John Eldridge has the kind of life most of us would envy. He?s an accomplished surfer, he runs a board shaping business and an award-winning café, and he lives in one of the most beautiful parts of England?Cornwall, in the south west.
He also likes to build the occasional motorcycle under the name CMBL (pronounced ?symbol?), like this nimble little Yamaha SR250 street tracker nicknamed ?Space Hopper.?

?The Space Hopper was commissioned by a chap in London wanting a lightweight street hopper for weaving through the London traffic in style,? says John. (For those of you outside the UK, a Space Hopper is better known as a ‘Hippity Hop.’)
?We discussed a few motorcycles to use as a donor, and eventually settled on a Yamaha SR250?knowing full well that it?d need major surgery on the frame to get the clean lines we wanted.?
The SR250 sub frame is low and not very pretty. So after stripping down the Yamaha, John removed the whole back end of the frame?from under the tank to the rear foot peg mounts.
?We created a fresh, clean subframe which sat a good couple of inches above the original. It gives us the ride height and aesthetics we were looking for, and we tied it off with a nice, simple rear loop,? says John.

To balance the stance of the SR250, longer 360mm shocks lift the rear a little?and will no doubt sharpen the steering too. The standard 16? and 19? rims are gone, replaced with freshly anodized 18? aluminum rims. They?re laced to the hubs with stainl...