We all have our inclinations, preferences, and particular tastes. In the custom motorcycle world, a BMW boxer or Triumph Bonneville is considered the mainstream, while unlikely sponsors are more unusual. Yamaha’s Virago is one such machine—but not enough to be an outlier for Jimbo Turner.
Jimbo reserved his enthusiasm for only one variant of the XV1000— Yamaha TR1. He didn’t discover his passion right away; he explored fun rides on a Yamaha XS650 hardtail, a Honda CB, a Ducati Monster, and many others before finding his two-wheeled soul mate. But once he discovered the TR1, his bike-building exploits took on a whole new level.
This fun Yamaha TR1 coffee racing car is the self-taught builder’s second TR1. His first, unveiled at the 2022 Bike Shed Show in London, featured a new front end, a custom-cut exhaust, and a Ducati Scrambler tank. But it wasn’t enough to satisfy Jimbo’s cravings.
He learned so much about his new muse that he had to build another one. He soon sourced an engine from the Netherlands to pair with the spare frame he’d picked up during the build. With ambitions to improve on what he’d done before, he’s set a deadline for the Bike Shed program in 2023.
The first decision to make was what to replicate. The TR1 frame had been successfully adorned with a variety of tanks, but for Jimbo, the Ducati Scrambler that adorned his first build (taken from the parts racks of the mighty DeBolex Engineering) was a match made in heaven. So a second was soon sourced.
Jimbo once again used modern USD forks, this time from a Ducati 749, paired with Cognito Moto swingarms. But for the rear end, he wanted a more dramatic change to his proven formula. In his original build, Jimbo used the stock swingarm—but for his second attempt, he wanted a challenge.
He tracked down a single-sided swingarm and wheelset from a Ducati Hypermotard, collected all the components at his North London paddock, and then scratched his head. Creating a suitable mounting point for the shock would require serious surgery on the Yamaha TR1 frame. Too late to back out now.
Of the many skills Jimbo had picked up during his previous builds, welding was probably the one he was most proficient at—so he set to work with the grinder, fairly confident that he could undo any missteps along the way. “I didn’t really know what I was doing, I just figured it out as I went,” he admits. “It seemed to work…”
Jimbo created a reinforcement pocket on the right rear of the frame to release the shock linkage and after a lot of “testing and error-gineering” he moved the swingarm into its new home. Confident that he had cleared this highest hurdle, he moved on to the subframe. Inspired by his adventures on the Ducati, he designed and fabricated an elaborate tube trellis, and bolted it to the frame.
Then, in the tried and tested way, he bounced it up and down a few times as a stress test. But the design failed, and the structure gradually deformed. Back on the back of a napkin.
Jimbo’s second attempt at a subframe, reinforced to every possible parameter, passed the same test with flying colours. With the stance in place, his mind turned to the TR1’s paint scheme. Having deployed a masculine army green on the first TR1, for the second he was tempted by a more pastel palette.
Without thinking too much about the master plan, he converted the springs on his Öhlins rear shocks to a turquoise powder coat. He then reimagined his garage as a paint booth and applied multiple coats of Pramac-style purple to the fuel tank.
For that rugged subframe, inspiration came from the splattered paint of Marin mountain bikes from the ’90s. In Pollock style (and defying the integrity of his makeshift paint booth), Jimbo made a mess. Love it or hate it, there’s no denying its uniqueness.
With all these painted elements now in place, but still undecided on the final look, Jimbo chose to focus on the highlights and let his ideas coalesce. Of the many difficult skills he has acquired, exhaust fabrication gives him the most satisfaction. Trace a path, choose an angle, cut, attach, weld and repeat, until, from a few lengths and a pile of offcuts, a complete system emerges.
Moving on to the Yamaha lighting system, Jimbo has fitted the same electric bike headlight he used on his previous build, with a Kellermann all-in-one LED unit mounted to the rear shock’s remote reservoir. The bike also has an Axel Joost ‘D-box’ controller, 61 Meccanica engine covers and filters, and Motone switches.
At this point, Jimbo’s full-time role as Bike Shed site manager, combined with moving house and garage, pushed his deadline to the 2024 show. But it was during this extended period that he finally found the inspiration to tie his disparate paint components into a cohesive scheme.
ONE 88 Foxbody Mustang caught his attention on Instagram. He tasked me with creating a Photoshop render of a Timefox and TR1 hybrid and knew immediately that was the direction to go. The ‘Miami Slice’ was born.
The paint booth was once again set up to give the tank a white top half, before the nearly finished machine was taken to Jimbo’s good friend Sticky’s Speed Shop for help fitting the final graphics; a turquoise stripe to split the tank in half, and a pink paint job of the machine’s new moniker straight down the middle. A white vinyl seat with pink stitching, courtesy of Bazz at BMK Creative and Miami Slice, was ready for the show.
So, with two Yamaha TR1 cafe racers in the garage, what’s next for Jimbo? Well, once he’s picked his favourite, the other one has to make way for his next project. And while I’m not one to bet, I’ll certainly venture a guess as to what that might be…
Jimbo Turner’s Instagram | Image by, and thanks to, Thomas Kettlety
