At Wheels & Waves earlier this year Jens vom Brauck, founder of JVB-Moto, waxed lyrical about his Yamaha MT-07 and what an amazing bike it is. Why was a world renowned custom bike builder with over two decades of experience buying a new, modern looking bike straight from the showroom, with his own money? He mentioned a Yard Built project on the horizon and that I should try the new XSR700 (same engine) when released. Having just returned from the official launch in Sardinia I can confirm that Jens wasn't being Mr. Corporate, but more on that tomorrow with a full review of the stock bike. If you're familiar with Jens' previous bikes (link at the bottom) you'll understand why Yamaha are so keen to work with him, he has that uncanny ability of making things look just right. While I head to another screen to finish off the XSR700 story, here's the official press release for the Super 7. Yamaha’s Yard Built program has gone from strength to strength over the recent years, bringing a world of custom possibilities to a new audience through clever collaborations with top custom builders to create stunning concepts from the Sport Heritage range. Following the stunning concept ‘Faster Son’ created by Chabbott Engineering’s Shinya Kimura this summer to launch the XSR700, Germany’s JvB-moto is now the first custom builder to step up and deliver their take on the latest offering from the Sport Heritage range. The result, the ‘Super 7’ makes a bold statement, making it clear that the possibilities for customization and personalisation with the XSR700 are huge. Jens vom Brauck’s first custom build with Yamaha, the attention grabbing VMAX ‘Infrared’ cemented a relationship that has gone from strength to strength. As a big fan and vocal supporter of the concept XSR, JvB-moto was the perfect partner to showcase the customizing potential of the new XSR700. Without any cutting or welding to the frame, Jens worked to strip back the bike with the drive to expose the essence of the retro styled machine. The end result is a super clean motorcycle that reflects the lightweight, powerful and agile nature of the standard XSR700. “We are excited to see how this new machine will become part of the growing custom scene today,” commented Yamaha Motor Europe Product Manager Shun Miyazawa. “Six years of custom collaborations have helped us to be where we are today with the new XSR700. A key importance of the design process was to create a neutral motorcycle that didn't belong to strongly to any category such as scrambler or flat tracker or café racer; it’s an open book for potential customization. We have nurtured and grown this strong unique factory motorcycle building philosophy, which we call ‘Faster Sons’, giving respect for the past blended with modern riding performance. Jens has been one of the biggest supporters of this new philosophy, always pushing Yamaha to break rules and go beyond boundaries. He was always a big fan of the XSR700 concept so for us it was very natural to give him the opportunity to present us a second Yard Built collaboration based on this new XSR700.” “It’s really great to be part of the Yard Built project again,” stated Jens vom Brauck of JvB-moto. “Our first project, the VMAX, was a huge success, we went through the wall with that! It was a very flashy big bang. This build is obviously a very different. I wanted to create the essence of this kind of bike; it’s an all rounder. I wanted to strip it back and get to the feel of the XSR700, the feel of the superb chassis. Then I wanted to transform the look so it looks the way it feels, really agile, lightweight and powerful. That's what inspired me to make it look like this. One of the things I like about this bike a lot is that you can take off the rear sub-frame so you can have a shorter tail and a different look with the seat. Just a couple of screws and you can change it, that makes the life of customizers much easier. The most important thing about this build is that we are going to manufacture all the parts so customers can change their bike into the Super 7." I'm back. There'll be loads more detail on the XSR to follow but the simplicity engineered in to enable customisation is certainly not some gimmick just to flog parts and accessories. The bike has been designed with the novice spanner wielder in mind, some of the mods are so obvious you'd wonder why nobody has offered this before. Neither Jens or Shinya were convinced by my hidden radiator concept but the potential with this platform will yield some seriously exciting builds over the coming months. Having just spent a day riding a stock bike around Sardinia's most sinuous of mountain roads it only seemed right to try the Super 7, for scientific purposes you understand. An Öhlins shock in the rear, some gloopier fork oil, sticky tyres, an Arrow exhaust and a racer's set up of cables and levers were the only performance upgrades but they gave an indication of what could be unleashed should a full-on build leave the drawing board. Watch this space, apparently. In the meantime keep an eye out for the XSR700 review and also the JVB webstore as the Super 7 parts will soon be available. More from JVB-Moto Bike Shed Archive | Facebook | Webstore https://oldbikeshed.wpengine.com/yamaha-xsr700-built-to-be-taken-apart/