HANDLEBAR CUSTOMS XS850

The Yamaha XS has been a popular donor for many years and not just in the café/brat scene, so finding a good one these days can take some doing. But that’s exactly what Tyler from Boise Idaho managed to do.  He was lucky enough to find a 1980 XS850G in decent nick on Craiglist. Tyler, along with friend Ted, go by the name of Handlebar Customs, and this build was for Tyler’s brother who lives in Texas.

Tyler has always been a fan of stripped down, simple style vintage bikes, and fancied putting this concept together with the brat/scrambler style. To get things started Tyler and Ted stripped the bike down to the frame and de-tabbed it before giving it to Barreto Studios for some custom frame welding.  That done, it was time to salvage what they could and keep a lot of the original bits.  In the end, all they needed to do was lose some unnecessary pieces and replace the gauges, bars and mirrors for more aesthetically pleasing items.

Paint is a metallic automotive paint finish with high-performance matte clear coat, and the graphics were designed by Tyler and cut from silver vinyl.  The overall design of the bike is still a ‘work in progress’, but she’s looking very tidy so far.

This build is testament to less is more, and not just in the ‘strip it all back’ way.  Sometimes you don’t need to over modify a motorcycle to meet the needs of the owner and the budget available. The build had purpose – it needed to be two up, brat style, with a little scrambler thrown in. And that’s exactly what it is.

When you look back at this motorcycle you can’t help but think, yeah I can do that; and it’s builds like this that inspire the new Shedders out there to step up.  For that Tyler we thank you, keep them coming as simple or as technical as you like.

Next up for Tyler is… whatever he finds on Craiglist that catches his eye, but he’s particularly interested in an XS750, RD350 or an RD400 to turn into a café.  Be sure to let us see it when you’re done.  If you want to see more pics and a video of the XS in action, check out Tyler’s website, http://handlebarcutoms.com

via The Bike Shed