Retro styling is in motorcycles right now, but I think Yamaha’s Resonator125 concept might be the first one brave enough to go for actual wood-inlaid-on-chrome. Classy or too far?

Don’t be so quick to dismiss it as “just another café racer,” even though that look is still alive and well for plenty of people. The bike feels more “steampunky” retrofuturistic than traditional classic. Something would ride off a hovering spaceship and onto a dusty adventure on.

Those woody bits aren’t stickers either, they’re the same wood grain the company uses to make guitars.

I love the textures they’ve got going on with this thing, and the subtle copper-looking accent pieces to give it just a little more life. 125ccs is extremely small for a road bike in America, but it’s plenty of power to get you around town in elegance.

Seems like Yamaha’s taking the same line as Honda with their 2015 Tokyo Motor Show concepts by bringing out and machines at the same time. The Resonator feels like a little bit of both which might be why I like it so much.

No details on production or power yet, we’ll have to see what details Yamaha reveals about the bike at the end of this month.

Image via Yamaha

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