It’s usually Yamaha’s XS650 that gets the custom treatment, so it’s nice to see a smaller capacity XS get a workover. This tracker-style machine has a Yamaha XS400 motor squeezed into an XS250 frame, and it was built over a couple of years by Drew Scialpi-Sullivan, from rainy Manchester, England. He modified the frame to fit a Harley XR750 tail section, and designed a tank that would conceal a BMW brake master cylinder—to keep the Renthal bars looking as clean as possible. The engine has been freshened up with a light porting job, and fitted with NOS carbs and a custom fabricated exhaust. The clutch window is home-made and an XJ1300 blue spot caliper and TZR 125R disc help with the braking duties. “The graphics are inspired by a pseudo 60s Japanese-stroke-Godzilla post war type thing,” says Drew. “Hence the drab green and bright orange and white.” (Which would also explain Drew’s choice of light switch, which comes from a 1941 WW2 bomber.) The bike looks sharp and unusual at the same time: “I get stopped by bikers asking what it is,” says Drew, “because any pretence towards its past has been obliterated!”
