Over the years the trusty Yamaha XS650 has found itself to be one of the most popular donor bikes around. And why shouldn?t it be. It has the Japanese reliability and an engine and frame that lends itself to many different custom styles. Which is the reason Martin Castelberg from Moto Incendio in Switzerland has held onto this bike for so long. ?I restored the bike and originally built a café racer and rode the bike for 5 years and about 50,000km. During this time, I learnt everything about this XS650 ? that?s why I like to say my first car was a motorcycle.?

As time went by, Martin found himself fixing a lot of friends and neighbours bikes. ?My interest in mechanics kept me going and consumed every free time I had. With the money I earned I opened in 2014 my shop Moto Incendio. Things from then on went very fast and I worked out I could make a decent living out of customizing and repairing motorbikes.? Business was doing so well, he had to bring his father on board to keep up with demand ? luckily his dad was handy with the tools and used to work in the automobile industry.
Unfortunately, because the garage was so busy, Martin didn?t have much spare time to work on his own XS650. But this all changed in March this year. ?I decided to rip everything apart on the XS650 and start building the bike I had in my mind for many years? he says.

After Martin had taken the bike apart, he began to rebuild the engine and wanted to get a few more horses out of it. He decided to fit...