Every year, Yamaha holds the Yard Built competition, a customization series that crowns a winner based on fan-votes. Limiting each builder to the same model and budget, Team Blue rewards the most popular build with a cash prize. Hookie Co., a German workshop known for their BMW R nineT kits, used the occasion to not only assemble a sharp-looking XSR700 but also develop a bolt-on Moto-Kit in the process.
Custom Culture
The design brief for this year’s Yard Built challenge called for “playful, sporty, and classic” interpretations of the XSR700 and Hookie Co. took full advantage of those broad parameters. Originally designed by custom motorcycle legend Shinya Kimura, the XSR700 is the modern form of Yamaha’s storied XS650 from the ‘60s and ‘70s. The XSR700 pairs the engine, frame, chassis, and braking of the ever-popular MT-07 with retro-styled tins and presents a malleable platform for custom builders to blur the lines between past, present, and future.
Juxtaposing raw metallic surfaces and caution-yellow accents, the German workshop makes the naked bike look more like a vehicle from the set of Blade Runner than a modern production bike. The kit you see here is the result of Hookie Co.’s attention to current aesthetic trends, delivering a stylish set for XSR700 owners to bolt-on with simple hand tools.
Each kit includes an aluminum gas tank, 3D-printed acrylic tank fixture, Alcantara saddle, and bolt-on tray to mount the seat and fuel tank. An SC Project exhaust opens up the 689cc engine and 17-inch alloy wheels with Pirelli MT60 dual sport tires provide a rugged upgrade to the stock Phantom Sportcomps.
A new LED headlight and aluminum housing slide onto the front forks. At the tail, three 3D-printed acrylic fins function as a brake light and a right/left indicator with LED lighting.
Gallery: Hookie Co. Grasshopper: 2016 Yamaha XSR700
Customers can install the kit over the course of a few days with no frame cuts or welding required. If owners happen to get over their cyberpunk phase, they can remove the set and return their XSR700 to stock form in the span of hours.
Kits for the XSR700 are compatible with model-year 2016 to 2019 and retail for around $3,700 (€3,320). Produced in Germany, orders can be placed on the company’s Website and delivery to the US is an option.