Our first Speed Read of 2026 boasts a racy Yamaha R5 café racer from the UK, a feisty Yamaha WR155R scrambler from Indonesia, and a burly Suzuki Bandit 1200 from Australia. Dig in!
1971 Yamaha R5 by Jets Forever
Built by Jets Forever’s Tony Taysom and Jeff Duval in their UK workshop, this stunning Yamaha R5 two-stroke café racer is partly inspired by the legendary Yamaha TR3, and partly by the fabled ‘Montjuich’ class of motorcycle racing.
Dreamt up by Americans in the 1970s, Montjuich bikes were hybrids of drag bikes and circuit racers, ultimately designated for endurance racing. As references go, it’s beyond obscure—but it’s a cool concept regardless.
Jets started by reinforcing the Yamaha’s OEM frame, while fabricating a truncated subframe that supports a single café racer-style seat unit. The factory fuel tank was matched to a svelte belly pan, designed to cut through the air. A bikini fairing was fitted up front, with a matching front fender slung low over the 21-inch front wheel, and a steering damper to lend even more stability to the front.
New clip-on bars sport fresh grips, a racing throttle assembly, and Beringer controls. A single Speedhut speedometer relays all the necessary information to the rider, keeping the cockpit nice and clean.
The front forks were rebuilt, and the rear shocks were swapped out for a pair of modern units from CR Suspension. The brakes were another major performance upgrade, with Beringer supplying front and rear discs and braided lines to increase the stopping power. A custom brake stay and caliper mount were fabricated for the rear, and rear-set footpegs were fitted.
The 18-inch rear wheel matches the front, with aluminum rims and stainless steel spokes for lightness and longevity. Once everything was assembled, the stunning paint was completed by friends of the Jets team, Image Custom Design.
Under the hood, the crank, rods, and pistons were all dynamically balanced, and the heads were gas-flowed. The transmission was rebuilt, too, and a pair of Amal MkII concentric carbs was bolted on—but the sound of the open velocity stacks would be more than drowned out by the K2 Tec exhaust.
Jets Forever’s Yamaha R5B is built like a track bike—but it’s got lights, a speedometer, and a side-mounted licence plate, making it a true road-going racer. [Source]
Yamaha WR155R by Solace Motorcycles
The stock Yamaha WR155R is covered in plastic, but when Pungky Mardhany of Solace Motorcycles got his hands on one that had been lightly customized, there was no going back. He turned this WR155R into a street tracker a few years ago—but although he loved it, the more he rode it, the more he wanted to do with it. As his personal bike, Pungky set out to inject some Baja racing vibes into his beloved dual-sport whip.
For a small-displacement motorcycle, the heart of the Yamaha WR155R packs a rather techy punch. Not only does the 155 cc single feature liquid cooling and fuel injection, but it also has variable valve timing. These features are commonplace on larger, more expensive bikes, but to see the same tech on a small engine is rare.
The twin headlight setup was put together with help from Dodo at Wasaka Motorcycle, meant to mimic vintage Baja racing bikes. Pungky and Dodo didn’t want to use the traditional oversize headlights, so they shrunk the whole design down to a smaller scale.
Above the headlight is a digital Retouch Sprite dashboard (complete with Apple CarPlay) and an XGrip McGyva tool box, which is integrated into the handlebar pad. Barkbuster VPS hand guards were installed along with ODI grips, and another small tool kit was fitted on top of the headlight.
The custom tank, seat, subframe, and side covers were already perfect, so they were carried over from the previous iteration of the build. In addition, a luggage rack was bolted on for long and short adventures, sitting over a new rear fender and discreet lighting.
An aluminum swingarm from Scarlet Racing was fitted to improve off-road performance, along with Dunlop D605 tires. The engine remained largely stock, but the soundtrack was improved with a complete stainless steel exhaust from Over Racing in Japan.
Yamaha has primarily offered the plucky WR155R in the Asian market in the past, but 2026 will see the marque introduce a small-capacity WR to America in the form of the WR125R. We sure hope that Pungky and Solace Motorcycles will inspire some similarly wonderful custom examples. [Source]
Suzuki Bandit 1200 by Purpose Built Moto
A tire-shredding inline four, a performance-loving customer, and complete creative control—what more could Tom Gilroy and the Purpose Built Moto gang ask for? When PBM customer Pete came to them with the idea of building a performance muscle bike, Tom was more than happy to oblige. However, when Pete turned up at the Gold Coast workshop with a Suzuki Bandit 1200, complete with an upside-down front end and a ‘rebuilt’ motor, the crew was dubious.
Without getting bogged down with what was done to the donor (or who did it), the PBM crew ripped into the bike. The Bandit’s tubular steel frame lends itself well to customization, so Tom decided to go with a flowing rear subframe to support the shapely seat and tail section.
Joe at Ride Dynamics handled the suspension and wheels—and it’s a good thing that he did. The USD front end looked okay from the outside, but was completely wrecked inside. The forks were rebuilt with all new components, and their exteriors were anodized black to match the Cognito Moto fork clamps.
A fully adjustable Öhlins TTX rear shock was sprung for Pete and his riding style. Next, a set of lightweight Core Moto forged wheels was selected for the build and wrapped in Pirelli Diablo Rosso IV tires.
A custom front fender was made, which sits under a PBM Flashpoint LED headlight and a custom bikini fairing. The red, black, and white livery was laid down by Nathan at Livin’ Loco Garage, with Jamason from Timeless Auto Trim knocking out an Alcantara seat cover to match.
Just like the front suspension, the engine looked alright from the outside, but inside was another story. The oil pump was damaged, the rockers were worn, the crank journals were scored, and every internal nut and bolt was overtightened. The team was able to salvage the upgraded cam and the brace of Mikuni carbs at least.
With everything torn down, the engine was rebuilt with a knife-edged crank, new OEM conrods, and a high-compression 1,305 cc big bore kit from Wossner. The performance cam needed to be lightly surfaced and was treated to new rockers and oversized valves from Absubo Racing.
The head was ported, and an external oiling system was fitted to feed oil directly to the top end. An upgraded oil pump now sends oil to a new HEL oil cooler. The Mikunis breathe through a set of DNA performance filters, and the hot air is sent through a custom stainless steel exhaust with internal baffles.
It’s big, bold, and packs a punch—exactly what we expect from the lads at Purpose Built Moto. [Source]
