Thornton Hundred Motorcycles is made up of just one kid in the U.K. in his early twenties who has some impressive building chops to say the least. Jody Millhouse (who is Thornton Hundred) has a father who is also an established player in the building world so it’s not too surprising to see the apple hasn’t fallen too far from the tree. This tracker build – referred to simply as the “Thornton Hundred CR500 Tracker – has garnered its fair share of attention in the custom world, being featured on TheBikeShed.com as well as being awarded with BikeEXIF’s Bike of the Week. It was also specially invited to be featured at the BikeShed’s 2017 show.
This unique build started its life as a 1986 Honda CR500. The talented young Millhouse got to work tearing the entire bike down before building it back up to how it now stands today with brand new components throughout and Boyesen magnesium engine covers. The rebuilt 500cc two-stroke engine is brought to life by a new HPI ignition system. A handful of one-off components were required to bring this project to like including the Tracker’s custom made underseat exhaust and stainless tig welded piping. The dual silencer exits under the tail harken back to the two-stroke GP racing machines of pre-2002. An alloy radiator has been added to the mix that boasts custom made silicon hoses.
Further breathing life into this 30-year-old two-stroke is a new custom tracker-style tail section that sports an Alcantara seat with red Bentley stitching. The modern fork features gold PVD coating on the fork legs. According to the bike’s ad, this U.K.-built and based scoot is “road legal on daytime MOT”. The CR500 has something of a reputation as being a beast of a motorcycle so it genuinely does make for a great choice when building a tracker. The whole machine sits on a pair of Excel rims wrapped in Maxxis race tires and clocks in at under 220lbs (or 100kgs), enabling the half liter power plant to make the most of its 70hp. The tank on this bike came from an XR75 too.
Dedicated purpose-built motorcycles are some of my favorite to look at. The modifications made to them, the components they possess and the components they lack both play an equal role in making the bike what it is and this Tracker custom puts an awesome modern spin on classic genre of motorcycle that has become increasing popular. You can find this beautiful one-off tracker custom here on TheBikeShed with a pretty reasonable price tag of £9,995 or $12,882 in Milton Keynes, United Kingdom.