Polish shop Eastern Spirit Garage have mastered the art of building cafe racers and their latest perfect example of bike design proves it. The bike’s based on an early 80s Yamaha XS650 Special. That was the slightly chopper-ized version of the XS650, and doesn’t quite have the same classic appeal today.

“Building a bobber on an XS required a cheap base,” says shop boss Sylwester. “We respect the heritage – it would be painful to cut down a nice XS II, for instance. So a Special seemed like a perfect choice.” Eastern Spirit is technically a solo project, but Sylwester is regularly helped by his brother, Kamil, and their friend, Lukasz. The crew started by stripping the XS650 down, lopping off the rear of the frame, and fabricating their own hardtail setup.
The floating seat is completely handmade too, and features a very elegant suspension system that uses a mountain bike shock. To perfect the Yamaha’s stance, ESG tweaked the head angle with a set of custom-built offset yokes. They shortened the forks too, and re-valved them to be stiffer.

The wheels were swapped out for a set of solid aftermarket 16s, originally intended for the Harley-Davidson Fat Boy. Matched up to bulbous sawtooth treads, they created the exact profile Sylwester was after.

If the fuel tank looks sort of familiar, it’s because it’s a heavily modified Yamaha Virago unit. The headlight’s...