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

sTinky pinKy • RYAN DAWSON, BORN IN ESSEX, WAS RAISED AROUND AMERICAN CULTURE; CHOPPERS, CUSTOM CARS, HOT RODS, DRAG RACING, BY A BUNCH OF PETROLHEADS.

MOTORCYCLE LIVE! • MOTORCYCLE LIVE! AT THE NEC IN BIRMINGHAM IS, I’M SURE I DON’T NEED TO TELL YOU, THE BIGGEST, MOST ATTENDED MOTORCYCLE-THEMED EVENT IN THE UK – MORE THAN 90,000 PEOPLE MADE IT THROUGH THE DOORS IN 2022!

MISUNDERSTOOD • SOMETIMES IT TAKES US A WHILE TO GET BIKES PHOTOGRAPHED FOR BSH, AND IT AIN’T EASY FOR US TO BE AT ALL PLACES AT ALL TIMES, PHOTOGRAPHING EACH AND EVERY BIKE THAT DESERVES A FEATURE. WE TRY OUR BEST THOUGH.

HARD-WORKING HYBRID • AS I’M SURE I’VE SAID BEFORE, ONE OF THE BEST THINGS ABOUT THIS JOB’S WHEN THE OWNER OF A CUSTOM BIKE ASKS IF YOU’D LIKE TO HAVE A SPIN ON IT? IT DOESN’T HAPPEN OFTEN, MIND, BUT WHEN IT DOES…

ALIVE! • I WAS JUST GETTING ON TO THE A14 AT BURY ST EDMUNDS, ON MY WAY TO THE NCC SUFFOLK SHOW, WHEN I SAW A CHOP, A FOUR-CYLINDER JAPANESE-ENGINED CHOP, EAR’OLING ALONG IN THE FAST LANE. ‘BLIMEY’, I THOUGHT, ‘HE’S MOTORING… COOL, SOMEONE TO CHASE!’

38.5 • IT’S LONG BEEN SAID THAT CUSTOM BIKES’RE NEVER FINISHED – THERE’S ALWAYS SOMETHING MORE, SOMETHING EXTRA, YOU CAN DO TO ONE, ISN’T THERE?

TRIumPH) CHOPPERS FOR LIFE • BACK IN THE DAY, BEFORE HARLEYS WERE AS COMMON, AS AFFORDABLE, AS RELIABLE, AS THEY ARE NOW, THERE WAS KIND O’ A LOGICAL PROGRESSION TO THE WAY THINGS WORKED, WASN’T THERE?

SOMETHING OLD, SOMETHING NEW, SOMETHING BORROWED, SOMETHING BLUE • BACK IN ISSUE 462, AT THE END OF THE ARTICLE ON PORKY’S AB-SO-LUTE-LY GLORIOUS ORANGE SHOVELHEAD, I MENTIONED HE ALSO HAD AN S&S EVO’, AND PROMISED WE’D SHOW IT TO YOU AS SOON AS WE COULD. GIVEN THE SHEER NUMBER OF CUSTOM HARLEYS WE’VE BEEN TO SEE THIS YEAR, THE FACT THAT IT’S TAKEN JUST FOUR ISSUES TO DO JUST THAT IS A MINOR MIRACLE IN ITSELF BUT, WITHOUT FURTHER ADO, HERE IT IS.

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NCC NOTTS' CUSTOM SHOW • NEWARK, WHERE NCC NOTTS HOLD THEIR ANNUAL CUSTOM SHOW (OKAY, SO STRICTLY SPEAKING IT’S AT NEWARK RUGBY CLUB JUST OUTSIDE NEWARK, NOT IN THE TOWN ITSELF) HAS TO BE ONE OF THE MOST SIGNPOSTED PLACES IN THE COUNTRY – THE LAST TIME I TRIED TO COUNT JUST THE ONES ON THE A1, IT WAS IN EXCESS OF THIRTY…

DOUBLE TROUBLE RALLY • IN 2003 TWO BRISTOL CLUBS, THE SISTERHOOD AND THE PETROLHEADS, HELD INDIVIDUAL RALLIES AND, AS THEY WERE CLOSELY LINKED, THEY DECIDED TO GET TOGETHER THE FOLLOWING YEAR AND RUN JUST ONE TOGETHER, HENCE THE NAME ‘DOUBLE TROUBLE’.

BULLFROG BASH • THE BULLFROG BASH 2022 REALLY WOULDN’T’VE SUITED ANY BULLFROGS AT ALL WITH ITS GLORIOUS SUNSHINE, TEMPERATURES IN THE MID-TWENTIES CELSIUS, AND NOT A SWAMP, MARSH OR BRACKISH WATER FOR MILES.

BUILD IT, YERSEL' • NIK AND I WERE HAVING A CHAT (PROBABLY AFTER A BEER OR TWO) ABOUT PROJECT BIKES AND HOW TO DO, OR NOT HOW TO DO, THEM, AND PEOPLE’S SKILL/CONFIDENCE LEVELS, AND A PLAN WAS CONCEIVED TO BUILD SOMETHING AS SIMPLE, AND AS CHEAP, AS POSSIBLE TO ENCOURAGE OTHERS TO HAVE A GO, TOO; NOT SO MUCH A ‘HOW TO’, MORE A ‘HAVE A GO’ – A TRUE GARDEN SHED PROJECT.

SUZUKI GSX-S 1000 • THE TIME HAS COME* FOR OUR 2022 LONG-TERM BIKE TO GO BACK, AND SO (SNIFF) IT’LL VERY SOON BE TIME TO GIVE THE GSX-S 1000 I’VE HAD SINCE JULY ‘22 A LAST WASH, AND THEN TAKE IT BACK TO SUZUKI IN MILTON KEYNES

MR BRIDGES' MOTORCYCLE DIARIES • A QUICK RECAP OF THE PLAN THEN: CHEAPISH GT550 KAWASAKI THAT, MORE OR LESS, RUNS AND STOPS, INTO SOME SORT OF CUSTOM MOTORCYCLE WITHOUT NEEDING UNDUE LEVELS OF SKILL (FIG.1).

AGONY AUNT • AS THIS IS MY...