.... I can't get away from the fact I'm realy loving these street tracker bikes and feel the need to build my own. I've been a fan of sideways racing since I was a Black Country council estate kid, Cradley Heath speedway was just down the hill and Dave Perks was my neighbour. Later, I got into grass track and even Ice Racing when one of old schoolmates went insane and flew out to Holland with a 500cc Jawa fitted with 1000s of lethal spikes in the tyres. At the dawn of the Internet I also got hooked on US flattracking and Japanese Autorace... it's all turn left and go fast. So I went out and bought a 1978 XS650, ditched all the shiny chrome bits and uneccessary electrics, sparayed it yellow with chequer stripes from a Fizzie and had myself a flat tracker for the road. But then I grew up, had my own business, cut my hair and bought a sensible bike.
That was then, this is now... Inspired by Sideburn magazine and the exploits of Dave "Skooter Farm" in Wigan, I can feel the desire for my own street tracker again, just something small to thrash around the Cumbrian lanes, maybe a 200cc single or a 250cc twin. Pipeburn have just featured a Kawasaki Z200 tracker from Indonesia that fits the bill and Dave "Skooter Farm" started with a flat trackered Honda CM200 (see photo above), (best thing to do with that fugly bike!). I've been looking around the 'net and these beauties from M&M's motorcycles in Japan, all based on the Yamaha SR400/500 are inspiring me to get this project moving... I've got a set of Renthal bars from my old Cagiva MXer and a Z200 engine, that's got to be a staring point, hasn't it?... There's even a speedway training track about 10 miles away from here at Northside, Workington. It's got a proper 138 metre shale track, bends that are 13metres wide and real pits with a roof! I wonder if they'd let short trackers have a blat round that little track?
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