Chappell Customs Yamaha XS650

I love discovering builders that have been floating underneath the internet radar—guys who are doing good work, but largely unrecognized. Chappell Customs is one such outfit, being two brothers who build bikes out of their garages on evenings and weekends. Rob lives near Toronto in Canada and Chris lives in Los Angeles, California. They discuss their builds via emails and phone conversations, and fly back and forth to complete the work. (Which is all done in-house, including the paint and powdercoating.) “The goal of each project is to take basket cases and turn them into ‘cooler than new’ motorcycles,” says...