enc
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This
Trackers
- Thread starter willbloke
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So glad to hear that 'Tracker' bikes are being preserved. In my opinion, every cycling museum should have at least on example as these were the precursors of the mountain bike in the UK, just as the 'Klunkers' were in the US.
It would be well worth researching and writing down the history of this bike; what age was the owner when it was made? and what inspired it? The type of riding and locations it was used? Did it take part in races, jumping or wheelie competitions. Most of these bikes have not survived and even fewer with any form of documented history.
Because these bikes were made by teenagers and not taken seriously by adults, almost none of their contemporary history was written down. Yet most 'Tracker' riders I talk to regard them to have been the precursor of the mountain bike and therefore mountain-biking. Yet I doubdt that you will find a published history of mountain biking that mentions them. It is not unknown for some 'Tracker' makers to believe they personally invented the mountain bike or at least preempted it.
last year I displayed my 1980 Geoff Apps' Range-Rider bicycle at a local museum. On seeing its cow-horn handlebars, a few elderly visitors identified it as a 'Tracker' like the ones they made. They proceeded to wax lyrical about their bikes, in the same way that mountain bikers do when recalling a fondly remembered mountain bike. I would love to know how many teenagers created their own tracker bikes back in the 60s/70s? However, judging by the number people who remember them, it must have been hundreds of thousands.
I believe that 'Tracker' history would be regarded as more important had bicycle manufacturers been making a profit from them in the way they later did from MTBs.
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Oh my goodness. I've been drawn to this from a thread on mtb history and can't believe I've found a reference to the bike I've been looking for for years! I had a blue Tracker, must have been 1979 ish, came from Stevenage market. It weighed an absolute tonne but had rudimentary front suspension! The saddle fell off I recall. Anyone got a photo of one?
enc
Kona Fan
Bottom bracket was for ever coming loose on mine :-( sadly no pics exist.
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I recently found this story about a father and son who where both bitten by the 'Tracker' bike bug. The father in the 1950's and the son presumably in the 70's.
WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT TRACKERS, THE FORGOTTEN HEROES OF DIRT. (August 2023)
So despite so little about 'Tracker' bikes being recorded in the history of British cycling, the subculture endured for at least thirty years.
It is impossible to say just how popular 'Tracker' bike riding was in Britain. But one indictor of their popularity is that every time I display my 1980 Geoff Apps Range Rider at local museums there are always visitors in their 70s or 80's who identify it as a 'tracker' bike like the ones they rode. They all have fond memories of the making and riding their own tracker bikes when they were young and despite the passage of time they have no problem in remembering their bikes, the brand and colour of the frame used etc, and the friends they rode with.
Interestingly, the writer of the 'The Forgotten Heroes of Dirt' describes the 'Trackers' as a 'cycling revolution'... 'spanning from the 1940s all the way to the 1980s' and a 'huge part of British youth culture'. In his eyes, BMX and MTBs are just the continuation of this revolution.
WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT TRACKERS, THE FORGOTTEN HEROES OF DIRT. (August 2023)
So despite so little about 'Tracker' bikes being recorded in the history of British cycling, the subculture endured for at least thirty years.
It is impossible to say just how popular 'Tracker' bike riding was in Britain. But one indictor of their popularity is that every time I display my 1980 Geoff Apps Range Rider at local museums there are always visitors in their 70s or 80's who identify it as a 'tracker' bike like the ones they rode. They all have fond memories of the making and riding their own tracker bikes when they were young and despite the passage of time they have no problem in remembering their bikes, the brand and colour of the frame used etc, and the friends they rode with.
Interestingly, the writer of the 'The Forgotten Heroes of Dirt' describes the 'Trackers' as a 'cycling revolution'... 'spanning from the 1940s all the way to the 1980s' and a 'huge part of British youth culture'. In his eyes, BMX and MTBs are just the continuation of this revolution.
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grahame
Senior Retro Guru
As a kid in rural North Yorkshire in the 70s and early 80s, I remember a "tracker bike" scene.
We used to scour scrap yards/farm yards/known "fly tipping" laybys on local roads for frames and components.
The classic Hutton Rudby tracker (or scrapper) bike was a racer frame with cow horn bars, slightly buckled wheels with worn cyclo-cross tyres (scrounged from the used pile in a bike shop at the end of winter) and whatever other components we could find. The life expectancy of such a bike was measured in days, if not hours, of lunacy on the network of paths through the woods and across the fields surrounding the village.
We never raced them, but we did jump them to death (usually only 1 "bad" landing) on a set of jumps we made in the woods by the river Leven. Site chosen because it wasn't too far to walk back home after the inevitable bout of destruction. Components like cranks, chains, handlebars and side-pull brakes lasted several frames. After the frame (usually behind the head tube) and wheels, the stem was the next most likely component to fail, leading to a face plant and gales of laughter from any witnesses.
We used to scour scrap yards/farm yards/known "fly tipping" laybys on local roads for frames and components.
The classic Hutton Rudby tracker (or scrapper) bike was a racer frame with cow horn bars, slightly buckled wheels with worn cyclo-cross tyres (scrounged from the used pile in a bike shop at the end of winter) and whatever other components we could find. The life expectancy of such a bike was measured in days, if not hours, of lunacy on the network of paths through the woods and across the fields surrounding the village.
We never raced them, but we did jump them to death (usually only 1 "bad" landing) on a set of jumps we made in the woods by the river Leven. Site chosen because it wasn't too far to walk back home after the inevitable bout of destruction. Components like cranks, chains, handlebars and side-pull brakes lasted several frames. After the frame (usually behind the head tube) and wheels, the stem was the next most likely component to fail, leading to a face plant and gales of laughter from any witnesses.
Synthiaks
Senior Retro Guru
Just couldn't resit snapping up this old tracker bike for £25 on fleabay as pinged so many memories.......seat needs changing for a knckered old brooks or something.
looking forward to 'going down the woods' and see how long it lasts!.....sure it'll be an trip down memory lane.
looking forward to 'going down the woods' and see how long it lasts!.....sure it'll be an trip down memory lane.
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enc
Kona Fan
Nice find
Review of Stooge Dirt Tracker with some thoughts on Tracker Bike history:
Stooge Dirt Tracker review - Bikepacking.com
Stooge Dirt Tracker review - Bikepacking.com
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