I wanted to give my trusty Yamaha a makeover. The original owner had repainted it with a rattle can after a minor accident, and I never loved the paint, but the price and low mileage couldn't be beat. I partnered up with my buddy Ritsushi Miyazato, a Japanese motorcycle mechanic and designer, to bring this bike some new style. Together we refinished and removed all the fairings and simplified the bike down to the bare minimum. Design by reduction. Now it is truly unique, and I get more compliments than cringes.
After stripping the paint from the gas tank and frame, I added a brushed finish to class the bike up a little while regaining it's aggressive styling. While I was stripping paint, the Harbor Freight angle iron wire wheel shot a 1.25 inch long wire into my knee, requiring minor surgery. I think it exceeded any cost savings I've had from shopping there over the years :(
Brushed and black, baby!
I love how easy it is to work on the bike now that it's naked. Oil changes and spark plugs are now very accessible. Ritsushi gave the bike a major tune-up while we were working on her. She rides like a stallion that's been stung by a couple of wasps on it's hindquarters. Fast and angry.
We replaced the huge dash with a very simple speedometer. The low fuel light is now mounted on the top of the main headlight housing. Clean and simple.
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Yamaha YZF 600R Redesign
I wanted to give my trusty Yamaha a makeover. The original owner had repainted it with a rattle can after a minor accident, and I never loved the paint, but the price and low mileage couldn't be beat. I partnered up with my buddy Ritsushi Miyazato, a Japanese motorcycle mechanic and designer, to bring this bike some new style. Together we refinished and removed all the fairings and simplified the bike down to the bare minimum. Design by reduction.
