Yamaha XS650 by Clutch Custom

It’s a long time since we’ve featured a Yamaha XS650. It’s a bike that has become ubiquitous: with so many customs built on the 45-year-old platform, it’s hard to impress any more. This one is a cut above the rest though, mostly because it’s a subtle, well-judged enhancement that retains just enough of the classic XS650 lines. It’s the work of Clutch Custom Motorcycles, the Parisian workshop run by Willie Knoll. (You may remember him from the lovely BMW R75/7 we featured a few months ago.) “I know that the XS650 have been done over and over again,” he says,...