Not So Mellow Yellow: North East's XT500 resto-mod

The Yamaha XT500 is widely considered as the Grand-pappy of the modern dual-sport. This late 70s enduro marked the point when scramblers went from being modded street bikes to purpose-built machines. (A few Paris-Dakar wins didn't hurt its icon status either.) These days, most XT500s are immaculately restored trailer queens, or display decades of abuse. But they’re also prime candidates for tasteful resto-modding—like this very sharp machine from Italy’s North East Custom. There's a heavy dose of sentiment attached to this project. “The bike is called The Mauri,” Diego Coppiello tells us, “to honor the father of the owner, who...