Building a competitive flat track racer is downright scientific. Countless factors like weight, geometry, power delivery and gearing all have to be optimized to the nth degree. But building a street tracker is simpler; as long as you have the flat track look and feel locked in, whether or not it can actually hold its own on a dirt track is inconsequential.
Unless, of course, your name is Michael ‘Woolie’ Woolaway, and you’re the head wrench at Deus in Venice Beach, California.
Woolie’s idea of a street tracker is a race bike with lights—and that’s pretty much what he’s delivered here.
We’re not exaggerating. Nicknamed ‘The Framer,’ this Yamaha MT-07-powered machine was designed as a properly competitive AMA flat track mile racer, which could do double duty on the street too. So it’s a completely ground-up build.
Woolie started with the motor from a 2017 MT-07—a widely acclaimed power plant that’s similar to the one in Yamaha’s AFT MT-07 DT factory race bike. To get the 689 cc parallel twin up to race spec, he tore it down, then rebuilt it with a factory Yamaha racing kit.
The kit includes oversized pistons, a ported cylinder head, upgraded valves and cams, and a revised electronics package to enable custom engine tuning.
Every moving part inside the engine was sent to WPC for an advanced micro shot-peening anti-friction treatment, to improve both performance and longevity.
For the frame, Woolie called up a friend: legendary flat track chassis designer, Jeff Cole. Jeff helped work out the layout and geometry, then a jig was made for Woolie to build the actual chromoly frame and swing arm with.
Extra care had to be taken to accommodate a larger-than-normal fuel tank, since it needed to hold an acceptable measure of fuel for street riding. This frame is also extra special, in that it’s the last design Jeff produced before his retirement.
Finishing off the chassis are a set of Öhlins forks, and a custom-made shock from Race Tech. The hoops are 19” Roland Sands Design ‘Traction’ numbers, wrapped in DOT-approved Mitas dirt track tires. Woolie installed full-floating Brembo brake systems at both ends, with a quick-release setup at the rear.
All of the bodywork you see is custom, hand-fabricated from aluminum to spec. That includes the fuel tank, tail section, and a couple of neat side panels to hide away the MT-07’s overly complex electronics. Flat track stalwarts Saddlemen supplied a handcrafted seat pad to cap things off.
Up top, Woolie kept the OEM MT-07 speedo—but the rest of the cockpit is kitted with top-shelf bars, grips and controls. And yes, the bike is street legal; there’s a small spotlight in the hand-made nacelle, bar-end turn signals, and a removable taillight and plate bracket that’s not pictured here.
The exhaust system is custom too. Woolie pieced it together using parts from various suppliers, and mounted it with an extremely neat hand-made hangar.
There’s also a hand-made carbon fiber front fender, mounted on custom brackets. Keep looking, and you’ll spot tons of really slick details—like the engine protectors, front sprocket guard and upgraded shifter nub. (You might even notice that Woolie added some vintage Bates footpeg rubbers.)
Woolie’s Yamaha-powered street tracker has a purpose-built vibe that hits all the right notes. So it’s only fitting that it wears an equally matter-of-fact livery—a simple, deep coat of ‘Black Candy.’ (It’s a special paint that doesn’t reflect light as much as regular gloss finishes do.)
The Framer also closely resembles another of Woolie’s builds: Dani Pedrosa’s wild Honda CR500 tracker. Woolie calls this a “big brother version” of that bike, explaining, “whereas his was a short track racer, this is a proper mile bike with third gear wheelies all day.”
We’d pay good money to see that. In fact, we just want to see The Framer ridden in anger—and we don’t care if it’s on a dirt track, or on the street.
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