History For the Riding
HISTORY FOR THE RIDING
A Triumph built to be raced
THERE ARE TWO PHILOSOPHIES WHEN IT COMES TO building vintage racebikes. Some people build them to be looked at. Others to be ridden. Matt Hilgenberg definitely subscribes to the second philosophy. His business, Speed & Sport (213/490-0012), is dedicated to preparing motorcycles for vintage racing. “I suppose I could restore a bike just to be shown,” he says. “But I’d much rather build a bike that’s going to be ridden.” And his Rickman Metisse Mk. III is evidence to that attitude. It’s a bike built to be raced—despite the fact that it is history on wheels.
When the Metisse came out in 1962, it turned the English racing scene upside-down. “In the late ’50s, Don and Derek Rickman were top racers,” Hilgenberg recounts. “They weren’t totally satisfied with the first bikes they built, which used BSA frames and Triumph engines, so they built their own frame. That was the Mk. II. The Mk. Ill was the first production Rickman Metisse. It was so successful that over half of the riders in the 1964 Motocross des Nations were on some kind of Metisses-using Triumph or Matchless or some other kinds of engines.”
In most respects, Hilgenberg’s bike is original enough to have been snatched right from that race. But he’s quick to take advantage of vintage-bike racing rules where he can. To that end, his bike uses contemporary Works Performance shocks in the original mounts, and you can spot other modern parts here and there, like Sun rims and a Gunnar Gasser throttle.
Since the Metisse was originally a kit bike, it’s not surprising that its Triumph engine is considerably older than the chassis. In fact, it has 1948 cases and the much-desired alloy cylinders from a mid-1950s engine. It also has lightened timing gears, oversized valves and a host of performance-oriented modifications, right down to a rare BSA “Scrambles” close-ratio gearbox.
While some classic-bike purists might sneer at the Rickman’s lack of textbook originality, we’re delighted that it was built with riding in mind. Anything else would seem such a waste. —Ron Lawson
