Yamaha XS650

     From cafe racers to brat-style bobbers and dirt trackers, Yamaha's iconic XS650 is fast becoming the ideal japanese platform for customization and performance upgrades. It even has it's own cottage aftermarket industry ready to supply an array of products that covers everything from frames to electronic ignitions and re-phased engines. Originally designed by Hosk in 1955 as a 500cc powerplant, the design was enlarged to 650cc to compete head on with the British 650 twins of the time. Considering when it was designed, the engine was surprisingly advanced using unit construction and horizontally split cases to prevent oil leakage. Single overhead camshafts were also considered fairly new and this technology truly established Yamaha as a major motorcycle manufacurer of larger bikes, rather than the smaller 2-stroke motorcycles for which they had previously been known for. If it had not been for the Honda CB750, this motorcycle could have sold millions instead of the 250,000 it did sell during it's 15 year lifespan. It now stands as a cult classic and is finding new life in the customizing scene as evidenced in this video by Deus Ex Machina. A couple of subtle modifications has changed this bike from UJM to cool cafe racer with loads of character.
Photo source: Bike Exif