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.
Indian has finally revealed details of its production street tracker, the FTR 1200—the most hotly anticipated bike launch of recent months. The good news is that the FTR 1200 sticks fairly close to the styling lineage of the all-conquering FTR750 flat track racer, and the FTR1200 Custom concept bike we reported on last November.
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Kawasaki are making waves in the neo-retro scene with the well-reviewed Z900RS. But truth be told, we still really miss the simple, compact W-series. Made right up until last year, the W800—and its predecessor, the W650—had a cheerful parallel twin motor with some of the best styling we’ve seen on a modern classic. And there…
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The Glemseck 101 festival being held this weekend is a high-octane celebration of speed and power. At this very moment, thousands of petrolheads are descending on the picturesque market town of Leonberg, near Stuttgart in Germany—seeking out the loudest and fastest customs and racers from all over Europe. But this year, one of the most…
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Harley-Davidson owned the internet yesterday. Unless you live under a solid aggregate of minerals, you’ll know that the Motor Co. teased its upcoming model range—including the productionized Livewire, a streetfighter, and an adventure tourer called the ‘Pan America.’ But did you notice there was no mention of the Sportster? Could this finally be the end…
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Like many of you, we’re total suckers for racing machines—especially flat trackers. And although we’re captivated by American iron like the Indian…
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You could argue that the modern custom scene owes its success to Universal Japanese Motorcycles. They’re affordable, reliable and easy to pull…
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If you live in the UK and you want a fast street tracker or a well-sorted flat track racer, you call Steve…
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The Ducati Scrambler is an obvious fit for ‘casual’ flat track racing. Ducati even made a ‘Flat Track Pro’ limited edition in…
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If you like weaving through city traffic during the week, and then blasting through the twisties on your days off, the Street…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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