1984 Yamaha TR-1 Cafe Racer by Roland Snel

The Yamaha TR1 was one of those editions that never quite caught on in the bike community. I mean, we’ll hand it to Yamaha, a V-twin tourer sounds like a great ride, but unfortunately it was one of those “time and place” issues that never allowed the edition to escalate; the ‘80s were a strange decade.

So, 30 years later we’re excited to see the cafe racer treatment that builder Roland Snel offered this 1984-spec Yamaha TR1. The initial motivation came from the stock bike’s chain drive, which made it easy for Snel to outfit the bike with a wider rear tire. The Yamaha’s original Showa forks were replaced with the company’s more modern USD forks from a Ducati 916 and the rear shock was lifted from a Triumph Speed Triple. The wheels were upgraded as well with Metzeler Roadtec Z8s wrapped around a pair of aluminum Akron rims and since the engine only had 29,000 kilometers on the odometer, little work was needed in that department.

However, the carbs needed some help so Snel hooked the Yamaha up with a Dynojet stage 1 kit with modified headers to enhance the bike’s ceramic-coated MAC mufflers and the engine now pops thanks to machined cooling fins and added matching fins to the crank covers to give the build a more custom ‘70s look. All told, it’s a fiery build that brings to life the potential of Yamaha’s forgotten TR1. [Via: BikeExif]