More often than not, old motorcycles carry a wealth of interesting tales and experiences they’d lived through over the years. This is particularly true with budget-friendly machines that take kindly to customization, as they’re almost guaranteed to have been ridden hard and given at least a few mods during their lives.
In some extreme cases, bikes will even shapeshift multiple times as they age, reinventing themselves in terms of looks, performance, and everything in between. That's how this striking Yamaha SR400 eventually turned into what you see today, and its history has all the right elements to make for great storytelling. To start with, the Japanese classic is in its fourth incarnation if we count the stock form it initially came in.
A few owners, many questionable modifications, and several years into its life, the SR400 was acquired by one Joel Birch. This name might sound familiar to some of you, because Joel is the lead vocalist of Australian metalcore band The Amity Affliction. Some time ago, he brought the old Yamaha to Black Cycles of Brisbane, Queensland for a custom makeover, which involved an array of structural tweaks and a murdered-out color scheme.
Shop boss Noel Muller and his team did their thing, then the reborn SR400 was handed back to its owner for him to ride and enjoy. The two lived happily ever after, and Joel’s band certainly didn’t get cut off from all the touring revenue musicians need to make a living, right? Well, this might’ve been the case if a little thing called the pandemic didn’t come along to ruin everyone’s plans in 2020.
Lockdowns and travel restrictions hit the music industry like a wrecking ball, so Joel found himself needing to make some sacrifices. He sold his modified Yamaha to free up a bit of cash during hard times, and the bike made its way to an avid collector of custom rides named Simon. The new owner took it back to Noel at Black Cycles for yet another makeover, which is what resulted in the SR400’s current form.
Photo: Black Cycles
Zooming in on the actual mods, we find a looped subframe that keeps the motorcycle’s rear-end proportions nice and tight. The revised tubing supports a handmade saddle featuring black leather upholstery and a laser-cut Black Cycles badge up top. A little further back, you’ll come across a minimalistic license plate holder and compact LED lighting equipment from Kellermann.
All these goodies rest on aftermarket shock absorbers with piggyback reservoirs and progressive springs. On the other hand, the Aussies chose to retain the original SR forks, but they shipped them to XXX Rated Race Suspension to be shortened and refurbished. Then there’s the unsprung sector, where Black Cycles fitted stainless-steel spokes and a fresh pair of alloy hoops painted gold.
The rims are embraced by K180 flat-track tires from Dunlop’s catalog, and the standard front disc brake setup gave way to a traditional drum. Glancing upward, we find an aluminum fender that’s been fabricated from scratch and secured in place via tailor-made brackets. The top-grade LED headlight mounted a bit higher up was supplied by Purpose Built Moto.
Photo: Black Cycles
Over in the cockpit area, Noel and his squad installed clip-on handlebars outfitted with compact switches, glassless mirrors, and Motogadget bar-end turn signals. All the mods we’ve looked at thus far are pretty rad, for sure, but our favorite part about this entire build is the Benelli Mojave-style fuel tank placed center-stage. It bears a flush-mounted, pop-up filler cap, which is fronted by a digital Motoscope Pro dial from Motogadget.
Yet another cool little touch can be seen on the right-hand side – a transparent external tube enabling Simon to keep an eye on the fuel level at all times. As the donor’s 399cc single-cylinder engine was given a complete overhaul back when belonged to Joel Birch, the shop didn’t have to try too hard this time around. Even so, a brand-new aftermarket pod filter was put in touch with the SR400’s carburetor for good measure.
The exhaust side of things got more attention, though, with a bespoke heat-wrapped header working its way back to an SC-Project muffler on the right. A shiny kick start pedal rounds out the changes executed by Black Cycles, along with carbon fiber heel guards and Motogadget’s mo.lock keyless ignition module. Reinforcements had to be called in for the paintwork, and Justin Holmes of Popbang Classics was deemed the perfect man for the job.
He covered the gas tank and front fender in a delicious yellow hue, which closely resembles the factory color often used by Yamaha. Speed block graphics accompany this yellow base on the bike's fuel chamber, and a darker ochre finish can be spotted low down on the rims. Black is the name of the game just about everywhere else, except for that gold kick start pedal and the SC-Project logo on the exhaust silencer.
A bit of an artist himself, Silvian sees two- and four-wheeled machines as a form of art, especially restomods and custom rides. Oh, and if you come across a cafe racer article on our website, it’s most likely his doing. Full profile
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