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Calendar Kitten Sara Balint is featured in the FastDates.com 2019 Calendars. We were excited to have her return for a shoot with Rickard Pollock's Super Hooligan Sportster and Triumph T140 for the 2010 Calendars and the Calendar Bike Garage. Mule Motorcycles Panther-Framed Triumph T140 Street Tracker Photography and Story by Jim Gianatsis • Model Sara Balint Richard Pollock / Mule Motorcycles is a legendary Southern California, USA, based custom bike builder, well known for his “Street Tracker” style of bikes. Richard works with almost any type of motorcycle engine, be it an old junk yard Harley-Davidson Sportster, or contemporary new generation Triumph, the installs the engines in a American style dirt track racer chassis, with lighting and electric to make it street legal. Hence the name Street Tracker. Richard is by trade an aerospace machinist and a motorcycle enthusiast who has always loved racing dirt track as a hobby. I first meet Richard some thirty years ago when he entered one of his Sportster Street Tracker in my LA Calendar Motorcycle Show where that beautiful creation easily won the Custom Sportster Class, and I went on to photograph it that year for my FastDates.com Motorcycle PinUp Calendars. In the ensuing years since then, I’ve probably photographed some 15 of Richard’s Street Tracker builds, all of them as exceptional as this. His client list includes such celebrity riders as soccer legend David Beckham and Grand Prix Champion Kenny Roberts. if you want to commission a Street Tracker with Richard, come with deep pockets and be prepared to be on a waiting list that might take a few years. But as you can see here with this latest Triumph T140 Street Tracker, the wait will always be worth it.
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This silver dream machine is Mule’s latest creation, and powered by a hot-rodded Triumph T140 engine. Like many Mule bikes, it’s grounded in the present but with a nod to the past: the frame and swingarm are rare Panther items, crafted in British Columbia in the mid 1970s. “The bike arrived—as so many do—with a list of simple, desired upgrades,” says Pollock. “In the end, the only parts we retained from the donor were the swingarm and the main frame loop, both of which had gotten multiple repairs.” “The other request was a less than one-year turnaround. No!” Three years and an entirely new bike was the result. Complementing the internal engine magic, Barnes replaced the standard 30mm Amal carbs on the intake side with classic 34mm Mikuni Round Slides. For the exhaust, Pollock enlisted the services of will known racing exhaust system fabricator Mark McDade for a full custom exhaust system. Modern electronic ignition helps deliver the power smoothly, but the gear changing is decidedly traditional. The T140 was the first Triumph twin with a left-side gearshift, but on this machine it’s been moved to the right side. A tracker needs to be handle well in the twisties, so Pollock has installed a set of 43mm Showa adjustable forks from one of Buell’s better handling bikes, the M2 Cyclone. They’re held in place by triple clamps from Barracuda Racing, lightened and black anodized. A pair of Hagon shocks suspends the rear with simple coil springs, but you can guarantee they’ll work. The bike rolls on a fine pair of Sun rims, 19 inches of course, built up with spokes and nipples by the legendary Buchanan’s of Azusa, California. The rim protector rubber is from Goldentyre, and despite the chunky flat track tread pattern, it’s DOT legal. The front hub is from a 1978 Yamaha XS650, with Mule’s own custom bearing carriers, and the calipers are from a 2007-spec Triumph Bonneville. The pegs are Mule’s own design, fitted with Bates rubbers. There’s a Barnes-style hub at the back with Mule’s own adaptors, Brembo calipers and master cylinders, which are hooked up to Crown Performance lines. The new bodywork has that lean, unfussy tracker look and sits on the old frame just perfectly. The fiberglass fuel tank is a Storz unit originally designed for the Harley XR750 Factory Dirt Tracker, and the seat/tail section is a modified Ron Wood Rotax tracker design. There’s a custom seat pad from Saddlemen and, just under the rear frame loop, an LED brake light. The hand hammered aluminum side panels are especially neat, with covers to protect the substantial cone filters.
The headlight is another Sportster part—tucked in nice and tight against the fork tubes with the help of a modified Joker Machine mount—but the stainless bars are Pollock’s own design. It’s all finished off with a low-key lick of paint applied by SBKPaint, one of California’s best paint shops and a specialist in fiberglass prep. We’re betting that this Triumph is a long way off what the owner expected when he first contacted Mule. And it’s hard to imagine waiting three years for a bike to be built. But it looks like the result was worth it, doesn’t it? www.instagram.com/richard.pollock/ Return to Calendar Bike Garage Index
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