Maarten Poodt, AKA Yellowrider in the Netherlands is a total Yamaha man through and through, and every winter he builds a new motorcycle. He’s built quite a range of Yamaha customs over recent years, and some have been sports bikes or streetfighters, but it was his recent cafe racer that caught our eye on the Bike Shed.
With all Maarten’s builds, his main aim is to make them look as ‘factory’ as possible.
Maarten is 39 year old, lives in Holland near the German border and for a living he makes tools for people with disabilities, which we think is pretty cool, but also makes him pretty handy when it comes to building bikes.
He used to be a track day junkie but after a few crashes and losing his little finger he changed his focus into modifying bikes with tools instead of tarmac, and it’s now become a self-sustaining enterprise, where he can sell what he builds to finance the next bike.
Maarten was inspired to build a cafe racer after seeing an XV he liked on Discovery Channel, although it was more of a tracker, but he saw the potential of doing something more pure, and with more emphasis on handling and performance.
The bike is based around a 1986 Yamaha TR1, chain driven and with naked V-twin 1000cc powerplant, which Maarten has tweaked to pump out 85bhp at the rear wheel with the aid of some dyno work, K&N filers and RVS exhaust.
He’s seen 185kmh/115mph on the clocks, so the bike easily qualifies for the ton-up club.
As with all Maarten’s builds the bike will be for sale this summer. He already has designs on a Yamaha GTS1000. We look forward to seeing it. If she ends up in your garage, please let us know, and tell us how she rides.
You can see more of the original build thread on the Dutch moto-forum. Pics by Mark Meisner.
from BIKE SHEED
