This is How Europeans Do a Bike Festival

The 2017 Wheels & Waves event recently touched down in the South Western French seaside town of Biarritz, bringing its own special blend of custom cool two wheel action, wrapped up in a laid back vibe.

It’s a seriously cool event, something we definitely would’t mind seeing make its way down here some day. Yes we’ve got the Burt Munro now in a February time slot, but that event is heavily race focused and we bet something like Wheels & Waves would be a hit in sunny Whangamata over the hill from BRM HQ.

The festival really does seem to balance the needs of different groups of riders well, with plenty of run action events to blast along offset by relaxing on the beach with plenty of pretty girls.

Yamaha’s Faster Sons custom bikes were a defining presence again the French event this year, getting stuck in to the heart of both the action, and the relaxed side of the event.

Having set up base at the Cité de L’Ocean with a stunning set of Yard Built machines, Faster Sons then rode into Spain to slide round the track for the infamous El Rollo flattrack races, winning the Hooligans race with Marco Belli on an SCR950. Culture followed with the Art Ride before it was time to test the mettle up on the mountainside at the Punks Peak Races. Trophies were won, new friends made amongst the thousands of motorcycle enthusiasts who made the pilgrimage to the heart of Basque country in search of wheels, waves and motorcycle freedom.

This year’s event saw eight diverse Yard Built projects from different countries across Europe, built in collaboration with local national builders, Yamaha distributors and motorcycle media. All builds were based on either the Yamaha XSR700, or XSR900, proving again that the two make the perfect base for personalisation. Eight different project builds with the same approach typical of the Yard Built program of no cut or major modification to the frame delivered stunning bikes; each one with its own mood that reflected the builder’s style.