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 • CRITICAL THINKING/JOINED-UP THINKING/PLAIN OLD-FASHIONED COMMON SENSE SEEMS TO BE A LITTLE LACKING IN THE UPPER ECHELONS OF POWER THESE DAYS, DOESN’T IT?

FARMYARD PARTY • It wouldn’t be Yorkshire without a touch of morning drizzle, would it, but when the sun broke through, you could see why they call this God’s own country. The sun shone, the bikes filed in past Duncombe House like soldiers on parade, and the atmosphere was full-on summer party mode.

UKRAINIAN STEEL • WITH ALL THE TALK OF THE WAR IN THE UKRAINE, IT’S EASY TO FORGET, ASSUMING YOU KNEW IN THE FIRST PLACE, THAT THE COUNTRY ONCE HAD A THRIVING MOTORCYCLE INDUSTRY, ISN’T IT?

DGF IOM • DGF IOM (Distinguished Gentlefolk Isle of Man) is now in its sixth year and, for the 2024 event, organiser Karl Miller decided to slightly tweak the event with an amended route to add a little variety.

BONKERS BEEZA • FAR, FAR BACK, IN THE MISTS OF ANCIENT TIME (WELL, OKAY, PERHAPS NOT THAT LONG AGO) RUSS BROWN HAD AN A65L LIGHTNING, WHICH ENDED UP DISMANTLED TO BE REASSEMBLED AS A CHOP… OR THAT WAS THE PLAN ANYWAY.

BACK STREET JENNY • YOU’LL HAVE NOTICED, I’M SURE, THAT THERE’RE MORE AND MORE OF THESE OLD ‘RESURRECTED’ PAN N’ SHOVEL CHOPPERS ABOUT THESE DAYS; BIKES BUILT IN A STYLE THAT’S INFLUENCED BY BIKES BUILT IN THE US IN THE LATE SIXTIES. NICK WALKER’S GENERATOR SHOVEL’S A PRIME EXAMPLE…

MUSOS ON BIKES • Thinking back, at the end of another pleasant afternoon, the Musos on Bikes (or just Musos as it’s usually called) show must be the one-dayer I’ve been to the most, only missing one or two over its thirteen years.

APPEARANCES CAN BE DECEIVING …

NCC CAMBS’ CUSTOM & CLASSIC SHOW • I don't know about you, but I kind o' pride meself on knowing me way round the country, especially the part of the country shaped a little like Britain’s bum where I live. Occasionally, though, just occasionally (…) don't.

TANK ART • ART IS, AS ALL ARTIST TYPES’LL SAY, SUBJECTIVE – BASED ON, OR INFLUENCED BY, PERSONAL FEELINGS, TASTES, OR OPINIONS, AND OVER THE NEXT FEW ISSUES WE’LL DEMONSTRATE THAT. HERE’RE A FEW MORE TANKS AND MUDDIES SPOTTED THIS AND LAST SUMMER.

SNOW SHOVEL • ACCORDING TO THE FONT OF ALL KNOWLEDGE AND WISDOM THAT IS WIKIPEDIA, A SNOW SHOVEL IS A SPECIALISED SHOVEL THAT COMES IN SEVERAL DIFFERENT DESIGNS, EACH OF WHICH’S INTENDED TO WORK IN A DIFFERENT WAY. APPARENTLY, THEY CAN HAVE BOTH HEALTH AND INJURY RISKS, BUT ALSO SIGNIFICANT HEALTH BENEFITS WHEN USED CORRECTLY.

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MELDRETH MANOR BIKE SHOW • The summer of 2024’s been funny (that’s funny-odd, not funny-haha) with most pay-to-enter or weekend bike events down on numbers, but free bike nights and such reporting their highest attendances ever.

HONDA CB750 HORNET • I’VE ALWAYS FELT THAT ‘HORNET’, AS IN HONDA HORNET, WAS A NAME THAT DIDN’T REALLY FIT THE BIKE IT WAS BESTOWED UPON. HORNETS, YOU SEE, THE INSECTS, ARE LEGENDARILY ANGRY, CHARACTERISTICALLY VICIOUS, LITTLE BAST… SORRY, SORRY, BASKETS THAT’LL GIVE YOU A NASTY, POTENTIALLY LETHAL, STING AS SOON AS LOOK AT YOU, WHILE CB600FS, AS THE HONDA HORNETS WERE DESIGNATED, ARE/DO NONE OF THE ABOVE.

2024 BSH Custom Champs • SO THAT’S IT, IT’S OFFICIAL – THE BIGGEST CUSTOM SHOW IN THE WORLD IS OVER FOR 2024! THE RIDICULOUSLY HARD JOB OF THE JUDGES IN WHITTLING DOWN FIFTY BIKES TO JUST THE FIVE OVERALL WINNERS’S DONE AND, AS I’VE SAID BEFORE, I’M SO BLUMMIN’ GLAD THE DECISIONS WEREN’T MINE!

DOWN THE BACK O’… • ABOUT EIGHT OR SO YEARS AGO, OUR LAUREN, EX-STAFFER OF THIS PARISH, WAS GIVEN THE UNENVIABLE TASK OF HUNTING DOWN SOMETHING OR OTHER FROM OLD BSH FILES IN A SERIES...