Custom Bikes Of The Week: 7 October, 2018
A reborn and retro-fabulous Kawasaki GPz550, an XS750 rocketship built for pro BMXer Kye Forte, the weird and wonderful Windhoff Four Cylinder, and a very sharp custom Kawasaki Z900RS from France.
Yamaha XS750 Flat Tracker by Rick Forte Kye Forte’s a pro BMX rider?but when he got his first taste of flat track racing a couple of years ago, he was hooked. So his father Rick decided to build him a very special race bike: a Yamaha ‘XS750’ Kenny Roberts replica.
Rick’s an engineer who tinkers in his spare time, building everything from restos to custom rides. This time he kicked off with an XS650 eBay find, which turned out to be a ton of work. The frame was way too heavy, and the motor not punchy enough. So he started from scratch, hand-building a chromoly frame using a home-made jig.
The motor went off to the XS tuners SmedSpeed. It’s been bumped to 750 cc with high-comp Wiseco pistons, a ported and flowed head and a race-spec cam shaft. There’s a modified sump too, along with a hydraulic clutch and a right side shifter?so Kye’s right foot handles both braking and shifting duties. A stubby SuperTrapp exhaust adds an appropriate soundtrack.
The Yamaha’s finished off with period correct bodywork, and King Kenny’s iconic speedblock livery. Our good buddy Ross Sharp over at The Bike Shed has raced against Kye a few times, and according to him the XS has the go to match the show. [More]
Kawasaki GPz550 by Oil Sweat and G...
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