Yamaha Europe has been seriously really busy these days. After the hugely successful Bike Shed show in Paris last month, it is on to another Bike Shed show over the weekend (May 23-24) at Tobacco Dock in London. This time, there were two new Yard Built additions: a Matt Black Custom Designs XV950 ‘Playa del Rey’ and a cafe racer concept XJR1300 ‘Dissident’ by Portuguese builder it roCkS!bikes. So what the heck is yard built, you ask? Basically, Yard Built is the creation of custom machines based around bolt-on parts, without cutting or welding. You’d be surprise how awesome Yard Built could get and they are inspirations for motorcycle lovers who love customizing their ride without going under the knife, so to speak. Just think of Yard Built as a person looking good without going the plastic surgery route, well, sort of.
Anyways, the Matt Black Custom Designs XV950 ‘Playa del Rey’ pays tribute to the board track racers of 100 years ago, boasting a list of custom machined billet bolt on parts for their board tracker design, while the Portuguese team’s XJR1300 ‘Dissident’ is an retro-licious example created to mark the 20th anniversary of the iconic street bruiser, featuring a single handcrafted metal flowing unit stretching from behind the triple clamps, all the way to end of the tail. Unfortunately, the two shining examples aren’t for sale, but not all hope are lost cos’ being bolt-ons, XV and XJR owners can easily replicate them by getting the bolt on parts from the respective builders to customize their own machines. Continue for more images of these beauties.
