Q&A: Willie Knoll of Clutch Motorcycles - 1976 Yamaha XS650

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1976 Yamaha XS650
I got the chance to shoot Willie Knoll of Clutch Motorcycles some questions about his background, his newest build, and his take on building custom bikes. His new Yamaha XS650 is a real stunner, as was his previous BMW R75/7, so I was interested to hear about his perspective. Read on, and check out the Yamaha's spec list at the end.

- Can you explain your background and what it was that lead to motorcycle customization?

I am a young American guy cruising the streets of Paris. As a younger kid I was always on 2 wheels. Bicycles where my thing, specifically BMX. I was always grinding or modifying my bike in some sort of way. After my few years of riding pro I went on to film and photography. I was a fashion photographer up until about 2 years ago now. I never enjoyed the industry but life was good and it enabled me to put money aside to create Clutch. I never really went to school just a few little internships in welding, machining and engineering when I was younger. I am what you can call a self made man! Haha.  



 
- What was it that drove/sparked the overall design of this build?

I don’t really know, I just go with the flow…  

- Where do you usually pull your inspiration from?

I don't really look around much on what is going on with other builders. But minimalist, aggressive, industrial, well hand crafted style and parts are things I always have in mind.

- What is your process like?

I start by sitting and staring at the bike to get a basic idea on how I want it to look and go from there. I don't use designs or stuff like that. I just got it in my head.

- How much time did you spend on this build?

On and off, the bike took 2 months to build.




- What led you to using the XS650 as the foundation?

The owner came to me not really knowing what base to use. He then asked me which bike I would like to work on and since I really like the XS650, we went for it. That's how it works. Some people usually come with no idea, so I help them. Sometimes I push in one direction if I have something special in mind for a certain bike.

- What are you most proud of in this build?

I am really proud of the nice raw finish on the frame. I think it turned out really well. The general lines of the bike work well too. The details and all the little fabricated parts that no one will ever see or notice. My 2 key words are Lines and Details. That's how I want my work to stand out. 

- What skills do you wish to acquire or develop further next?

Metal working in general. I am a perfectionist so for me its never good enough...




  • Complete frame re work
  • Modified tank
  • Custom gas cap
  • Mini homemade battery box
  • Engine rebuild and painted black
  • Lowered and machined fork -6cm
  • Lowered rear end of the frame -4cm
  • Homemade mud guards
  • Relaced Akron rims with black spokes and stainless nipples
  • AVON MK2 Tires
  • Top tree machined for adjustment
  • Custom  stainless exhaust 
  • Homemade machined foot rests
  • Custom seat
  • "and so on… to many little bits and pieces have been made to name them all."




DAILY INSPIRATION: 1981 Honda CX500 "Howler" by Nathan Godillon

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"Howler"
1981 Honda CX500
by Nathan Godillon

          Although a first timer in the custom motorcycle world, Nathan Godillon has quite a bit of automotive modification experience under his belt. Kicking off his career path on a panel beater apprenticeship he eventually moved on to working at a custom shop modifying everything from Japanese drift machines to Euro track cars. Working later as a car salesman he was able to save up enough scratch to start his own custom auto shop Fahren Customs. Tragically the massive floods that swept through Brisbane a couple years ago put over 6 feet of water in his shop, destroying everything and forcing him to close up the business. Nathan currently holds a desk job at BMW where he began looking into 2-wheeled transport to help ease the parking woes of the city. First hopping on an Aprilia SR50, and later a Yamaha YZFR125, Nathan found he was missing something. That something turned out to be acceleration.




"Eventually I stumbled upon a CX500 that was selling for the price of an old newspaper. First thoughts were this thing is ugly as sin, which presented the challenge that would take my interest."
"The build took a total of 7 months and was done entirely on the front balcony of my rental house, as there is no garage. I can tell you that was not the smartest idea. Living on top of a huge hill there were constant howling winds and loads of Mosquitoes, which led me to name the bike "Howler". This also influenced the build to an extent as I wanted it to have nice windy flow. Hence the scrambler pipes - they have that curvy line which almost looks like the wind has bent them that way."



 "The CX is such a heavy bike that I wanted to lighten it and bring out the beautiful engine design. The engine floats nicely under the exhaust and the pipes make it look like it's moving/flying even though it's standing still. I think this is my favorite part of the build. There are other things I'm proud of too, like the way the seat is held down with leather straps, kind of like the way you would see a bonnet on a vintage race car. This also lead me to put one on the tank in order to replicate this further."
 "Over all I'm absolutely stoked with the end result and the quality of the finish, like the fine grain Merino leather used for the seat and BMW 7 series sophisticated grey. There are a couple of things I would like to finish off down the track, but I think I might be a bit of a perfectionist. Or maybe it's just OCD. Either way I do plan to build another bike, and who knows, this could be the start of something big."



 Good luck in your ventures Nathan. I'd love to see what you roll out next and how your prior skill sets start to play into your work.