Yamaha XVS650 - Yama-Harley Softail!

Some guys when the first get their licence just wanna jump straight on a Harley. But when your only LAMS option is a Street 500... you've gotta get creative. The solution? Japan's answer to a small-bore V-Twin cruiser... The mighty XVS650.

There's a reason Yamaha left the XVS practically unchanged for the 20-odd years they were in production. Reliable, easy to maintain, easy to ride, downright bulletproof. They've been an incredibly popular choice for the last couple of decades.

And although straight off the dealer floor they look like something only your 60 year old dad would look at home riding into the sunset, once you strip them back a bit there's a pretty good looking motorcycle hidden away there!

Now comes the creative part - strip them back a bit, perform a few mods, add a couple of parts - and you've got something even a diehard Harley man will give a nod of approval over.

With this build, we've got a nice set of high ape bars fitted with custom lines and wiring, nestled above a "Batman-style" front fairing surrounding the modern LED headlight.

The stock seat has been re-shaped and reupholstered in a neat diamond stitch, with a pillion pad seat added to the rear fender. 

Speaking of the fender, the XVS Custom model fender pretty closely resembles that of a Harley Softail, so we've played on that and installed a Harley-style under-fender LED tail light.

The after-market air intake and set of Vance & Hines pipes add the grunt and give the bike the classic rumble that you'd expect from a V-Twin. We've finished it off with a set of modern blacked out forward controls.

As far as first bikes go, the end result has some decent street-cred. Waaaaay more than you can possibly expect to pull on a Street 500...