When do you buy a new dirt bike, you expect the factory to give you the lightest, compact machine possible, ready to ride. But in the early days of off-road, this was not the case.
Most dirt bikes are basically road bikes that the customer takes apart and rides lightly, with no dedicated off-road steering or frame geometry. This 1956 Triumph TR6 ‘Desert Sled’ is a prime example — and that’s how Seth Neefus of Portland, Oregon likes it.
“I’ve always dreamed of what a dirt bike or dual sport bike would look like if it were rolled out of a factory in the 1950s,” says Seth. “Just something simple and fun, with a touch of style — to grab people’s attention as the motorcycle zips down the street and into the desert.”
As if building a prefab Triumph from the ’50s wasn’t hard enough, Seth also started his desert sled project with nothing more than a box of mismatched parts.
Luckily, the engine has been reworked and the title frame is clean so it can be registered for road use. Unfortunately, Seth still has a lot of missing parts to find.
Seth rebuilt the forks with heavier springs and treated the wheels as before, before wrapping them in experimental tyres. Like yore’s ‘hare scramble’ bikes, there are no front fenders, speedometers or anything else that could break or weigh the bike down. However, there is a headlight — the old 6 volt Lucas still in its shell.
The frame, shock absorbers and swingarms are powder coated in glossy black, which stands out nicely against the chrome background of the new exhaust, engine cover and rear fender.
After finding an old, dented gas tank, Seth carefully repaired it and prepared it for painting. “The paint design came very naturally, and I knew I wanted to hand paint the image with a stroke like they did back in the day,” he says.
“The color combination is something I’ve wanted to bring to life for a long time and it just feels like it’s for this bike.”
While Seth was mulling over the tank, his brother Casey made a custom Bates-style desert ski chair. The Neefus brothers have been collecting Bates chairs for a while, so they took design elements from several to create this custom unit.
Seth and Casey own a company called Red Clouds Collective — a clothing and accessories brand that specializes in waxed fabrics, denim, and leather. This means that Casey can also upholster the seats, a touch that Seth quite likes.
And they’re so proud of the way this chair is made, they’re considering small-volume production in the future.
The earlier rebuilt engine was fitted with a Bonneville T120 head, which was a two-carb. But Seth wanted to simplify the Triumph as much as possible – especially in terms of the engine. So he chose to replace the T120 head with an original TR6 tip.
When going back to the single carb setting, a brand new Amal Premier concentric unit incorporated the intake. Seth also found a Webco-style air filter and it was fitted too, allowing the bike to run like new.
Gregg Pairer took care of the charging system with a new set of magnets and generators.
The timing and main caps are polished to a shiny finish, and the rocker box fins are shaved away to mimic the design found on other predecessor Triumphs. The oil tank appears to be from an early Triumph, with Seth having to modify the mounting tabs to fit into the frame. The asymmetrical air filter/oil tank pair was changed to match the fuel tank, and the unit looks solid.
Seth said: “This Triumph is made from random boxes of forgotten parts and swaps encounter scores. “Plus driving for miles around the northwest looking for 60 year old parts that have rusted. But this bike gave those parts a new life, and I enjoyed every minute of it.”
The Neefus brothers finished skiing in the desert just in time for the One Moto Show, held in their Portland neighborhood. They then traveled a thousand miles south to California, for the recent Born Free Pre-Unit / All Desert Sled show.
Currently, Seth and Casey are still nearing the end of their riding season in the US. That’s not the case for most of us Southerners, but buildings like this get us through a cold, wet winter day.
Red Clouds Collective | Facebook | Instagram | Photo of Seth Neefus
