Q&A: A manufacturer’s view of the custom scene

Over the past couple of years, no manufacturer has commissioned more custom bikes than Yamaha Motor Europe. The Yard Built program has given us plenty of eye candy, and Yamaha was the first OEM to invite Bike EXIF to a new model launch—that of the XSR700. The XSR700 (and its big brother the XSR900, which I rode shortly afterwards) was a daring move by the Japanese marque. The XSRs are ‘heritage’ bikes targeted at the cafe racer crowd, but they're built on unashamedly modern platforms. I loved the XSR700 and 900, and so did most of the motorcycle press, but...