There are few bikes on earth as prolific as the XT500, almost universally loved by riders the world
over. They were there at the birth of Paris-Dakar, winning in the early years, renowned for their
reliability, simplicity and power (for the era). It’s little wonder that whenever we turn our hand to
these bikes it causes a stir in the custom bike community.
We’ve refined the style on what we now call our Retrocross series of builds to near surgical levels of finish. Starting with the White and Red DT400, evolving through a few iterations of XT500 and
XL500’s now landing on our latest XT500 scrambler build. Each of the bikes in this series with its own distinct look, hardware and upgrades.
When Ed reached out to us from the USA to have his XT500 built he was excited to see where we could take the next evolution in our Vintage Motorcross inspired , retrocross style. cLets dive into the details on this VMX inspired Yamaha that is now at home in Florida USA. We started with a wrecked bike that had been poorly modified, and mechanically rebuilt. For this build we needed nothing but the engine, tank, and frame.
Custom Build Foundations
We started creating the rolling chassis with upgraded modern Motocross suspension up front, a cast aluminium swing arm, and a set of YSS performance twin shocks, all tuned in and rebuilt by Charlie Costanzo of Costanzo racing tuned. We have the formula down for these bikes to create an aggressive stance and raising the chassis to create higher ground clearance and a more aggressive handling experience on road and dirt.
Once set we had a set of custom wheels built using Haan Hubs with excel rims 21”front 18”rear from modern dual sport bikes to give us a cush drive on the back along with a rear disc upgrade. This required a bit of custom fab work but nothing out of reach from the team. All in a days work at PBM. Once fitted and wrapped in a set of Dunlop D606 tyres we’re now looking at the bare bones of a
retrocross build with all the exciting stuff ahead of us.
XT500 Performance upgrades
Before Styling we jumped into the engine build. All the usual suspects here plus a few choice extras. High compression, big bore kit, performance cams, oversize valves, porting work on the head upgraded oiling system, braided lines, rebuilt crank, performance clutch, new coil and lead, with a mikuni pumper carb and some epic dress up hardware from cutlet customs. All this is turned over effortlessly with the newly improved XTstart E-starter kit and 12V charging system.
USD fork swap + custom sheet metal
The XT500 Scrambler is kitted with a Modified XT500 tank for clearance on the new USD forks and lower offset triple clamp. We’ve utilised a set of factory side covers (they just look too good not to use) and a custom rear fender shaped off the original steel rear fender. Up front we have a heap of custom aluminium sheet metal. Headlight plate, hand made front fender and custom fork shrouds.
Lighting upgrade
Lighting up front is a 4.5” Flashpoint headlight, and a set of omni light blinkers all neatly housed on our Lighting race plate. The bars are a mid-bend taper MX bar, fitted with a set of pro-taper levers, Purpose Built Moto 3 button switches, and a domino throttle and grips. All run by the PBM Black box module and a little lithium ion battery tucked under the seat.
The gauge up front is a Daytona Cube, a very bare bones unit that fits perfectly on the stripped back
Vintage motocross build.
Exhaust Build
One of the last custom fabrication pieces was the exhaust. I had spent some time researching what muffler I wanted for this build whether I made my own or found something that would fit the bill. I found a DG Exhaust that suited the style perfect. Pairing this with an FMF powerbomb would ensure the XT500 sounded great, now all I had to do was link it up with a custom header and mid pipe. I wanted something aggressive and modern on this pipe so I chose to fabricate a more angular header, that tucks in perfectly behind the side cover as it snakes its way to the high mounted muffler. One thing that’s often a challenge, but an important part (for me atleast) of the vintage moto aesthetic is the prominent muffler that hangs out the rear. Dictated by the placement of the twin shocks modern monoshock bike mufflers are all tucked away and discreet, here everything is on show, breaking the line of the rear fender just the way I like it.
Once fabbed and finished, the muffler and custom pipe was polished up to compliment the highly polished aluminium swing arm. Just like that it was time to call in the boys from timeless auto trim and popbang classics to help finish out the build with some colour and upholstery.
Paint + Upholstery Design
Ed’s request was that we use the Iconic Yamaha yellow and speedblock on his build, but we had already done that on our previous XT for clint. Determined not to repeat ourselves, we’ve flipped the colour pallet and turned out a dark horse XT500. Dripping in shades of black, detailed with a yellow and white speedblock and pinstriping the XT’s colour pallet is subdued but striking. It gives the build a distinctly modern twist and ups the anti in terms of street presence.
We’ve kept things simple with a Timeless auto trim grippa seat, instead opting to carry some colour to the rear with a yellow frame rail under the seat. As assembly of the fresh build came to a finish, the fluids were filled and primed and within a few minutes of checks and a quick points adjustment the XT thumped to life.
Riding this bike will instantly let you know why XT500’s still continue to be hugely popular. Especially when you’re on board a build of this calibre with such attention to detail thrown at it. The power
upgrades on the engine build, Upgraded DNA filters intake and high flow exhaust put perfectly to the ground through the expertly tuned suspension. These bikes with a nice plush ride feel and a set of
rubber isolated bars are a dream to ride. At Purpose Built Moto we’re happy to see our highly regarded VMX Scramblers continue to evolve and raise the bar on what to expect from a custom Retrocross build, now we can get to planning what’s next, and where in the world our next Vintage thumper build will end up. Get in touch if you think you’d look good on the back of one of our builds.
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31/10/2025
1 commentaire
I had an orange n silver 77 TT back in the day,l think one of those or the white tank xt from 74/75 would look Awsome in that new style next time lm on the G C l”ll come take a look at what your building,what’s your build cost for the XT 500 can l ask.