If you?re fan of blasting big trail bikes down forest roads, the Yamaha WR450F is probably on your shopping list. And if you also love the brutal beauty of the early Paris-Dakar bikes, Evan Scott has built a machine just for you.
The man behind Iron Cobras has hooked up with Answer Racing to build a custom WR450F that amps up the retro rally raid vibe without sacrificing performance.

Despite his reputation, Evan hasn?t been a lifelong biker: he only got into riding about 17 years ago, and after a misguided obsession with modern sportbikes, he got into dirt riding and never looked back.
He now builds custom motorcycles and exhaust systems, with a growing sideline in metal fabrication, and caught the attention of the motocross gear maker Answer Racing.
?Answer contacted me about eight months ago,? Evan recalls. ?I met with creative director Scott Sagud, and we came up with concepts for two Dakar-inspired bikes: one modern-style rally bike, and one retro bike.?
Evan and Scott worked together on concept drawings, blending the ideas each wanted to see in the builds. ?Our focus was not only on making sure the bikes looked good, but also making sure they performed like the Dakar racers we were using for inspiration.?

The 2017 Yamaha WR450F is a good platform for a high-performance build. It?s a big trails bike with a punchy ?reverse-slant? engine?the same four-valve single used by its stablemate, the YZ racer. You also get fuel injection and electric start.
This WR450F is c...