Philippe Lagente's '81 Yamaha SR500 Brat

I'll let you in on a little secret. We're planning some big things for 2013 here at the ol' Maison de Tubes Flamboyants. Now I don't want to give too much away, but I think it's fair to say that this year will be our biggest and best ever. Resolutions? We've made them. Plans? We've got 'em. Bigger. Better. More. Faster. Louder. Seriously, Scott and I are like the proud parents of a kid that's just been accepted into Cambridge. Except we don't sleep in the same bed - well, not since that one time in bike camp... but I digress. So, taking all impending amazingness into consideration, we could hardly start the year on a dull note now could we? Hell no. Please raise your red plastic cups, sound your plastic bugles and pop your party, um, poppers to welcome our first bike for the new year, Philippe Lagente's spectaculaire '81 SR500 brat.

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Farmers Racer '88 Yamaha SR400

Isn't it weird how one little addition to an object can have seemingly untold benefits to it's aesthetics. Take, for instance, your common, garden-variety Martini. Now you could argue that a Martini is simply a slug of gin (or vodka, if you're having childish delusions about being a spy) and some vermouth. But I'd argue that what in fact makes the Martini is the garnish. Without that twist of lemon, olive, or whatever new-fangled hoopla they are currently adding to the glass, I'm betting that it would have disappeared without a trace into the ocean of nondescript cocktail wannabes a long time ago. The message you'll need to take from this, my little pickled pipers? One single inspired touch can make a good bike great. And in the case of Farmer's Racer, there's no free drinks for guessing just what twist we are talking about.

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