Rickman Race Bike
Through my love for flat track racing I was exposed to the race bikes of the 1960’s, Harley Davidson’s went toe to toe with Triumphs in the early days and both manufacturers recognized the sport by bringing out race ready machines in the form of the Harley XLR TT’s and Triumph T120 TT’s.
The Triumph TT was the lightest and most capable race bike available, it was quickly becoming the bike to have for Southern Californian Desert Racing.
With Motocross still in its infancy European fabricators/ engineers/ racers Derek and Don Rickman were building state of the art Motocross rolling chassis to suit a number of engines, these were named Rickman Metisse, Metisse being French for Mongrel.
These frames are an absolute work of art, Reynolds chromoly tubing, brazed joints, nickel plated finish and internally sealed to hold the engine oil in the frame and make it an effective large surface area oil cooler.
This bike is a Rickman Metisse Mk3 originally designed for the Triumph 650 Bonneville engine and a special build for the Southern California dealer John Steen (who him self has an incredible story).
It is special in the fact that it’s the original Steve McQueen Desert Racer, complete with the original Rickman hubs, desert swingarm and sprocket set. Built in 1969 and exported into Los Angeles where Steen’s fitted a 1971 Triumph 650 Bonneville engine.
Sitting on this bike is something else, the slender tank combined with those bull horn header pipes, the super comfortable seat, it feels as narrow and as light as a modern motorcross bike, the Rickman brothers were certainly well ahead of there time.
Reach under the fibreglass tank and turn the fuel tap, give that Amal carb a tickle, roll the kicker over gently until the compression stroke, then give it your all. It barks to life and sounds absolutely amazing, this particular engine has just been freshened up and readied to race, it sounds like it too!
I had been looking for Triumph T120 TT for a while now, the prices on these are sky rocketing, I couldn’t see myself riding a TT how I wanted without modification, this on the other hand is the perfect bike for some recreational off road riding aswell as some occasional vintage racing.
It’s one of the most desirable bikes of the 1960’s and is now I get to enjoy it some 65 years later.
There’s nothing I love more than loading up the Rickman into the Econoline and heading to the races.
Be it a local Classic Scramble Club day.
Or a trip up to an interstate event, throwing a leg over this bike is always a fun time.