Street tracker motorcycles take their design cues from racing flat trackers (or dirt trackers, as they are sometimes known).
Unlike the racers, a street tracker custom will have front brakes to make it road legal. It will also usually have matching 18- or 19-inch wheels, a slim and elongated fuel tank, a short and kicked up tail unit, and sometimes a high-mount exhaust.
We love show bikes for their cutting edge design concepts, wild engineering and straight-line performance—but they’re not much use in the real world. On the opposite side of the spectrum, there are customs that aim for maximum usability, by cleverly blending form and function. Most builders stick to just one of those camps, but Fred…
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In the annals of dirt track history, one of the most famous race bikes is the BSA Trackmaster. Dirt fans will know that it was campaigned by the charismatic but crash-prone Dave Aldana, who also featured in the movie On Any Sunday. In 1970 Aldana was beaten to the Grand National title by Gene Romero,…
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A crisp Honda V30 Magna tracker, a swooping Norton/Vincent hybrid, a Ducati Hailwood replica up for auction, and a very sharp Ducati ST4S cafe racer. We’d happily put any of these into our garage.
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With five different models in the range, there’s a BMW R nineT to suit most tastes—from the cafe-styled Racer to the classic Paris Dakar-inspired Urban G/S. But there’s one style that the Bavarian marque hasn’t attempted yet: flat tracker. The concept of a factory-built R nineT tracker is intriguing, and we’re not the only ones…
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Read more »Did you know that the evergreen Yamaha XS650 was launched over half a century ago? Although the production line closed down in…
Read more »The Honda CRF450X will go down in history as one of the marque’s greatest hits. Originally derived from the hardcore CRF450R motocrosser,…
Read more »Building a custom bike is often beset with difficulties: there can be unreasonable client demands, unforeseen technical issues, cashflow problems, and in…
Read more »Building a competitive flat track racer is downright scientific. Countless factors like weight, geometry, power delivery and gearing all have to be…
Read more »If you lived in the 1900s or earlier, your career was probably dictated by the line of work that your father happened…
Read more »Royal Enfield’s 650 twins have only been on the market for just over a year. But they’ve become a hit with both…
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