Written by Andrew Jones
Ever tried flat track racing" It’s ridiculously fun and easily more addictive than chocolate-dipped crack cocaine. Hell, the first time I tried it I was on my phone searching for bikes before the tracker I was on rolled to a stop. It’s little wonder, then, that the amount of flat track racing globally has boomed in the last few years. It seems we have quite an epidemic on our hands and Germany’s Hombrese bikes are clearly hooked. Sick of not having a suitable bike for weekend races, they decided that the old Yamaha YZ450 sitting in the corner of the shop collecting dust would be the perfect candidate.

?My name is Uwe Kostrewa,? say Hombrese Bike?s head honcho. ?I’m from Cologne in Germany. In 2012, I saw an SR400 cafe racer and I was thrilled by it. I was instantly determined to own such a bike and I really wanted to build one for myself. Shortly thereafter, an SR500 was pushed into my workshop. While transforming it into a cafe racer, it became obvious to me that customising motorcycles was my new passion. I named my shop ?Hombrese Bikes? and the rest is history.? Front brakes. Just in case
?This is my latest build. It’s a 2003 Yamaha YZ450F that I’ve turned into a weekend flat tracker. I called it ?78?. The bike is owned by one of my best friends; It was parked for 4 years in my workshop and had been pretty much untouched the whole time.? But that was soon to change.

?After about 14 nanoseconds of though...