No list of retro enduros is complete without the noble Yamaha XT 600. Manufactured for almost two decades until 2003, it ticks all the important boxes: basic, versatile and reliable.
But what if you’re not looking for a trail weapon per se" The XT 600 makes a pretty rad supermoto too, if executed just right. And Walid, from Parisian shop Bad Winners, sure knows how to design a motorcycle.

He didn’t set out to customize an XT 600. ?The XT picked me,? he tells us. ?I had it in the workshop for three years?I got it from a client who had to leave town for a job in Australia.?
?But I didn’t want to ride it as it was. I had this clear idea for an air-cooled supermoto?an old-school supermoto from the 90s.?

The Yamaha in question was a 1991-model XT 600 E with a mere 13,000 km on the dial. And since it belonged to a client, Walid had previously serviced it?so he knew it was in good nick. With no fix-ups needed, he could move right on to the fun stuff. But first, he had to take the XT’s stance from trail bike to street thrasher. On went a set of 17? Excel hoops, laced up to the original Yamaha hubs, and now wrapped in Dunlop?s Sportmax Mutant supermoto tires.

The Yamaha’s OEM Nissin brakes were deemed good enough, so they were simply upgraded with stainless steel lines.
Moving to the suspension, Walid trimmed 80 mm off the front forks, and equipped them with stiffer springs. The rear was upgraded with a new YSS shock, also with a harder-th...