F
or more than five years,
he has been working on a
Yamaha TR1, inspired by
Greg Hageman whose work
in recreating and restyling
Viragos is known across the
world, but giving the project his
own twist by using modern parts,
as Michael explains: “The fuel tank
was purchased before the bike!
The reason was a Greg Hageman
Virago café racer that I’d seen
online. Greg was the first to use a
Benelli Mojave tank on an XV and
I also wanted a Yamaha café racer
in that style. He was a pioneer in
rebuilding Virago café racers andhas appeared on Discovery’s Cafe
Racer TV. However, I didn’t buy a
Virago, but the TR1 model because
it is equipped with a chain drive,
while the Virago has a cardan
shaft drive. This was six years
ago. I rode it in stock condition for
six months and then the bike was
pulled apart. All the individual
parts were sold and that’s how I
earned back the money that the
bike had cost. Very nice for a poor
student, of course! For a while, it
even stood under a cover in my
parents’ garden. That wasn’t good
for the bike...”
However, while Michael wasmaking plans for the project,
Yamaha cafe racers—mainly
thanks to Greg Hageman—
suddenly became very popular.
Michael didn’t want to ride the
same bike as everyone else, so he
decided to give the Yam a twist
of its own. “Everyone goes for a
classic cafe racer look and I wanted
something a bit more modern—
fatter wheels, upside down forks,
modern brakes, a striking exhaust
and an overall clean look. To top
it all off, an ultramodern ‘banana’
swinging arm would need to
be built. When it comes to bike
building, I’m a rookie. That’s whyBIKE FEATURE YAMAHA TR1
40 | 100% Biker | issue 250 | http://www.100-biker.co.uk