Burt Furnace x Thor Drake: The Super Tracker Sit-Down 🎙️
Burt Furnace vs. Thor Drake
Building the Gates “Super Tracker “ Harley- Davidson Sportster S.
This custom built motorcycle was built by thor drake to show off the new Gates Belt Drive system. The bike was built from Nov. 2025 - Feb. 2026 by Thor Drake. Below is an interview with famed motorcycle personality and reporter Burt Furnace and silly motorcycle dude, Thor Drake.
Burt - "Thor, my man! We’re here in the belly of the beast. You’ve got a 2023 Sportster S that looks like it swallowed a flat-tracker, then did a line of pure carbon fiber. Tell the people: Why did we need to turn a modern Harley into a 'Super Tracker,' and is it legal in all 50 states?"
Thor - Ha, yeah. I think everyone has been waiting on Harley Davidson to make a street tracker bike from the factory that is fun and sporty to ride that has a taller seat height and ground clearance. Something that honors their roots in racing and is accessible to modern riding. I'm impatient so I built one. I don't know if it needs 121+ HP but I guess that just adds to the “super” part of the bike. I'm actually not sure if it is legal per say, but it definitely looks it. Headlight, turn signals, licence plate. Etc.
The "Nitty Gritty" (Technical/Nonsense Mix)
Burt - "I’m looking at this Gates sprocket system. It’s got no side rails. It’s cleaner than my grandma’s kitchen on a Sunday. Does removing the side rails make the bike more aerodynamic, or does it just give the wind less to hold onto when you're hitting triple digits?"
Thor - The Wind? Burt what era are you from? I'm not sure the wind plays into this one but i do know the center mount belt drive produced by Gates has a cleaner look and operates more like the old school chain drives but with the huge benefit of being more durable, quieter, and less maintenance. It's debatable if it's actually lighter or more aerodynamic but one thing you can count on is it will last a lot longer and look different.
Burt - "You used 'paperclip' rims from a one-year-only Harley. Then you used two front hubs to make it work. On a scale of 1 to 'I should have just stayed in bed,' how much of a headache was it to align that belt drive with a Frankenstein wheel setup?"
Thor - I do love those wheels for no good reason. Maybe because they have a flat track racer look to them and they are hard to find. It would have been a lot easier to mount race parts on there but again I wanted to show Harley Davidson what they could do, or already have done. Getting the alignment wasn't too hard, but getting the brakes, wheel sensor, sprocket and alignment to work made me want to stay in bed. Pretty big headache if you're asking. I was somewhat fortunate that I had made the wheel sprocket and rotor carriers with Hill Moto a few years ago. It was based on a Kosman setup.
Burt - "We’ve got a GSX-R front end on a Harley. It’s like putting a tuxedo on a grizzly bear. How does it handle when feasting?
Thor - Yea you said it, the bike is a lot like a grizzly bear, lots of torque, lots of power, a little heavy. For all those reasons customisable suspension seems important. If there is one thing that helps riding its good suspension. It helps keep traction… you know?
The "Physical Evidence" (Builder Details)
Burt - "Thor, listen. For decades, Harleys have been running Gates belts on some other guy’s sprockets—it’s like wearing Italian leather shoes with tube socks from a gas station. You’ve finally put the Gates Sprockets on this thing to make it a 'matched system.' Does having the same engineering team design both the belt and the teeth make the bike feel like it's finally speaking its native language, or is it just less likely to get a divorce at 100 mph?"
Thor - It seems to me whenever you can run an integrated system you are going to get the engineering benefits. So it's still possible to get a divorce at 100mph, but buying some expensive jewelry and a nice house to live in will insure better odds of success. I'm rather excited to try out this new technology.
Burt - "I see a custom seat by Ginger at New Church Moto with a '1911' stamp on it. Now, I know that’s the year Gates was born, is that like a lower back tattoo on your best friend's mom?
Thor - Hey we cant ever ignore where we all came from. Those tattoos were hot for a decade. I wanted to put a race number on there but not mine, Gates has been at it for a long time but most people wouldn't know it. 1911, was the beginning of the industrial revolution, that is awesome to have a company still building revolutionary products.
Burt- "Andy DiBrino did the paint. It’s fast just sitting there. If I touch the gas tank, am I going to get a speeding ticket by proxy?"
Probably in Oregon, the speed limit is like 55 everywhere. Also try not to touch the shiny paint. Andy does everything fast, and I mean everything! He was done with paint in a few days. He did the design based on some napkin sketches, we went with the Gates colors, subsequently Colorado colors. Gates is from Colorado btw.
The "Big Picture" (The One Moto Spirit)
Burt - "You said this bike is for the street because that’s where we actually live, even if we dream of the track. If this bike is a 'Super Power,' what’s its Kryptonite? Is it a gravel driveway? Or just a really long stoplight?"
Thor- It's a race inspired street bike, I mean you could probably take it to a big track and have a ton of fun but I built it to rip back roads and log gravel driveways. I do think a long red light might be the answer. Those exposed pipes are likely to get a little hot.
“ The "Fabrication Friction" Question
Burt - "I heard you handled the bends on this exhaust and then handed it off to Sawicki Speed for the 'professional' finishing. Is that code for 'I made a mess and needed a pro to save me,' or was it a beautiful symphony of two guys trying not to burn the shop down?"
Thor - You said it! I'm good at some things and TIG welding isn't one of them. I figured out a fun way to run the pipes, tight and with the look of old school flat trackers. These beauties are gonna sing from the mountain tops. The pros at Sawicki speed helped make them work by nicely welding them together and installing all the proper baffling.
Burt - is there anything you are hiding from us? Come clean now, I don't want to have to find out later that you skimmed on not using stainless hardware or something like that.
Thor- I know our local hardware store better than most of the employees working there. I think when I was working on the bike I was there at least once a day at least. Sometimes 2-3 times. We have a good one that has a lot of stainless steel that costs the same as gold these days. One thing you won't see on the bike is the Dyna Jet Power Vision 4 - to electronically tune the computer to add a few extra HP’s. Get this it magically connects to your phone to tune your system. All n all There are a ton of small details you don't see that took hours to figure out, but I just kind of forget about those so I don't go crazy. The bike is perfect, ha.
Burt - "We’re heading into Year 17 of the One Moto show. If this bike had to represent the “One Moto” , which part of it is the most important and do you think people will even care about your pile of metal? Jk, it does look pretty like Heather Thomas in that blue bikini!
Thor - Heather Thomas poster? The one from the 80’s? With the blue and yellow bikini? Nice Burt, ali-op into the gutter…classic Burt.
Building a custom motorcycle while running a custom motorcycle show doesn't seem like a good idea, but without having some passion wrapped up into the show it feels less authentic from my perspective. This entire bike encompasses this year's vision as the One, but if I had to call out the most important part I would say it's the marriage of American craftsmanship, engineering, and aesthetics built by someone who believes we can all be better by trying. See how I navigated that one in a political way.
The "Burt’s Final Burnout" Question
Burt - "Last thing—CenterTrack™ technology means the belt tracks from the middle rather than being pushed from the sides. If I applied that logic to my life, would I be more 'centered,' or would I just be harder to push around at the bar?"
Thor- Well my guess is centered is always better, but guardrails can be good too. When doing anything you find the guardrails and try to stay in the center. So ultimately its all about being centered. Come see this bike at Mama Tried in Milwaukee or May 1-2-3 for the biggest and best motorcycle show in the world. THE ONE MOTORCYCLE SHOW!
Photos by Tommy Spencer - Instagram: @emulsioninmotion