In 2002, Chuck Graves tried to conquer the recently-created AMA Formula Extreme Championship with a Yamaha R7. Damon Buckmaster started off strong by winning the first three rounds and opening up a large lead between himself and second place. Honda and Suzuki protested, noting that the R7 had never been officially homologated in the US. So what did Graves do? They basically covered the R7 frame with 40% of a R1 frame. Here’s the very bike that caused all the hoopla almost two decades ago.
The bike originally featured a nearly-200 horsepower R1 motor stuffed into a R7 frame, though the latter became quite rigid by the time it got melded with a R1 frame as well. Formula Extreme got its name as there were very few restrictions on what manufacturers could do – which is why this bike is dripping with trick parts from the custom exhaust, factory Ohlins 46mm USD forks, a one-off Ohlins shock, Graves adjustable billet triple tree, GP-spec Brembo brakes, and more. If you wanted a hell of a trackday toy and didn’t need to fit in a specific class for racing, this would make for an amazing story.
Find this Buckmaster/Graves/Yamaha R1/7 for sale in Marina del Rey, California with bidding up to $10,000 and the reserve not yet met here on Iconic Motorbike Auctions.