Most track bikes started life as road bikes. If you’re looking for a bike purely for track use, there’s no shortage of machines which have already been converted. Some are race bikes which may have had hard lives but come with some top extras like quality suspension and useful tuning.
If you’d like the option to use a bike on the road it’s best to get an original, road legal bike. Making a track only bike road legal once it’s missing loads of parts like lights and clocks can take ages and cost loads.
Few people take a good, clean, useable road bike and convert it into a track bike. It’s far more likely they’ll use a damaged machine as the starting point so check for damage and do a data check (see opposite). A daylight only MOT is another useful option. Track bikes are almost always worth less than road bikes of equivalent age and condition. Prices above are for road going bikes in good, standard condition. Always consider consumables. They’re significant on any bike but extra relevant on a track bike. Brake discs, chains and sprockets need to be good or better because you’ll be giving them a hard time. Decent tyres are a must too but bear in mind if you buy a bike with old or touring rubber you will want to replace them.
Write offs and rip offs
Quite a few track bikes are insurance write-offs. This means they’ve been in an accident (or theft) and were deemed not economic to repair afterwards. Some may make good track bikes, others should be avoided at all costs. Recorded write-offs are grouped into several categories.
- Category A bikes should be crushed and never used again.
- Cat B machines shouldn’t be ridden but can be broken for non-structural parts.
- Cat C bikes may have suffered some structural damage (which can include a cosmetic mark on a frame) but can be ridden on the road.
- Cat D bikes typically only suffered cosmetic damage and can be ridden on the road too. Unlike cars, written off bikes do not require a VIC check before being road legal again.
We’ve heard of quite a few Cat B machines ‘escaping’ from breakers and being used as track bikes with no paperwork. Obviously we’d avoid any Cat A or B bike. Cs and Ds may be good buys but the fact they’re recorded write-offs reduces their value by 10-25% even if they’ve been fully repaired to as new condition. We’d advise doing a data check. MyCarCheck.com do them for £3.95 online or £3 to a mobile phone (text CTC[space][reg number] to 83600). Always check frame and engine numbers!
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