People always say that the Americans don't get irony, but anyone who thinks Ugly Motorbikes don't build beautiful bikes clearly has no soul - which means irony is alive & kicking in Southern California. Who knew? We've had a couple of Yamaha XS customs on The Bike Shed this week and why not. It's been a staple of the custom scene and with a decent-sized engine laid out as an in-line triple, a configuration that balances power with torque perfectly in a relatively narrow package, with neatly routed headers and compact (possibly even sensible) shaft drive, so it's easy to see why it would work. Having a well-proportioned tank also helps the overall look with either a cafe or street tracker style build, and the rear sub-frame triangle sets the benchmark of biking nudity when it's been properly cleared of battery & electrics. Having a working kickstart adds the final touch of real-man biking essential to the genre. The donor for this build is a '77 Yamaha XS750, who's motor has had the top-end rebuilt with custom engraved handcrafted velocity stacks and a custom 3 into 3 exhaust system, which exits menacingly under the right side of the rear of the engine without giving away the fact that it actually has some baffles. The seat unit is custom built from metal with a a single offset tail/brake light, while the seat, grips, and pegs are wrapped in Nigerian calf leather - which sounds pretty exotic. The front forks have been lowered 1 ½” with another 1” in the triples to give the bike an aggressive stance and decent turn-in - fulfilling the age-old engineering rule; 'what looks right, is right'. Amen to that. But best of all, this gorgeous bike is for sale at www.seaweedandgravel.com Check out more bikes from Brady Young & Chris Bence at UGLY Motor Bikes on their website & blog or send Chris & Brady an email.