






Been a fan of vft.org for a number of years now
from the other side of
the pond in UK, and thought you be interested in my homage to the beast
of flat track, particularly asylum have couple of pics on at the moment
I've most people with an interest in flat track I suppose, there has
always been a morbid cult around the iconic TZ750
A few years ago whilst forced to lay up to allow bones to heal, having
been knocked off my street bike, I came across an eBay listing for a
pair of Storz Performance Forcella Italian forks and yokes, something
clicked and I knew they needed to be on a tracker style bike - so I bid
and won!
All I needed to do then was find the rest of the parts!
I emailed a number of UK frame makers to see if anybody had any jigs to
build a frame, but drew a blank. However, Harris finished their
response in a Field of Dreams way saying "if you build it, it will be
awesome"
Finally, I found the man, in the shape of Denis Curtis at CMR, who said
it was no problem. Over a few emails I explained I wanted to build a
homage to the Roberts bike but would be using it for twisty sprints and
hill climbs (not the US style, but against the clock over a narrow,
twisty tarmac course)
Having agreed the frame build I needed a motor, and was directed to
Steve Abbot ex world sidecar champion. As suggested, Steve managed to
find me a great motor, and the parts were building up.
I knew the bike had to have 19" wheels and flat track tyres.
I managed to find a pair of TZ350 wheels which were then built up with
new rims and Maxxis tyres from UK distributor AAA Racing
Another eBay shopping trip scored PFM 320mm narrow track discs and 6
piston calipers, Brembo radial master cylinder and cable clutch lever
set ups, as well as a '70's Spondon rear disc with magnesium centre
After buying a Chinese replica TZ750 radiator for £130 delivered
(compared to genuine at £1850) I thought I'd won the lottery, only for
Denis to tell me he'd set the geometry steep with a forward weight bias
for better handling and turn in, and with 19" wheels the rad wouldn't
clear the tyre. Luckily Denis found that the curved rad off an R1 did
the trick and I bought one for £86, again Chinese.
To complete the chassis, a Brembo rear caliper and twin piggy back
Ohlins
Aesthetically I wanted the underslung pipes but was advised that they
would cause too many problems - loss of power, no silencing (a problem
at competitive events), and the potential of splitting like the
originals had. Instead, Denis arranged for a set of later road race
style, with 3 under and 1 over and through. These started as an order
by Denis from Swarbrick in the UK as a kit of sections, the parts then
shipped to CMR in Canada, onto their TZ750 exhaust specialist, back to
CMR, before being shipped with the frame kit to me in the UK - 20 miles
away from Swarbrick who made the original bits!
So far the bike has only done 3 competitive events and 1 demo, as we
hone and develop. Hope you like it. Keep up the great site. Best
regards.
Brian Spencer
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Richard Cooper's Champion Yamaha Tracker is now owned
by Mike Keith, Clovis Ca. A good, good friend of Dan Rouit.





Yamaha RD350 Street Tracker built By Scott Zupner



Chad Going's SR Yamaha





Couple of XS650's from R and G Cycles - Marysville,
Washington













From San Francisco, Dan Dewey's 1979 XS650 has Omar's
tank, seat/tail, rear wheel adopter and fork brace.









From the Netherlands,
Michel van Rossen's XS with 710cc engine, racing-cam and performance
exhaust.
The external oilcooler keeps it cool.

1979 Yamaha SR 500
built by Ted Schultz of Lincoln, Nebraska. 560cc big bore engine built
by Total Performance
Racers of Tulsa, OK. Powder coated wheels with Metzler Lazertec tires.
Works Performance Products shocks
and fork kit. Trail Tech Vapor instruments. Custom paint by Scott
Johnson.



Not exactly a
tracker, but a nice 1987 SR500. Terry Zimmerman San Jose,
CA.









Above three Yamaha
are from Roger Herring's of ST Customs.



Couple of pics of my
Street tracker using mostly Omars stuff with a quick change wheel 750
kit etc. Ron Pearce


Gabe's XS
by Mule




Here are a couple of bikes for your street tracker
page. The
yellow one was built by me and the
red one by my father. I hope they
inspire those building their own. Scott Pickett




 Rob MacEwen's daily commuter XS650.












Yamaha TX650

Seen at the 2009 Dan
Rouit Museum Open House.


A stocker so you can
remember what they started with.




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