Yamaha XV920R - Hageman Motorcycles

It’d be over five years ago that I first saw a café’d Yamaha XV. It was the same British racing green model that you’ve probably all seen by now, planted in a European backstreet across some scattered fallen leaves. Something in the back of my mind clicked, thinking it was a great reshaping of a forgotten middleweight cruiser. That was the last one I saw for a while but now, years later, it seems that they’ve been popping up with increasing regularity and with an increasing level of fit and finish. Heading up this accelerando of quality builds is Hageman MC in Tampa, Florida, who have wheeled out this scrambler-inspired 1981 XV920R.

And above all that sits the XT-inspired tank, in all its garish glory. The upright stance of the XV might make it look a little like a scrambler, but Greg at Hageman MC is quick to correct that. “I’ve gotten some criticism for not putting fenders on this bike, let me stress, it’s NOT a scrambler. And I did offer the new owner a set of fenders, but he likes the bike the way it is.” And the owner absolutely loves it. “It couldn’t have gone to a better buyer. He loves the bike, understands what it was built for and uses it hard.” And that’s the way it’s supposed to be.