Back Street Heroes

Back Street Heroes is the UK’s biggest-selling and best custom bike magazine. We cover all styles of custom bikes and the custom biker lifestyle.

Editorial

BILDT NOT BOUGHT • THE FIRST TIME BILDT NOT BOUGHT WAS HELD IT SOLD OUT WITHIN A DAY; THE SECOND IT SOLD OUT WITHIN 45 MINUTES! SO, WHAT’S THE SECRET?

WEST EAST COAST CHOPPER • WHEN JESSE JAMES, OF WEST COAST CHOPPERS FAME, INTRODUCED THE CFL (CHOPPERS FOR LIFE) FRAME IN 1997, IT REVOLUTIONISED THE CUSTOM BIKE INDUSTRY BY INTRODUCING LIGHTWEIGHT, TIG-WELDED, PERFORMANCE-ORIENTED HARDTAIL FRAMES WITH A SIGNATURE ‘DROP SEAT’ DESIGN, AND BECAME KNOWN FOR ITS AGGRESSIVE, RAKED-OUT STYLE, AND SPIDERWEB GUSSETS.

HED TO THE SHED • ONCE SEPTEMBER ENDS EACH YEAR, THERE I’N’TEvent MUCH FOR US LOT INTO CUSTOMS, OR EVEN KUSTOMS IF YOU PREFER, TO GO TO EVENT-WISE… WELL, NOT IN THIS COUNTRY ANYWAY.

HIGH MILEAGE DIGGER • THE THING ABOUT DIGGERS – THE MOTORCYCLES CALLED ‘DIGGERS’, NOT THEM BIG YELLOW THINGS WITH A BUCKET ON EITHER END THAT YOU USE TO MAKE ‘OLES IN THE GROUND – IS THAT PEOPLE, EVEN OTHER BIKERS, ALWAYS, BUT ALWAYS, SAY WHEN THEY SEE ONE, SOMETHING ALONG THE LINES OF, “YOU WON’T GET FAR ON THAT, WILL YOU?”AND THEN LAUGH, BECAUSE A DIGGER ALWAYS HAS A SMALL FUEL TANK. THE THING IS THERE’S ALWAYS AN EXCEPTION TO EVERY RULE…

TEST VALLEY CUSTOM SHOW • AH, AUTUMN, THE SEASON OF MISTS AND MELLOW FRUITFULNESS OR, IN THE CASE OF THE TEST VALLEY CHARITY CUSTOM HOT ROD & BIKE SHOW (ONE OF THE LONGEST EVENT TITLES I KNOW!), DECIDEDLY CHANGEABLE, WHICH IS A SHAME AFTER SUCH A GLORIOUS SUMMER.

THE SAMURAI • IF YOU’RE GOING TO TALK THE TALK, YOU’VE GOT TO BE ABLE TO WALK THE WALK, HAVEN’T YOU? IF YOU CAN’T PUT UP, SHUT UP; PUT YOUR MONEY WHERE YOUR MOUTH IS; AND A HOST OF OTHER CLICHES NO DOUBT, ALL REFER TO, IF YOU’RE GOING TO INFER THAT SOMETHING DOES SOMETHING, YOU’D BETTER BE ABLE TO PROVE THAT IT DOES, HADN’T YOU?

HANDS ACROSS THE PENNIES • AS ANYONE WHO DIDN’T STARE OFF OUT OF THE WINDOW DURING HISTORY CLASSES AT SCHOOL’LL KNOW, THE RIVALRY BETWEEN YORKSHIRE AND LANCASHIRE IN THE NORTH OF ENGLAND GOES BACK, LITERALLY, MORE THAN HALF A MILLENNIUM, TO WELL BEFORE THE ACTUAL WAR OF THE ROSES STARTED NEARLY 600 YEARS AGO IN 1455.

DEATH AT THE CROSSROADS • DEATH SAT ON HIS BIKE AND WAITED FOR ME AT THE CROSSROADS.

The INTERNATIONAL classic MOTOR CYCLE SHOW

HARDCORE (DO YOU WANT MORE) • WHEN RUDYARD KIPLING COINED THE PHRASE ‘NEVER THE TWAIN SHALL MEET’ IN HIS 1892 EPISTLE ‘BARRACK-ROOM BALLARDS’, HE WAS ACTUALLY BEMOANING THE LACK OF THINGS IN COMMON BETWEEN THE BRITISH AND THE NATIVES OF THE COLONISED INDIA. HE MIGHT, THOUGH, SOME 130-PLUS YEARS LATER, BE SPEAKING OF THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THOSE WHO RIDE STREETFIGHTERS AND THOSE WHO RIDE CHOPPERS, PARTICULARLY AMONGST THOSE WHO RESIDE FAR ACROSS THE WATER IN GERMANY.

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ROUND SCOTLAND ON A HOUSEBOAT • LAST MONTH I TOLD YOU ABOUT THE FIRST FEW DAYS OF MY MONSTER MILEAGE TRIP TO SCOTLAND ON THE HOUSEBOAT, THE BMW R18 B BAGGER – AFFECTIONATELY SO NAMED BECAUSE OF ITS SIZE. THIS MONTH, IN THIS FINAL PART, I’M GOING TO TELL YOU ABOUT DOING THE HEART 200 ON IT, AND VENTURING INTO THE CAIRNGORMS ALONG THE SNOW ROADS.

A(NOTHER) YEAR OF CUSTOM BIKING… • THERE’S BEEN A CHANGE IN THE FLEET THIS ISSUE: THE SPONDON? HAS GONE TO LIVE WITH A GUY NAMED JIM INT’ NORTH AND, VERY BRIEFLY, I WAS THE OWNER OF A RATHER NICE (AND VERY LOUD!) TRIUMPH STREET TRIPLE…

HONDA HORNET 1000 SP • WHEN IT COMES TO NEW MOTORCYCLES, BRAND-NEW MOTORCYCLES, OF A SIZEABLE CAPACITY, NOT MADE IN THE PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF CHINA OR THE INDIAN SUBCONTINENT, YOU DON’T REALLY GET MUCH FOR TEN GRAND THESE DAYS, DO...