Thanks for the responses guys. H2Rtuner that's a great story about the desert racer dude shredding that knobby tire up. I can certainly believe it. And frankly, the contemporary triumphs were heavy lead sleds which I don't consider much more off-road worthy than a properly set up H1. For that time in the 60's and early 70's, many riders were using whatever streetbike they could get their hands on and letting it have it over the mostly flat, open desert terrain.
Here's a video of the type of bike I'm talking about. I think a really cool old H1 could be pretty readily built into this type of motorcycle, and the final product could very well greatly exceed what we see here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=unaRkye1OBkI mean, tell me that wouldn't be an exciting concept bike???
JimC I wouldn't actually ride a bike like this offroad, unless it was like a gravel road or something pretty tame. Although that's not to say that if such a bike actually existed back in 1969, someone very well might have raced it very successfully in the desert. The point for me is to just ride it with pride and to enjoy the coolness factor. And I agree, I love the street tracker look too. But once again, I wouldn't ever race it like a street tracker either on the street or the track. It would be for the riding experience alone.