If you follow production-based motorcycle racing in the US, you’re probably familiar with Graves Racing Services. For anyone who doesn’t know about them, GRS is a Southern California based company who offers factory-level components and services to the public, along with providing support to professional race teams. For example, the bikes of Cameron Beaubier (R1) and Garrett Gerloff (R6) feature Graves parts/services and they are both sporting the number one plate this season (which means they won their respective championships last season). Graves-built race machines are in many ways indistinguishable from those you’d see in professional competition like MotoAmerica, which is just one reason this Graves-built 2008 Yamaha R6 track bike is so noteworthy.
While I’ll acknowledge that Supersports are my favorite motorcycles, I personally think the Yamaha R6 is hands-down the best non-homologation special production sportbike. Even in its stock form the 600cc Yamaha is a beast of a track weapon, from its cornering prowess to its flickability to its refined high performance engine, it blows the other 600’s away on the racetrack. So you can probably imagine what happens when you take this already incredible bike and put it in the hands of one of the best race-building companies in the country to make even better.
This particular example sports an extremely race-ready appearance with its custom livery, but its underneath the (Sharkskinz) bodywork that separates this Yammy from all the others. Starting by swapping in a 2015 R6 engine (tuned by Gary Dean), ever part imaginable has been replaced by top-of-the-line race components. This includes a myriad of Graves parts, as well as the rest of the usual suspects you expect to see on a machine of this pedigree like Brembo, Öhlins, CRG, Rizoma, SATO, etc. The aftermarket parts list is so extensive that I won’t even begin trying to list off the nearly 40 parts the seller has listed but do yourself a favor and check out the exhaustive list included in the seller’s ad as it’s pretty impressive to say the least.
This is the closest a mere-mortal like myself (and probably anyone reading this) will ever come to owning a full-on factory SuperSport. With over $20k in aftermarket parts, this bike is somewhat of a steal, and that’s before you start factoring in the expert labor poured into the creation of this machine. So far this R6 has only experienced two trackdays since getting its 2015 powerplant, just enough to break in the engine. Overall, this is one of my favorite bikes I’ve ever seen for sale.
You can find this purpose-built 2008 Graves-built Yamaha R6 (w/ 2015 engine) for sale here on Craigslist in Los Angeles, CA with the more than reasonable asking price of $11,500.