Enter Sandman: French Atelier's Yamaha TW125

The Yamaha TW125 is one of the oddities of the motorcycling world. It’s short, high-ridin’ and underpowered. It doesn’t sound promising—but over the past 15 years, the TW125 has built up a strong fan base. And if you’ve ridden a fat-tired TW over the sand dunes, you’ll know how much fun it can be. Despite its trifling capacity and 11 horses, it feels like a ‘big toy.’ And that’s the spirit Le French Atelier decided to amp up. LFA is a new workshop based in the western suburbs of Paris, near Versailles. It’s run by three young friends with a...