Several types of motorcycles can be called ‘trackers.’ The original is the board tracker, named after the machines that raced on board tracks in the USA in the 1910s and 1920s.
In the 1930s, as the board tracks faded away, flat trackers appeared: street bikes modified to race on dirt or clay ovals. Past icons include the Harley-Davidson XR-750, but others include machines from BSA, Norton and Triumph. This style is still popular today, with interest spurred by an intense rivalry between Harley-Davidson and Indian.
Flat trackers (or dirt trackers, as they are sometimes known) do not have front brakes, but the slimmed-down style is popular with builders of street customs. These can be based on virtually any middleweight motorcycle, but your typical ‘street tracker’ has 18- or 19-wheels, a slim and elongated fuel tank, a short and kicked up tail unit, and sometimes a high-mount exhaust.
If you like weaving through city traffic during the week, and then blasting through the twisties on your days off, the Street Rod is probably the best Harley for you. We found it to be surprisingly sharp and agile, with a warmed-up version of the regular Street engine delivering 69 frisky horses. Scott Jones of…
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Curating a publication like Bike EXIF is a daunting task. Selecting the right motorcycles to feature is more art than science: it’s as much about gut feel as following a set of rules. This Yamaha XV920R from Moto Adonis, for example, won’t appeal to everyone. Part scrambler, part tracker, it’s a bit scrappier than our…
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Triumph’s range of modern classics now stands at twelve models strong. That’s good news if you want all the style of Britain’s most prolific marque, without the fuss linked to owning an older machine. But as much as we’d love a couple of modern Triumphs in the Bike EXIF dream garage, we’d simply have to…
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It’s not easy to build a good-looking custom bike. The classifieds are littered with abandoned projects—and even the top pro builders sometimes struggle to get it right. If the donor bike is electric, you can multiply the difficulty level by ten. Without a traditional engine to anchor the visuals, it’s fiendishly hard to create an…
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A Ducati Monster tracker ready for the Superhooligans, a monstrous Indian Chief-powered cafe from Germany, a gorgeous Honda built for Steve Caballero…
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There are some builders who seem to have the Midas touch: everything they create turns to gold. Aaron and Shaun Guardado are…
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Work on motorcycles long enough, and you’ll amass two things: a pile of leftover parts, and the wisdom to know which of…
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Regular readers will need no introduction to Richard Pollock. Better known as Mule, the irascible Californian is opinionated, blunt, and probably the…
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Harley-Davidson isn’t the only manufacturer with roots in Milwaukee. Briggs & Stratton—known for their lawnmower motors—were founded in the Midwestern city too,…
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If you’re after a job in the motorcycle industry, Deus Bali has got to be one of the best places in the…
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Most custom builders are self-taught men and women: folks with a good grasp of mechanics and an ability to ‘learn on the…
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Some people find it hard to hold onto a bike for more than a couple of years. It doesn’t take long before…
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