Rough Crafts custom Yamaha XSR900 build joins firm’s cool Yard Built series

Custom builder Winston Yeh has worked his magic once again, this time turning his hand to Yamaha’s XSR900 – and you could have one just like it.

Most of Winston’s customs are one-offs but this time he’s created a bike for Yamaha’s Yard Built collection with the specific intention of creating something that can be turned into a kit.

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“The whole idea of Yard Built was to inspire bike owners around the world to customise their bikes and make them unique,” says Yeh. “So if the builder develops bolt-on parts from the build, that would be a big bonus.”

Yeh has built bikes for Yamaha’s custom project before but never set out with the intention of making it easily repeatable.

Unlike many of his builds with hundreds of intricate parts, Yeh says he deliberately used plenty of off-the-shelf components such as handlebars, exhaust and wheels.

The most obvious change is the carbon bodywork, which fits the stock frame without cutting or welding. The tank covers mount up exactly like the stock machine while the flat-track inspired seat unit bolts to the subframe with just two fasteners.

It will even take the standard seat if you want to carry a passenger. Joining this is a matching carbon headlight surround and a carbon mudguard.

Yeh was keen to boost the performance, so a new set of triple trees were machined to accept a set of Öhlins FF521 forks. It’s all been done to the stock geometry, so the standard Öhlins cartridge kit will offer a similar feel without as much work.

If you do have deep pockets though, Yeh also intends to offer this as a kit. There’s also a custom Öhlins shock at the rear while the wheels come from BST and are shod with Pirelli Supercorsa tyres.

Yeh says he’s happy with the output from the standard motor, so just added an SC Project exhaust, Sprint air filter and Rapid Bike tuner to zing up the soundtrack. For now there are no prices or availability but keep an eye out for an official DIY kit soon.

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Watch MCN’s Yamaha XSR900 video review below: