Maarten Poodt is a creature of habit. Each winter he drags another Yamaha into his workshop, rebuilds it to his taste, and sells it to fund the next one. But he’s changed things up since last year, and now takes on commissioned work too.
Judging by the stellar job Maarten has done on this Yamaha Fazer, working to a client brief hasn’t cramped his style one bit. That’s because he’s stuck to the same formula that he uses for his personal projects: retro-inspired sportbikes with an OEM feel.

The ‘factory’ effect that Maarten aims for isn’t just about the fit and finish. He tends to put his own spin on classic Yamaha designs, and he often keeps his bikes street legal, with the sort of chunky turn signals and plate brackets you’d get on a stock bike. So it’s easy to mistake a Poodt special for a restoration of a classic Yamaha?albeit one that you can’t quite identify. The donor bike for this project, a 2000 Fazer 600, was supplied by Maarten’s client. The brief was straightforward; it was simply a photo of the iconic Yamaha TZ500.

Making a modern four-stroke road bike look like a vintage two-stroke race bike is a tall order. But that’s just the sort of challenge the Maarten relishes, so he took it very seriously. ?This is not a replica,? he explains, ?but a very user-friendly Yamaha with classic racer looks.?
To nail the aesthetic, Maarten started with the wheels. He ditched the Fazer’s three-spo...