Kevin Murray’s Yamaha XSR700 Is No Show Queen

I'll bet most sun-drenched Californians think that riding in the Pacific Northwest is a nightmare. Sludge-gray skies squeeze out precipitation eight months out of the year, and the snotty, muck-covered roads require focus to navigate, especially come December when short days and a heavy tree canopy blot out what little light there is, making "poor visibility" the operative phrase for riders. Since I live in Portland, I can understand that perception. Velomacchi's Kevin Murray, however, has embraced those challenges with his XSR700-based Rural Racer, a custom bike collaboration put together with Yamaha. Murray's stomping grounds are in Hood River, Oregon, and the Rural Racer is made to take on the muck as well as the dusk, and look good doing it.

The completed RR project made its official debut at the Handbuilt Show in Austin, Texas, so we’ve taken a closer look at the factory custom purported to fuse “American moto heritage with modern innovation.” At the heart of the retro-ish canvas supplied by Yamaha Motor is the silky-smooth 689cc crossplane parallel-twin engine, renowned for its grunty nature and ample power delivery, but the “modern innovation” comes from the fully customized features of the RR build.

Most of the mods were coordinated by Murray with the help of the Yamaha Yard Built program, and Murray says he wanted to be able to tackle aggressive backcountry riding in variable weather and demanding terrain, adding, “The XSR700 is an excellent platform for Northwest roads. The ease in which we could upgrade suspension, bolt on performance accessories, and [make] modifications to carry specific loads made it incredibly versatile so we can “tune” the bike to meet the specific riding style.” Achieving that design brief is a modified rear subframe that combines the fender, taillight, turn signals, and license plate holder into one detachable unit in case additional cargo space is needed for, say, an extra fuel cell, tool roll, or bag. To offer more adjustability on the Rural Racer, Race Tech hand-built a G3-S rear shock unit, which allows the suspension to be fine-tuned by weight and environment. The Rural Racer XSR700 also sports a Yoshimura R&D exhaust with a new, specially designed catalytic converter that’s more powerful, lighter, and environmentally compliant in all 50 states. And check out the wicked Cyclops front headlamp, which is sure to blast a brightly illuminated path through shadowy forests. There’s also a drone mount on the fuel tank, with a DJI Mavic Pro ready to aid in scouting various riding locations, as well as help locate personnel in remote environments.

Remote or not, we believe this functional custom would be right at home in our neck of the woods too—rain or shine.