Bestowing a stock, small-displacement bike with a rugged, aggressive appearance is no easy feat. The diminutive size of an exposed sub-fifth-liter powertrain makes it exceedingly difficult to achieve a brawny and muscular look. Despite this, the team at Japan’s Hide Work Custom have managed to do exactly that, transforming the smallest member of Yamaha’s “Masters of Torque” family into a mean and modern amalgamation of scrambler and tracker.
Built around an MT15, the main highlight on the build is its custom trellis subframe, complete with bespoke meshed and fiberglass, side-panels, a one-off bottom cover, a black leather saddle with an elaborate custom stitch-job, and Motodadget pin LED indicators capping off the aft-ends of the new framework. The build retains the MT’s stock tank cover, though it’s been hit with a coat of forest green and some hand-laid Von Dutch-style pinstriping. The robot-face stock headlight arrangement has been swapped out for a low-profile, circular LED unit, and the original front signals have been replaced with micro-LED items. Other noteworthy additions include low-rise tracker-style bars, a bespoke license plate hanger, matching custom green paint and dual-sport rubber on the wheels, and a custom exhaust terminating in an underslung, SC-Project-style can.
