Luke's XS750 Free Willy
By Anthony van Someren - 24 Sep 13
The Robinsons Speedshop story continues, with the bike that changed Luke's fortunes. It was his second build, but it was the bike that tipped the balance and inspired him to pack in 16 years of working as a fabricator to go full time into bike building.
As builds go, it's a classic. A Yamaha xs750, stripped back to the basics, electrics hidden away, "invisible battery" and a p[roper cafe stance, with a custom cafe seat and clipons, which are matched to properly positioned rearsets - to avoid that pretzel riding crouch that some badly thought out cafe racers can provoke.
Forks peek through the yokes, lowering the front end, where a mini speedo keeps track of the bike's rapid progress. Indicators were clearly seen as a distraction, so are notably absent, and the rest of the bike suggest the same bare bones ethos. Open wrapped pipes and bellmouths on the carbs suggest a lairy soundtrack.
A cat-eye LED peeks out from under the rear of the seat hump to provide rear lighting while a more traditional black painted headlamp bucket sits up front.
The bike has been called Free Willy because of the back & white, killer-whale paint job, set of nicely by the brown leather tuck and roll seat. It's another typical Robinsons Speedshop special. No frills, just thrills. Keep 'em coming Luke.
See more from Robinson’s Speedshop on their Bike Shed page and Luke's Website.