Made in Taiwan and sold only locally, the Yamaha SR150 has resonated with commuters and delivery people alike. But it’s a bike bought for its affordability and practicality, not its looks. Like a legend SR500 just by name, the original SR150 looks just like you’d expect from a delivery bike; blocky and bland.
That hasn’t stopped the tuning studios in Taiwan’s burgeoning tuner scene from shredding the snack-sized SR to make it more visible. And this beautiful SR150 cafe racer shows how potential the sponsor’s bike is.
It’s the work of Twentytwo Custom, the custom arm of Taiwanese motorcycle culture and apparel brand, Persist Motorcycle Company. When Twentytwo first opened their store, they promised themselves that their fifth build would be an internal project. Here is that build.
“The owner of this Taiwan-made Yamaha SR150 is one of our employees, Red,” explains Twentytwo founder Dong Lin. “She has been in charge of design at Persist for almost three years. Most of our images come from her designs.”
With her sharp eye and her role in the company, Red clearly contributed a lot to the design. “Twentytwo ’05’ is an attempt to combine and celebrate all of her favorite things, like sci-fi movies, cyberpunk comics, and ’90s JDM street racing,” said Lin.
“Beyond the nostalgia and passionate love we have for this locally produced model, figuring out how to keep the spirit of the original form was an additional challenge we set for ourselves. . We deliberately kept the original fuel tank and minimized the modification of the main frame; hopefully through the all-new look it is still possible to somehow see the original silhouette of the SR150.”
The project was quickly named ‘Neo Nostalgia’ and work is underway. Straight out of the gate, Twentytwo pulls over to his Taiwanese colleague store and frequent collaborator, Tough Tracker, to handle all the metalwork on the project. Together they transformed the SR150 from an everyday beater into a sleek cafe racer.
Once the OEM tank was in place, the team started crafting a set of body panels to give it a sharper edge. At the front, a set of ‘spoilers’ are attached to the sides of the fuel tank to give it a sportier, more modern look. Going further, Tough Tracker has created a pair of aluminum origami-style side panels.
The tail unit looks basic, but it’s actually made up of several detachable pieces. “In terms of shape, we referenced 90s Japanese sports bikes—then tried to build a single saddle that would fit the SR150 tank,” explains Lin. The LED taillights are simply hidden under the rear bumper.
Up front, Twentytwo and Tough Tracker have decided to avoid the typical bubble-shaping style in favor of something a bit more aggressive. The relatively shallow 6-inch headlight sits inside a hand-crafted panel that’s designed to fit snugly over the fork and yoke.
A skeleton SR150 would hardly burn the streets, but Lin was adamant about injecting at least some performance into this humble single. Starting with the suspension, Twentytwo installed a modified SYM Wolf 125 fork up front, with swingarms from a Yamaha FZ-series. The rear shock is from MJP Factory, while the extended swingarm is from Mark Motorcycle.
The wheels have been changed to 18F/17R sets, wrapped in venerable Dunlop Sportmax rubber. A single Brembo brake caliper further increases braking performance.
Not one to neglect the engine, Lin tasked Performance B in New Taipei City with rebuilding the Yamaha single. It has been increased to 230 cc, with a retrofitted Yamaha TW225 cylinder head and an upgraded camshaft. Performance B has also done some shifting work, strengthening the crankshaft and installing an upgraded connecting rod.
There is also a Yoshimura Keihin FCR-MJN28 carburetor, equipped with a K&N filter and reinforced clutch. The stylish exhaust system comes from another local tuner, Banai. Its flowing form is a deliberate choice, to counterbalance the body mass.
Finishing off the build is a series of subtle and elegant alterations. A set of clamps and a Daytona speedometer are on duty in the cockpit, with new footpegs mounted lower. Twentytwo also trimmed the subframe and rewound the car.
“Imagine that this is a motorcycle that could appear in a sci-fi movie, we used both glossy black, matte black and gray as the color palette,” Lin told us. “We then purposefully blacked out other parts of the car so that the neon yellow Brembo brake calipers stand out and act as a visual highlight—emphasizing the JDM’s fluorescent feel.”
With a boost in performance, an ultra-modern look, and a suspension tuned to her weight and driving style, Red now has an everyday runner that we’re a bit jealous of. Who ever thought a delivery bike could look this good?
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