Black and Blue – Yamaha XS650 Street Tracker

In Japan, Sport by Tim HuberLeave a Comment

Flat Tracker builds have become increasingly popular lately but like cafe racers they’ve moved into the territory of being over saturated. This custom Yamaha however is the type of tracker-build that inspires dozens of others, albeit usually of a lower quality. While this one-off machine is fully street-legal, it does a fantastic job of looking like it belongs on a dirt oval with its license-plate being the only obvious indication of its legal road-going status upon first glance.

Starting its life as a Yamaha XS650 (not sure what year between ’78 and ’85 this example rolled out of the factory) this Tracker had its engine rebuilt and polished before being fitted with a flat slide racing carb. This XS example was then fitted with 2 (1 side-mounted and 1 semi-underslung) 1-1 pipes that look like they’re straight off Kenny Roberts’ championship-winning OW 72. I’m unsure of the bike it came from but this XS has clearly been fitted with a new upgraded fork. Other small upgrades were made such as NGK spark-plugs to complete the bike’s performance modifications.

A full dirt-track body kit was then installed and painted in the classic Yammie “speedblock” livery before slapping on front and side number plates. Staying true to the flat tracker look, this build has dual LED headlights (presumably regular and high beam) that have been subtly placed just under the front number plate along with small and equally subtle front and rear LED signals that also poke out from the tracker’s number plates. A small LED strip fitted above the rear-shock mounted license-plate acts as the brake light. The only instrumentation on the machine is a small speedo (w/ odo) that has been hidden under/in front of the handlebar. New off-road foot pegs were attached in addition to a single bar-end mirror as this is after all a street bike.

This really is one of the better street trackers I’ve ever seen and the majority of components appear to be new as well. It does a fantastic job of being 100% street-legal without compromising the Tracker aesthetic. You can find this one-off Yamaha XS650 Street Tracker for sale here on Craigslist in Los Angeles, California at the Garage Company with a hefty price of $18,500.