Yamaha SR500 by Chappell Customs

It's hard to believe that this lean, purposeful café racer started out as a beaten up 1978 Yamaha SR500—an ex-AHMRA race bike that was standing in Chris Chappell's Los Angeles shop. Despite the fact that it had a pink FZR front wheel, Ninja rear wheel, no side stand and no exhaust, client Andrew Ehlers saw its potential and chose it as the donor for his dream build. Perhaps it was because Ehlers himself was just as banged up as the old SR. A collision with a careless SUV driver had landed him in hospital with multiple broken bones, and wrecked...