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 • HELLO, AND WELCOME TO THE NEW ISSUE OF BSH – THE FIRST ONE AFTER THE LONG, HOT SUMMER… CAN WE HAVE IT BACK, PLEASE?

TIGERS OF LAND & SKY • THERE’RE FEW THINGS IN THIS WORLD AS ENGLISH, AS QUINTESSENTIALLY ENGLISH, AS TRIUMPH MOTORCYCLES AND AVRO LANCASTER BOMBERS, ARE THERE? BOTH’RE CLASSICS OF ENGLISH DESIGN, BOTH’RE INSTANTLY RECOGNISABLE, AND BOTH’RE JUST PART OF A LONG LINE OF THINGS THAT MADE THIS GREAT COUNTRY WHAT IT IS TODAY.

EVENT ROCK & BLUES • THE ROCK AND BLUES CUSTOM SHOW AT THE CONEYGREY SHOWGROUND EASES YOU GENTLY INTO YOUR RALLY WEEKEND – AN EXTRA DAY OFF WORK, BIKES, BEERS, SUNSHINE, WHAT MORE COULD YOU WANT? OH YEAH, MUSIC… ALMOST TWENTY-SIX HOURS OF ROCKIN’ (AND A LITTLE BIT OF BLUES).

SPARKLEPANTS SPORTY • A PROJECT INEVITABLY BEGINS WITH THAT FATEFUL PHONE CALL: ‘D’YOU KNOW ANYONE WHO WANTS A CHEAP SPORTSTER?’

EVENT THE HOOK UP CHOPPER SHOW • CHOPPERS ARE A UNIVERSAL LANGUAGE AND, WHILE AMERICA CAN RIGHTFULLY CLAIM TO’VE INVENTED THAT LANGUAGE, IT’S ONE THAT’S NOW SPOKEN ACROSS THE WORLD – EVEN IN DEEPEST SOUTH WALES WHERE, FOR THE LAST FEW YEARS, SOME OF THE BEST CHOPPERS IN THE UNITED KINGDOM, AND BEYOND, HAVE BEEN GATHERING EACH YEAR.

GSX 1100 EXTRA TIDY • WHEN SUZUKI RELEASED THE FOUR-VALVES-PER-CYLINDER GSX1100 ON THE MOTORCYCLING WORLD IN 1980, IT OBVIOUSLY HAD SOMETHING VERY DIFFERENT IN MIND THAN THE BIKE YOU SEE BEFORE YOU NOW.

EVENT EAST COAST HARLEY CLUB’S CUSTOM BIKE SHOW • WE’VE BECOME SO RELIANT, THESE DAYS, ON SATNAVS, IT’S AMAZING WE EVER MANAGED TO GET ABOUT WITHOUT THEM, ISN’T IT?

MAMORU’D BE PROUD! • THE TWO PEOPLE MAINLY INVOLVED IN THEBUILDING OF THIS TRIKE I CLASS AS PERSONALFRIENDS AND SO, NORMALLY, I’D BE MADE UP FORTHEM BOTH, BUT AS ONE OF THEM IS NOLONGER WITH US, THIS ARTICLE’SA BIT OF A BITTERSWEET ONE…

BSH CUSTOM CHAMPS 2022 • That’s it then – all six rounds of the 2022 BSH Custom Champs (the biggest custom bike show in the world with more than 1,700 entries) have run!

O-I-F? O-O-F? • I DON’T KNOW, YOU DON’T SEE A RAT, A REAL RAT, NOT A CUT-DOWN BIKE PAINTED MATT BLACK, FOR AGES AND THEN, JUST LIKE BUSES*, TWO COME ALONG IN AS MANY MONTHS.

EVENT NCC SUFFOLK SHOW • THE LAST TIME I WENT TO A BIKE SHOW AT THE FIVE BELLS AT RATTLESDEN WAS A GOOD FEW YEARS AGO AND, WHILE IT WAS A PLEASANT ENOUGH DAY, IT WASN’T OVERLY WELL ATTENDED, Y’KNOW? THERE WERE A FAIR FEW THERE BUT NOT, HOW SHALL I PUT THIS, SH*TLOADS.

BACK STREET HEROES

BACK STREET HEROES

BACK, IN BLACK • FOR AS LONG AS I CAN REMEMBER, EVERYTHING WAS GOVERNED BY BIKES; WHERE I WENT, WHO I KNEW, WHAT I DID. I’D CHOSEN TO LIVE A LIFE COMPLETELY SUBMERGED BENEATH THE WATER OF TWO WHEELS. QUITE LITERALLY, BIKES WERE LIFE AND THEN, ONE DAY, THEY WEREN’T…

ROYAL ENFIELD 411 SCRAM • ACCORDING TO THE PRESS BLURB, ROYAL ENFIELD’S SCRAM 411 IS A STRIPPED-BACK ROADGOING VERSION OF THE A2-LICENCE COMPLIANT HIMALAYAN ADVENTURE BIKE (THAT’S TRAILIE TO YOU AND ME) WITH A SMALLER FRONT WHEEL (TO GIVE SHARPER STEERING), AND A SLIGHTLY LESS UPRIGHT RIDING POSITION.

SUZUKI GSX-S 1000 • IT’S BEEN A FUNNY OLD YEAR, HASN’T IT? NORMALLY BY THIS POINT WITH A PRESS BIKE, I’VE RACKED UP MILEAGE THAT MAKES MANUFACTURER PR PEOPLE WINCE, BUT THIS YEAR I’VE NOT REALLY HAD A CHANCE TO GET AS MUCH TARMAC UNDER THE WHEELS OF THE GSX-S 1000 AS I’D DO USUALLY.

MR BRIDGES' MOTORCYCLE DIARIES VOL. V, PART X • HAVING GOT THE GIRDERS GIRDED, SO TO SPEAK, AS I MENTIONED LAST TIME THERE WAS THE MATTER OF ATTACHING SOME LIGHTS, A MUDGUARD AND NOT LEAST, THE BRAKE.

THE MILLENNIUM RUN • CORNWALL. I HAVEN’T THOUGHT ABOUT CORNWALL IN YEARS… WHAT A RUN OUT THAT...