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Yamaha XSR700 'Hanko' by Woodman

The furniture designer/carpenter/interior architect from Biarritz, France, wanted to create a bike that celebrated two of the Japanese companies key business sectors, motorcycles and musical instruments.

Below is an interview Yamaha had with George Woodman:

Who is Woodman?

"George Woodman" is a nom de plume. I choose this name five years ago to create an identity that match to my lifestyle.
I'm living downtown Biarritz in a huge warehouse where i built a mad atelier/house all made by raw wood. My regular job was furniture designer and interior architect with the particularity to build also by myself as a carpenter.

I also built some wood: surfboards; Alaias (primitive surfboard); long skates; art crafts...
Wood is everywhere around me!

Where is the inspiration of the concept / design coming from?
The strong attraction that I have for bikes came when I moved to Biarritz 10 years ago with small bikes of the 70's (still don't have my driving license for motorbikes) And logically went the idea to mix wood with motorbike.

My approach is more artistic than technical with the idea to bring the style of the bike in a retro futurist way. But for sure the bike need to be efficient and sweet to ride.

For this Yard Built Project 2017 the idea was to make a bridge (who already exist) between the motor and the music department of Yamaha with a focus on the new RevStar line. Those guitars are an invitation for inspiration and the sketches came quick. The "Hanko" name came also from the Yamaha Guitars Department.

What are the technical / design specification?

For the technical side of the project, I went on a fast mono-seat "café racer":

Olhins for front and back suspensions
S2 Concept handlebars
Ixrace Z8 exhaust
Diablo Supercorsa SP Tires from Pirelli
Yamaha Rear set by Gilles Tooling
Jeap angel eye headlight with turn lights built in
Led integrate back light in the custom loop
Handmade Led turn lights in the frame on the side of the radiator
Ultrabat lithium batteries
KN Filters

For the others parts:

Custom plain Wood and Leather mono-seat
Custom Head fork and side panels and chain guard made of multiply with Macassar Ebony
Custom Tank cover made of Corian (tech material from DuPont, French brand)
Custom front fender made of Corian
Custom underbelly pan made of Corian

With this modifications the bike became a "race machine" and won the Yard Built Race between the 7 others Yard builds at Punk's Peak W&W17.

What does the bike builder like in the XSR?

My surprise with this modern bike who was the first modern bike that I was touching, was the simplicity to work on it. We can feel that the bike was design to be easy to custom.

lso the huge numbers of parts that already exist for the XSR was really helpful for the project.
Another thing that I appreciated a lot was the good feedback of a lot of riders who had occasion to test the XSR.
I also did my own experience riding it, and it's a blast!! So reactive, taking curves alone, and crazy powerful.

Source Yamaha