At this year’s Dusty Lizard Moab, Taco Mike offered us Taco Moto’s TF 450-E build for a day rip to the Ruby Moto Refresh Station on Hurrah Pass. The Taco bike is built with custom tuning, suspension settings, chassis mods, and clutch, with the intent of making it a more trail and enduro-friendly ride. 

I’ve ridden a few Triumphs, mostly limited to Bonneville scramblers and street trackers, and the very popular Street Triple. I also have a single-owner 1967 TR6-R custom bike project kicking around my garage. 

For some riders, Triumph may be synonymous with unique three-cylinder street bikes and retro-inspired tracker twins. For me, Triumph was always synonymous with old-school off-road bikes and Steve McQueen. 

Steven McQueen’s 1963 Triumph Bonneville Desert Sled, sold most recently for $103,000 at auction, photo via the internet

McQueen famously rode the Triumph TR6 Trophy (disguised for the screen as a German Wehrmacht bike) in the finale of The Great Escape, jumping fences in the rolling Polish pastureland. Southern California Triumph dealer Bud Ekins was actually the pilot of the TR6 Trophy in that scene, acting as stunt double for McQueen. 

Ekins, who brought McQueen into dirt racing on Triumph bikes in the California desert, was also the instigator of the proto-Baja 1000 race in 1962. Approached by Honda to do a PR stunt that would establish the legitimacy of the CL72 Scrambler, Bud–worried that the Honda publicity would sour his relationship with Triumph–ended up enlisting his brother Dave Ekins to pull it off. Dave rode from Tijuana to La Paz on the 250cc air-cooled Honda in under 40 hours, and the Baja 1000 was born. Now, 64 years later, Honda maintains a dominant position in Mexican racing, its name synonymous with the Baja 1000 moto races.

Dave Ekins on the CL72, photo via the internet

Just think, in another universe, Bud could have raced a TR6 Trophy himself. In some alternate reality, Triumph could have been the ubiquitous dirt machine in Baja.

But of course, it didn’t play out that way; instead, Triumph Engineering went into receivership in the 80s and re-emerged as Triumph Motorcycles, with the company’s focus largely on street bikes, until the introduction of the Triumph Tiger ADV model not too long ago. And then, out of nowhere in 2024, we were treated to the news that Triumph was heading back to the dirt. 

I was excited to hear about Triumph's new dirt bike offerings. It felt more like they were coming home, returning to their heritage. Plus, brand diversity in any market is a great thing. Having more competition in the off-road bike landscape will mean innovation, introduction of new technology, and more choice for consumers. I felt the same way upon hearing of Ducati’s entrance in the dirt market with their 450 MX bike, their Baja race efforts on the 450 EDX off-road bike, and the upcoming street-legal dual sport version of the same platform being unveiled on June 9th. These new offerings from manufacturers add exciting competition to the more common Euro- and Japanese-made dual-sport and XC bikes. 

For the Triumph dirtbikes in particular, the spec sheet includes a strong motor, KYB suspension, and dual mapping and traction control from the factory. On paper, the bike sounds like a solid machine, and the price point is pretty competitive. It’s a welcome addition to the 450 landscape.

We put the bike through its paces in Moab, riding everything from technical rocky steps in Pritchett Canyon, to the fast rolling double track reminiscent of Baja fire roads on Kane Creek–we even rode a little singletrack on it.

So what do we think of this modern iteration of a bike from a brand with such storied dirt heritage? 

Probably the dominant factor with this bike is the very rigid frame. Taco Moto made some tweaks to the frame to increase its flex. I can only speculate that the bike was incredibly rigid in its stock configuration, because even with the changes, it was still a pretty firm bike. Maybe it’s some motocross DNA in this enduro version (Triumph’s press materials say the enduro bike shares a frame with the MX bike), but the frame is noticeably stiff, and the rider really feels ride feedback in rougher terrain. Taco Moto did considerable work on the suspension to help the ride quality, and it shows. The suspension is responsive but comfortable, helping to break the firm contact the bike has in rough riding conditions. 

It’s still a rideable bike, but it feels like it needs a little improvement from the factory if Triumph really sees this as a true enduro bike. Anyone who has read this blog recently has probably heard me extolling the virtues of Honda off-road bikes–maybe my Honda bias is getting old at this point. But here’s an anecdote to consider: I found an interview with Mark Samuels talking about his team testing the 3rd Gen Honda 450X in Mexico races. The SLR Honda team riders felt the Gen 3 frame was too stiff, so SLR was taking steps to make it ride more softly and forgivingly in the rough Baja terrain. One approach involved taking a 450RX frame that had been raced for a season in the GNCC series and thus was “broken in”, and rebuilding the 450X race bike on that frame. Samuels also mentioned they were grinding the casting marks off the triple trees–talk about having a finely tuned feel for a bike, that just a casting mark being removed can improve the ride feel. The point here is the SLR team is racing in the legacy of generations of Honda race teams, including Ox Racing, JCR Honda, the factory Honda desert racing teams of the 90s and early 2000s, and Bruce Ogilvie’s race efforts dating back to the 80s and 90s. Those years of racing with top race teams led to refined development of not only the power plants and suspension, but also the frame design and feel. That sort of racing development feedback is what leads to a truly polished off-road bike.

Scott Sommers riding the Honda XR600R like truly few riders could.

Taco Moto did a great job on the suspension tuning for rock and technical riding, so the bike as tested still did well on our ride day. It was a little tiring and intense after a full day of riding, but the flip side is the bike is incredibly responsive and planted in all the terrain we rode in. It really puts the power to the ground and flicks its way through corners. 

As for the power output, Triumph claims an impressive 58 horsepower from the factory, and I believe it. The bike was pretty spicy, even with a Taco Moto remapping that provided two different maps aimed at making the bike more controllable and ridable. With the Taco maps, the bike felt good. There was plenty of power off the line, but a fairly smooth and linear delivery that didn’t hit too hard and wear you out, with enough snap for dynamic riding.

The rest of the bike is a solid setup. The easy pull clutch that Taco Moto added is a welcome addition in the technical rocks we rode all day. The dual Cyclops light looks great and proved good output in the dusk riding back to camp. The ergonomics of the bike generally feel comfortable, with an easy rider cockpit and good subframe grip. I didn’t test the traction control, launch control, or quickshifter, but the bike comes standard with those features for those who want them.

Overall, the new Triumph is an impressive first entry to the market. It's strong pulling power plant feels akin to rowdy cross-country race bikes, the excellent KYB SSS suspension is always welcome on any bike, it looks great and rides well. With some future refinements to the frame flex, the bike has a lot of promise as a dual-sport or enduro trail machine. 

Photos by Scott Rounds unless otherwise noted. 

TF 450-E Build info: 

• Athena GET SX1 ECU with WiFi controller and custom TacoTuning

• Dal Soggio Sphere3 fork inserts with custom Taco Moto settings

• Chassis tuning with mods like the removal of the second top engine hanger bolt and other bolt torque tweaks

• Mr Wolf Mousse Mousse Balls

• Motoz Tractionator Enduro IT and ST tires

• Easy pull clutch lever

• Molecule hand flags

• Odi Rogue grips

• Cyclops dual lights 

• Pro moto billet foot pegs 

• Motoz Tractionator ST front and IT rear tires