roland sands design pays homage to yamaha's racing past with faster wasp motorcycle

roland sands design pays homage to yamaha’s racing past with faster wasp motorcycle
all images courtesy of yamaha 

roland sands designs is californian custom builder’s fifth yamaha collaboration to create an exciting next chapter by taking everything from yamaha’s heritage bike building philosophy. the ‘faster wasp’ is a concept with more than a hint of motorcycle racer kenny roberts classic ‘TZ750’ in the famed yellow and black ‘bumblebee’ color scheme. taking yamaha’s latest 850 cc in-line three cylinder engine with a lightweight aluminum frame, the motorcycle has a powerful performance system wrapped in a classic package. 

the bike includes forged aluminium wheels

‘faster wasp’ rides on forged aluminum wheels that are wrapped in dunlop’s street racing types. the soundtrack is the result of a three two bros racing stainless steel headers with an RSD muffler. stopping power comes for custom superbike front brake rotors and matching radial brake calipers. the concept build features numerous parts by roland sands designs, including  hand-fabricated aluminum gas tank, tail section, intake scoops radiator covers and the front fender. the finishing touches also include a custom leather seat and a prototype gas cap.

‘I go way back with yamaha,’ explains designer roland sands. ‘I used to race TZ250 race bikes and ride a lot of yamaha dirt bikes off-road so I have a lot of history. when I see what the yamaha brand has done and where they want to go I find it really inspiring. we’ve built quite a few bikes together already. the triple package is really lightweight and performs really well. it’s not a race bike but it brings that level of race performance into a consumer friendly bike, which is great because it brings the fun factor. for me, that’s a great platform to build a custom on, I feel a bike needs to be fun, so you can have a good time but have good performance as well. this faster sons concept we’ve worked together on, bringing my racing heritage together with kenny roberts, one of my heroes and smashing it together with the triple has made a fun project to work on and I’m really happy with the end result.’

the designer focuses on bring dirt bike aspects to the road the front viewall the panelling is custom molded the 850cc in-line 3-cylinder engine the hand-fabricated aluminum gas tank the back view the prototype tail section