HOOLIGAN HOMAGE!

For those who delight in the sheer hedonism of racing around on a 350LC Yamaha but can’t now cope with the weedy handling, here’s the antidote: a 900LC.

Designed by Surrey-based Hag Hughes, the 900LC captures the look of the ever-legendary two-stroke twin. It’s based on the XSR900, Yamaha’s retro-styled version of the three-cylinder MT-09, with a bodywork kit that can either be fitted by the owner or specified when the bike is bought new.

And I have to say that the version I tried out, which included extra servings of style and performance bling, was everything that made the Elsie great, and more besides, in a modern package.

For Hag, who’s been building tasty racers and track-day machines for many years, the project sounds like a labour of love, and combined his current business – called Velocity-Moto.com – of offering trick bike parts with his experience of producing graphics and signage for posters and buildings.

“We raced three-fifty LCs in the Eighties and were real hooligans,”