With spring well and truly underway Yamaha heads to Istanbul in Turkey to collaborate with a new member of the Yard Built family, Bunker Custom Motorcycles. Brothers Can and Mert Uzer are not your typical custom bike builders, Can a high level skateboarder with the Vans Turkey Skateboarding Team and Mert transferring to building bikes full-time following a career in Digital Advertising.

The two first caught the attention and interest of Yamaha Motor Europe with their distinctive 1982 Yamaha SR500 build. The super clean classic Yamaha custom screamed handmade and raw, and most appropriately was definitely built to ride. As a result the collaboration with Yard Built was born and the two have been busy over the last few months adding their Bunker Custom style to the Yamaha XSR700, delivering a rugged, tracker style machine that looks ready to tackle the beaches, mountain roads and anything else you want to throw at it.

Bron: Yamaha Belgium

At the first Milan Fashion Week of 2016, Yamaha was official partner of the incredible show of the famous Belgian designer Dirk Bikkemberg.

On the last day of the famous Milan Fashion Week, a much-awaited event that each year reveals the trends in men’s clothing for the next autumn/winter season, Yamaha was treated to the highlight of the week, Dirk Bikkembergs’ fashion show. The famous Belgian designer, who always combines the practicality of sportswear with classy refined lines in his clothes, presented his new Sport Couture Collection to the international fashion media. For the first time ever, and inspired by the Dark Side of Japan, stunning models presented Bikkembergs’ new Sport Couture Collection between a selection of Yamahas famous MT bikes.

Bikkembergs’ new Sport Couture Collection is dedicated to the man who, after intense sports training, slips on his favourite biker jacket, jumps onto the seat of his bike and speeds off along the city’s streets, picking up fragments of everyday life as he goes. His distinctive clothes skilfully combine stylistic creativity with details “stolen” from the world of sport, just as the MT does with its perfect fusion of style and cutting-edge technology.

The latest trends in the world of fashion have collided with the “out-of-the-ordinary” trends of motorbike design, trends behind the distinctive traits of the revolutionary MT range, which have been changing the face of motorcycling in recent years. And 2016 will see the arrival on our streets of two new gems inspired by Japanese motorcycle subcultures, which will complete the MT range: the MT-10, by far the most powerful MT ever created thanks to its 998-cc crossplane engine and high torque, and the agile and compact two-cylinder MT-03, a naked bike perfect for new and returning riders.

Bron: Yamaha Belgium

The FJR1300 models are now fitted with an all-new 6-speed transmission that gives increased acceleration together with reduced rpm during high speed top gear cruising. The result is more dynamic running performance with a greater emphasis on the bike’s sports character, together with a more comfortable and relaxing riding experience.

Another significant change for 2016 is the use of new A&S clutch that gives smoother downshifts for improved chassis stability when decelerating, to give more enjoyable corner entry on twisty roads – while the new lower rate clutch springs give a lighter and easier clutch lever action for reduced effort on the part of the rider.

All new LED lighting at the front and rear enhances the look and feel of all the FJR models – whilst new front cornering lights on the FJR1300AE/AS improve the night time riding capabilities. And with their refined instrumentation and a new Matt Silver colour option, the latest generation of FJR models continues to offer sophisticated style with high levels of functionality that look sure to be appreciated by bike’s loyal followers.

Bron: Yamaha Belgium

Yamaha’s Yard Built program has gone from strength to strength over the recent years, bringing a world of custom possibilities to a new audience through clever collaborations with top custom builders to create stunning concepts from the Sport Heritage range.

Following the stunning concept ‘Faster Son’ created by Chabbott Engineering’s Shinya Kimura this summer to launch the XSR700, Germany’s JvB-moto is now the first custom builder to step up and deliver their take on the latest offering from the Sport Heritage range. The result, the ‘Super 7’ makes a bold statement, making it clear that the possibilities for customization and personalisation with the XSR700 are huge.

Jens vom Brauck’s first custom build with Yamaha, the attention grabbing VMAX ‘Infrared’ cemented a relationship that has gone from strength to strength. As a big fan and vocal supporter of the concept XSR, JvB-moto was the perfect partner to showcase the customizing potential of the new XSR700.

Without any cutting or welding to the frame, Jens worked to strip back the bike with the drive to expose the essence of the retro styled machine. The end result is a super clean motorcycle that reflects the lightweight, powerful and agile nature of the standard XSR700.

“We are excited to see how this new machine will become part of the growing custom scene today,” commented Yamaha Motor Europe Product Manager Shun Miyazawa. “Six years of custom collaborations have helped us to be where we are today with the new XSR700. A key importance of the design process was to create a neutral motorcycle that didn’t belong to strongly to any category such as scrambler or flat tracker or café racer; it’s an open book for potential customization. We have nurtured and grown this strong unique factory motorcycle building philosophy, which we call ‘Faster Sons’, giving respect for the past blended with modern riding performance. Jens has been one of the biggest supporters of this new philosophy, always pushing Yamaha to break rules and go beyond boundaries. He was always a big fan of the XSR700 concept so for us it was very natural to give him the opportunity to present us a second Yard Built collaboration based on this new XSR700.”

“It’s really great to be part of the Yard Built project again,” stated Jens vom Brauck of JvB-moto. “Our first project, the VMAX, was a huge success, we went through the wall with that! It was a very flashy big bang. This build is obviously a very different. I wanted to create the essence of this kind of bike; it’s an all rounder. I wanted to strip it back and get to the feel of the XSR700, the feel of the superb chassis. Then I wanted to transform the look so it looks the way it feels, really agile, lightweight and powerful. That’s what inspired me to make it look like this. One of the things I like about this bike a lot is that you can take off the rear sub-frame so you can have a shorter tail and a different look with the seat. Just a couple of screws and you can change it, that makes the life of customizers much easier. The most important thing about this build is that we are going to manufacture all the parts so customers can change their bike into the Super 7. Everything from the headlight, the front mudguard, side covers, rear seat, everything you need to build a Super 7 from JvB-moto!”

Bron: Yamaha Belgium