A “Cafe Bob” is a concept that sounds quite hard to pull off. But looking at the stance of Dirk Oehlerking’s ‘The Face’ Yamaha Bolt XV950, it all makes sense. Kingston Custom in Denmark produces a wide range of custom bikes, all of which have a beautiful attention to detail and manage to capture some essence of the original bike while having that same unique style that Dirk is known for: a talent unique to great artists and builders.
The XV950 is riddled with personal touches and unique details that make this bike stand out. One of my personal favorites being the goggle shield used as a small wind screen above the headlight: a trait that carries through several of Kingston’s builds. While many parts of this bike were a completely new style for this shop, there are some things like the spark plug sticking out of the custom triple trees that might as well be a hand-written signature.
“We are really impressed with the result,” commented Yamaha Motor Europe Product Manager Shun Miyazawa. “Dirk has taken the XV950 and shown that with no cutting or welding you can add a completely original look to the bike. What’s also very important for us is the fact that most of the custom parts developed and used for this build are available so anyone with an XV950 can create their own Kingston Customs ‘The Face’ look!”
To create the XV950 ‘The Face’, Dirk designed and built many parts in-house, including the cool, see-through ‘The Face’ style air filter cover and the custom hand stitched café racer seat. Kingston Custom designed and made parts also included the foot peg bracket, speedometer bracket, foot brake lever, gear-shift and unique MX visor screen.
A selection of quality aftermarket custom parts were also added, including LSL handlebars, Motogadget indicators, Highsider rear lights, LSL brake lines, Motogadget grips and genuine Yamaha YZ/WR footpegs. The XV stays connected to the ride with matching Shinko tyres with coloured sidewalls whilst Kingston Customs modified suspension and a Megaphon exhaust finishes off the look. The Yard Built is complete with a cool paint job sporting iconic Yamaha design.
For more information on Yamaha’s Yard Built program, click HERE