Triumph Rodeo and 'Tracker' Bikes

[Dirk]

Back in the mists of time - when I were a lad - I built a 'tracker' bike. They were all the rage around our way in the early 1960s. Something along the lines of these....mine had bars similar to the one on the extreme left.

Basically take any old frame available. Strip off mudguards. Put on cow horn handlebars and knobbly cycle speedway tyres. I suppose they were basically mountain bikes, before anyone had ever thought of the term. Great fun though.
We used to ride them across any rough ground, up and down steep off road hills and race around an old cinder car park.
The one I built used a Triumph Rodeo frame and forks - salvaged from lord knows where - and a Sturmer Archer 4 speed hub. Sprung Brooks saddle. Compulsory cow horns. 1 1/4 studded tyres. Rat trap pedals.

Seeing the old photo above has made me think of recreating the bike of my very early teens.
So.......the question is.
Does anyone have a Triumph Rodeo frame and forks knocking around? Quite distinctive as the top tube is curved, which was unusual in the day.

Edited to add:
Picture of a Triumph Rodeo.

 

[midlife]

That looks like Monkman second from the left ! (university challenge).

Shaun

 

[midlife]

Vindec did a dead ringer for that Triumph, might be easier to find?

Shaun

 

[Drago]

I remember well the trackers. I might build one myself, vintage frame, cow horns, 700c rims with cyclocross tyres.

 

[Dirk]

Vindec did a dead ringer for that Triumph, might be easier to find?

Shaun

If I get around to doing it; it would have to be a Rodeo for sentimental reasons.

 

[midlife]

Fair enough

Shaun

 

[Cycleops]

I think I might have had one of those as my first bike. Can't remember the make but it had a curved too tube. I couldn't ride when I picked it from the bike shop but by the time I'd reached home about two miles away I could.

What was the point of that curved tube?

 

[Dirk]

What was the point of that curved tube?

According to the advertising blurb, it's - 'a real Yankee design'.
Looking at the advert has thrown something up. I'm certain mine had 26" wheels.

I never did quite master one handed wheelies whilst firing my spud gun!

 

[Cycleops]

Mine must have been the 'Royal Carmine', a sort of dark metallic red. I know it had a Sturmy Archer 3 speed which I was later to deride when I got a derailleur equipped bike.

 

[Dirk]

Mine must have been the 'Royal Carmine', a sort of dark metallic red. I know it had a Sturmy Archer 3 speed which I was later to deride when I got a derailleur equipped bike.

I painted mine a sort of British Racing Green, with a shitey stick.

 

[Cycleops]

This is the shop my father bought it from, around 1961. They do Triumph so I think it may well have been a Rodeo.

 

[GuyBoden]

Yes, putting cow horns and knobbly tyres on your bike was all the rage in the seventies................

Black Handle grips and short mudguards too............

A bit like this...............

 

[Drago]

Found this, probably what inspired a lot of trackers/scramblers.

 

[Dirk]

Yeah, I'm pretty certain the fad was influenced by cycle speedway.
I did hundreds of miles on mine and it took a real battering. Can't ever remembering it letting me down. I have a real soft spot for that old bike. I can't even remember what happened to it now - must be nearly 50 years since I stopped riding it and took to a fixie road bike.

 

[woodbutcher]

Back in the mists of time - when I were a lad - I built a 'tracker' bike. They were all the rage around our way in the early 1960s. Something along the lines of these....mine had bars similar to the one on the extreme left.
View attachment 347557
Basically take any old frame available. Strip off mudguards. Put on cow horn handlebars and knobbly cycle speedway tyres. I suppose they were basically mountain bikes, before anyone had ever thought of the term. Great fun though.
We used to ride them across any rough ground, up and down steep off road hills and race around an old cinder car park.
The one I built used a Triumph Rodeo frame and forks - salvaged from lord knows where - and a Sturmer Archer 4 speed hub. Sprung Brooks saddle. Compulsory cow horns. 1 1/4 studded tyres. Rat trap pedals.

Seeing the old photo above has made me think of recreating the bike of my very early teens.
So.......the question is.
Does anyone have a Triumph Rodeo frame and forks knocking around? Quite distinctive as the top tube is curved, which was unusual in the day.

Edited to add:
Picture of a Triumph Rodeo.

View attachment 347562

This is a great photograph, l wonder how the person with the camera got the lads to stay in one place long enough for the picture to be taken.
I was living in the Lincolnshire Fen area in the early '60,s and my mates and l all had old bike frames fitted with cow horns and knobbly tyres. We also had a craze for fixed wheels and no brakes. To "stop" the bike you had to shove your foot on top of the tyre into the gap between the tube and the forks. It worked most of the time, unless you got it wrong, in which case you went over the cow horns and landed flat on your back....what fun !