I met for the first time bike builder Yuri Shif in 2010 at the Sturgis AMD Championship Of Bike Building while judging his kinetic creation called “The Machine“, the kind of contraption you never forget once you saw it. Working his craft from his native east europe country of Belarus (it’s located south of Russia and east of Poland), Yuri amazed me by his mechanical knowledge, his original ideas and the quality of his fabrication work. And today he still amazes me by his ability to experiment, to jump from one style of bike to another, each time producing creations characterized by a sanitary look, perfect balance of proportions and sublime lines.
His 1976 Triumph Bonneville T140 is probably one of the best examples of what you can achieve when you remove and hide all the clutter found on factory bikes, either new, classic or vintage, then bring little modifications and add the just right details to make a motorcycle a pure object of desire. At the end, it’s of course a completely new motorcycle, one where you can still feel the heritage from the famous British factory, but now a Signature Yuri Shif Triumph.
The gorgeous restored and polished Bonneville 750″ (53 HP) engine fitted with a pair of 30mm Amal carburetors is by itself an art object. It is cradled in an ultra clean frame where in the rear the thin swingarm makes itself very discreet to not disturb the flow of lines, and where in the front the choice of forks preserves the Cafe Racer spirit. Symmetry of the bike is perfect thanks to a set of custom exhaust pipes running in parallel at exactly same level. Gas tank, bar clip-ons, foot controls and seat are one-off creations, as are the new beautiful copper lines plumbing the bike. For Yuri, English green was the only possible color choice with gold lettering and checker flags to emphasize the racing theme. Many Cafe Racers are currently being reborn in garages around the world. But how many are going to reach this level of simplicity and perfection? Yuri Shif Customs.
Love it.
Beautiful English piece.
Absolutely unique in execution and style, colour choice is wicked !!
The bike is stunning, but it seems that every, well 99% of the customs from the various fabricators mount these old Firestone retro tires. They work ascetically for many, but not Cafe s such as this one. IMO. Easily fixed though. Kudos to the builder.
A bloody work of art… should be hung on a wall. Preferably in my den!
What I call a very cute bike.
this would be a great bike if it had a decent set of wheels and tires on it. These would be for show only and the use of fatboy wheels dont appeal on this type of bike.A nice set of Akront rims would be much better,along with nice tires that would hold a corner.
SSDD; David
Cool….. although the rear sets are way too low for cornering clearance.
-nicker-
Nice workmanship , but I wouldn’t ride it .
Wow, sweet Trump! peace
Whats the “I wouldn’t ride it Shit”? I would ride it, I would keep it and I would love to have been Creative enough and Talented enough to Build it. It is perfect for what it is!
Outta my way, I’LL ride it for ya 😉 Sweet looking bike, love the lines and how clean it is. Different wheels/tires? Possibly, but I wouldn’t count something so easily changed against it very much. Very nice bike, I’d ride it or frame it.
@ bigalyts , don’t ya think those pipes would burn the crap outta your legs ?
very nice work and bike