ANALOG YAMAHA SR500
Tony Prust of Analog Motorcycles has built his reputation with a raft of elegant, mid-capacity customs: the perfect bikes for barhopping and cruising around town. This 1979 Yamaha SR500 has more of a raw edge though, and a name to match—‘Bruto.’ It was commissioned by Mark Wator, who wanted a machine for evening and weekend rides, with a seat big enough for two.
“Mark liked some of the ‘raw metal’ builds he’d seen,” says Prust. “With that in mind, he let me loose to do as I pleased—within his budget, of course!” Prust rebuilt the motor to factory specs, and hooked it up to a custom stainless exhaust system from Dime City Cycles. The SR has also been completely rewired, with juice coming from a Ballistic Performance 4-cell EVO2 battery.
The front end is now from a GSX-R—and the sportbike calipers now clamp onto aftermarket wave rotors, fed by stainless brake lines. The rear end is kept planted with Gazi Suspension Hyper Lite shocks.
Prust completely reconfigured the upper half of the Yamaha, modifying the frame to take a custom seat pan and relocating the rear tank mount to level out the lines. The tank itself has been tweaked to do away with the stock fuel inlet, and the paint is clear coat over raw metal—with distressed black accents and gold pinstriping.
Controls and gum grips from Dime City Cycles are matched to clip-ons, and LED strips handle the lighting duties—there’s even a strip integrated into the headlight. Finally, on went the rubber—Shinko 705 series dual sport tires fitted to powdercoated rims.
“The Bruto has been the hardest Analog custom to part with, to date,” says Prust. “I wanted to ride this one for a few seasons before I handed it over.” And it’s not hard to see why.