The Yamaha SR250, while only available in the States from 1980-1982, has garnered as a global following in the custom world. The air-cooled, 21-hp thumper may not seem like a likely candidate for customization, given the “baby cruiser” styling and small displacement motor. However, the bike shared many of the components of the XT250 dirt bike, making the littlest SR an especially good platform for a lightweight scrambler build.
Enter Andrew Graham of Virginia’s Trident Cycles, who was given carte blanche to create a fun commuter for a friend who was new to riding. Inspired by the old British scramblers, Andrew created a lovely SR250 scrambler that can rip around town or burn the dirt backroads down to the river. Below, we get the full story on this sweet little ripper.
Custom Yamaha SR250: Builder Interview
• Please tell us a bit about yourself, your history with motorcycles, and your workshop.
I got into motorcycling about 7 years ago while I was sailing on ships. At the time I was working month on/month off and I was really able spend my off-time riding and messing around with my motorcycle. My garage quickly acquired many more motorcycles ranging from old British singles to modern sport bikes and most things in between. This also meant that friends with bikes came down to hang out and work on their bikes. It has slowly evolved from there, working on other peoples bikes and building things out of crapped-out motors. This bike here was the first opportunity to let creative freedom fly for somebody else.
• What’s the make, model, and year of the bike?
1982 Yamaha SR250
• Why was this bike built?
A good friend of mine wanted to get into riding and he was looking at getting a small displacement light bike. Through a mutual acquaintance we found an unmolested 1982 SR250 that was in excellent shape. The baby cruiser look isn’t the most appealing and my friend gave me carte blanche to build him a bike he could rip around on.
• What was the design concept and what influenced the build?
I have always been a fan of the old British singles and those old scramblers influenced this build. I wanted to build a bike that would be an easy city commuter and you could take down some dirt roads to get to the river.
• What custom work was done to the bike?
- Frame has been detabbed and rear hoop welded. It was powdercoated in a flat gunmetal gray by the guys at Defensecoat industries in Richmond, VA
- Jadus Tank leveling kit
- Rear wheel was relaced to an 18″ from the original baby cruiser 16″
- Shinko 244 tires front and rear
- Custom dual headlight
- Bobbed rear fender and high mounted front fender
- Jadus Performance kit with a stainless header and pod filter. Most importantly from that kit were the right carb jets and settings
- Electronics were cleaned up and battery relocated to clean up the look of the bike.
• How would you classify this bike?
Scrambler
• Was there anything done during this build that you are particularly proud of?
Nothing too particular stands out, but the overall feel and look of the bike is exactly what I was after from the beginning.
Follow the Builder
Photography by Margaret Graham
Instagram: @tridentcycles
Facebook: @tridentcycles
Website: www.tridentcycles.blog
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