Trackers are the original dirt track racing motorcycles, and were ridden by such legends as Eddie Mulder, Sonny Nutter, and Gary Nixon among scores of others back in the good ol’ days. They were made by stripping down and modifying street bikes rolled off the local dealer’s showroom floor, the same way you can with your bike and a quick weekend project. If you’re trying to build a tracker on a budget, all you need are three basic parts to get the right look, feel, and sound: a seat, handlebars, and exhaust.
Trackers were primarily made for racing, so the first thing you have to do is pull off anything you don’t need to shed some weight and free up some horsepower. Some quick and easy things include the front and rear fenders, the antenna mirrors, and side covers. Then, you should slap on a slammer seat that will let you quickly move your weight forward and back, some upright bars to help you keep everything under control when you’re getting squirrelly, and some exhaust pipes to increase your horsepower and get that iconic tracker sound. With those three parts, you have the essentials for a tracker.
If you want to take it a step further, you can upgrade your wheels and tires to get one of the most defining aspects of the style.
If you like it so much you want to keep adding to the bike to make it a full-on tracker, read our Tracker Style Guide for a complete list of parts, or check out the custom trackers we built with racing legends like the Triumphant with Eddie Mulder, The Nutterized Tracker with Sonny Nutter, and the Tracker Classic with Richard Pollock of Mule Motorcycles for inspiration.
TRACKER SEATS
TRACKER BARS
TRACKER EXHAUST
TRACKER WHEELS & TIRES
Trackers have their roots in dirt flat track racing, one of the most popular motorcycle heyday racing events that still goes on today, and are one of the original styles of motorcycles. Trackers are street bikes that have been converted to race in the dirt, and are usually either thoroughbred “dirt trackers” or “street trackers.” Dirt trackers are through-and-through dirt racing machines, and street trackers are the street-legal versions. But just because they’re street legal doesn’t mean they can’t get sideways.
It only takes a few upgrades to get the tracker look, but if you want to do more than just the general parts, here are some other upgrades to help you get squirrelly. Transform your Triumph.
THE DETAILS
Can’t skip ’em.
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