Over the past couple of years, no manufacturer has commissioned more custom bikes than Yamaha Motor Europe. The Yard Built program has given us plenty of eye candy, and Yamaha was the first OEM to invite Bike EXIF to a new model launch?that of the XSR700.
The XSR700 (and its big brother the XSR900, which I rode shortly afterwards) was a daring move by the Japanese marque. The XSRs are ?heritage? bikes targeted at the cafe racer crowd, but they’re built on unashamedly modern platforms. I loved the XSR700 and 900, and so did most of the motorcycle press, but our readers were divided?many criticizing their styling.

I caught up with Yamaha Motor Europe Marketing Coordinator, Cristian Barelli, in Cape Town recently. The 35-year-old Italian lives in Lombardy, but commutes to Yamaha’s office in Amsterdam during the week. We talked about the influence of the custom scene, the development of the XSR platform, and where he reckons the scene is headed.
Wes: You were just saying how you have friends who had no interest in motorcycles a couple of years ago, which are now interested. Is that partly because of the custom scene’s growth"
Christian: Yeah, it’s like this. We saw, some years ago, that people started to use old motorcycles?started to customize them?and then saw that there is potential. I did the same thing, because ten years ago I bought an old BMW, for myself. I had a lot of fun in the garage, customizing it, but then when I rode in the st...