Yamaha Goes Brat Style with SCR950 Build

Yamaha Goes Brat Style with SCR950 Build

Yamaha's Yard Built project has focused on craftsmen interpretations of a number of models from its Sport Heritage range. Now, the first custom build of the new SCR950 comes from Go Takamine of California’s Brat Style.

Born in Okinawa, Takamine's first exposure to motorcycles was watching US soldiers having fun on dirt courses on the nearby military base. Roll forward to 1998 and Brat Style was born as a workshop in Tokyo, building custom street machines. Now the Brat Style brand is firmly established as a custom bike genre, in no small part due to Go Takamine's love for the SR400 and 500. The Japanese builder has created more than 100 of the Brat Style SRs in his career, including his first Yard Built collaboration, the tidy SR400 B.S.R.

"The SCR950 Scrambler is a natural evolution of the Sport Heritage range," said Yamaha Motor Europe Marketing Coordinator Cristian Barelli. "It's an iconic style of motorcycle that fits perfectly into our offering. Today the desire to keep going when the road runs out is more and more common, so the SCR950 is made to let the adventure continue. Go Takamine has perfectly captured the spirit of the scrambler, and his influence and style is clear in the build.”

"I really like the SCR950," said Takamine. "It is powerful, comfortable, and very easy to handle. I had great fun riding it on the street, but also on a dirt road. I also like the coloring, it takes some design cues from the old Yamaha dirt bikes. It was an enjoyable challenge to customize it.”

Takamine fabricated most of the key body components for the build; fuel tank, seat, fenders, side covers, exhaust pipes and handlebars.

“The fuel tank was especially challenging," Takamine said. "I scrapped the finished tank a couple of times to make it perfect. Also the fuel pump integration was tricky. I took out quite some weight compared to the stock SCR950, and now it's even more fun to ride.”

To create the 'Checkered Scrambler' he cleaned up the front end, adding wider handlebars for better off-road control and a new smaller headlight unit. Brat Style signature engraving can be found on the beautiful fuel cap, paying tribute to Yamaha's Faster Sons platform as well as an engraved custom air filter cover.

Rear suspension by Works Performance adds greater travel and ground clearance, and a handmade sub-frame and rear fender cleans up the back end to match the front.

A handmade seat unit by Mauricio Aguilar and old school paint graphics featuring vintage Yamaha graphics and checkered flags by Denis Babin on the tank complete the bike and leave it ready for any scrambling challenge.