AKATOMBO!
Spotted in “Pictures of Interesting Motorcycles” on Facebook, I give you Akatombo – a stirring attempt to turn a Yamaha Virago into a classic Ducati 900SS that sort of works. It looks and sounds Japanese, but this one comes from Tondo Garage in Ravenna, Italy.
Matter of fact, if you have an old XV1000 gathering dust, Tondo will hook you up with that monocoque gas tank/tailsection and subframe for a mere 1000 euro, complete with translucent gas gauge just like the original Ducati unit and ready for paint.
Yamaha built its first big air-cooled XV920 V-Twin for 1981, not that long after Dr. Taglioni’s first 750SS. Original Supersport Ducatis now go for tremendous amounts of money. Original Yamaha XVs go for, ahh, well, they’re still affordable for the home hobbyist, and you won’t be excommunicated for painting one orange and purple.
Quite a bit of expense appears to have been saved on the exhaust system, but what the heck. The old XV retains its original drive shaft to the rear wheel, which is great for touring but maybe not so much for fitting a wider rear wheel and modern rubber. But nobody said Resto Mod did they?
For what it is and considering how little money went into it – though obviously somebody spent quite a bit of time – I’d say if Akatombo goes half as good as it looks, this is one sweet Virago and we even dig the blue suede seat.
More by John Burns
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Cool...I love these old Yamaha's....
I actually owned an XV920RH for a while. I test rode it then offered the owner $3k cash on a $3.5k price and he accepted. I LOVED the engine, it had enough torque to never have to worry about revs or what gear you were in. It fit my body perfectly. being narrow waisted, light enough to manoeuvre around, and had twin front discs, my first bike with those. I lived near a mountain road - this bike lapped up the corners, being not too heavy at the handlebars, which were perfectly formed. Frankly, it felt like a 500cc bike, but had the torque and power of a litre machine, just lacking the upper end hyper power of a modern litre bike. On bumpy rural roads (which was most of them) the rear suspension lacked some damping authority above 90 mph, but I could comfortably sit on 115mph for as long as the road stretched (quite far where I lived). I had tried a 750 Virago before buying this machine, and the 750 was definitely superior around town, but once the road opened up the 920ccs became addictive. I count this as my favourite out of all the bikes I have ever owned. Unfortunately, poverty and illness curtailed my ownership and I had to wave it goodbye, not without a little tear in my eye.