Japanese custom car culture has informed motorcycle design for many decades. The beating heart of the industry is scattered across understated industrial alleyways and garages, where designers tinker with powerful bikes in tiny spaces. Now Poland’s Ugly Motors has ripped a page from the Japanese handbook by crafting the Ugly Motors Yamaha XV920 in their homemade crane-operated workshop.
The cafe racer style bike is derived from a 1983 Yamaha XV920 Virago. Ugly Motors made quick work of the almost pristine original model, with an updated suspension balancing out the XV920’s weight with a more lightweight sportbike front end. The Kawasaki ZX12R forks used for the job have integrated bars with a bespoke upper triple and bolted traditional clip-ons for a cleaner finish. The rear shock was also replaced with a Honda CBR 954RR that improved the handling and lowered the bike’s height.
Holding true to Japanese principles, the bodywork followed a minimalist plan, swapping out the previously bulky subframe with a fabricated streamlined rear end. Instead of flashy primary colors, the bike’s tank was coated in a rust proof zinc. The industrial-influenced look was then finished off with olive and gold race stripes before receiving a clear coat for extra durability.