Roland Sands' Raw Yamaha FZ-09

Roland Sands has taken the invitation to become the second builder in Yamaha's Faster Sons program. The first of which involved Shinya Kimura taking an FZ-07, and developing a custom based off of Shinya's story and the heritage of the brand, which led to the XSR700 production model.

Moving from legend to legend, Roland Sands comes enters the 'Faster Sons' story with race heritage of his own. As a professional racer from 1994 to 2002, he has plenty to draw from and a great platform for the build.

As the guys at RSD put it:
"The Wasp was conceived while dreaming of the days past. Sunny days at the racetrack viewed from a child's perspective, behind the fence, beyond the pit wall and racing action. We dreamed of getting out there, dragging our knee and going head to head with the best riders of the day. As history plays out, the tracks and the people have changed. But the desire to race, to compete and to have fun are still part of our dreams. Meeting our hero's and perhaps lining up next to them drove the team at RSD to create our MT09[FZ-09 in the US]. Caught somewhere between an 80's Superbike and a flat tracker the Wasp is ready to do battle. High Bars, Morris billet wheels, classic Bumble Bee paint and a nod to one of our all-time Hero's Kenny Roberts."

We can only hope that this will lead to a new XSR900, but for now we can only wait and speculate.

More photos and video of the finished bike on the Ninth!