5 Best Bikes For A Tracker Build

Street trackers are a subset of customized (and production) motorcycles that draw heavily on the design and performance cues set forth by actual flat-track racers, adjacent to cafe racers. This usually includes chunky tires wrapped around 19-inch wheels, wide handlebars, a small tank, and a solo seat tailsection. While these trackers may not ever hit the dirt, they look like they could. With the rise in popularity of hooligan racing the market for suitable street tracker donors has seen rising prices.

Cycle World Culture and Custom Editor Morgan Gales joins this episode of 5 Best Bikes. He just completed his own street tracker built from a 2000 H-D 883 Sportster, so he is the perfect guest to build a list.

We're ready to throw our 10-minute clock in the trash as we just can't bring ourselves to stay within the limit. Thirteen minutes after the start, the 5 Best Bikes to build a tracker list has been set.

With nearly a quarter-century of production and a seemingly never-ending supply of aftermarket parts, Harley-Davidson’s Sportster (in all of its variations) is a natural choice as a base from which to build a tracker.

It’s been used for every type of motorcycle build imaginable, from café racers to trackers to desert sleds, so it’s undeniable that the Yamaha XS650 should be on this list.

Yamaha’s SR400 is a great, simple platform with a fun single-cylinder powerplant. While it may only crank out 22 hp in stock trim, that is more than enough to get sideways.

Yamaha’s Virago 920 might not have been a looker in stock trim, but we’ve seen this V-twin turned into some killer custom trackers in the past few years. They’re cheap and plentiful, and for that, they deserve a spot on our list.

Triumph’s entry-level modern classic is a great place to start if you want a new motorcycle that is reliable and easy to modify. A Triumph tracker is always a good look, and a newer Street Twin is a good ride.