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 THIS NEW ISSUE OF BSH… MMM, HAVE I SAID THAT BEFORE? BIT O’ DÉJÀ VU GOING ON HERE, I THINK…

DRAGON SOUL • THE A-TEAM’S COLONEL JOHN ‘HANNIBAL’ SMITH’S FAMOUS CATCHPHRASE WAS, OF COURSE, “I LOVE IT WHEN A PLAN COMES TOGETHER” BUT, SOMETIMES, JUST SOMETIMES, IT’S BETTER WHEN A PLAN DOESN’T COME TOGETHER, ISN’T IT? OR, AT LEAST, NOT IN THE WAY YOU’D ORIGINALLY PLANNED…

UXB RAT ONE NIGHTER • THE RAT BIKE WORLD, AS YOU PROBABLY KNOW, ISN’T EXACTLY A BIG ONE, AND THAT MEANS EVENTS THAT CATER FOR THE MORE GRUNGY END OF THE BIKING SPECTRUM’RE A LITTLE FEW AND FAR BETWEEN. THIS, IN TURN, MEANS THAT RATTERS WHO WANT TO SOCIALISE WITH OTHER RATTERS* HAVE TO BE PREPARED TO TRAVEL.

GENTLEMAN’S RACE REPLICA • WHAT DO YOU DO IF YOU REALLY, AND I MEAN REALLY, WANT A CLASSIC BROUGH SUPERIOR, BUT DON’T HAVE THE COST OF A LARGE SUBURBAN SEMI KNOCKING ABOUT TO SPEND ON A MOTORBIKE? SIMPLES (HE SAID CHANNELLING A MEERKAT WITH A RUSSIAN ACCENT IN A SMOKING JACKET), YOU BUILD ONE, OUT OF A BONNIE.

MABLETHORPE SAND RACING • YOU MAY’VE NOTICED THAT, OVER THIS WINTER, THERE’VE BEEN A COUPLE OF PLUGS IN OUR NEWS PAGES FOR THE BEACH RACING AT MABLETHORPE IN LINCOLNSHIRE? THERE’S A VERY GOOD REASON FOR THIS: IT’S QUITE, QUITE NUTS, AND WELL WORTH WATCHING.

OLD MIDDLE SCHOOL ‘FIGHTER • EVER SINCE THE INCEPTION OF THE INTERNET AGE, ONE OF THE MOST CONTENTIOUS QUESTIONS ASKED ON T’WORLDWIDE WEB IS ‘WHAT IS A STREETFIGHTER?’

SCOTTISH MOTORCYCLE SHOW • IT’S BEEN FAR TOO LONG SINCE BSH WENT TO WHAT IS PROBABLY THE BIGGEST MOTORCYCLE EVENT NORTH OF THE BORDER, THE SCOTTISH MOTORCYCLE SHOW AT THE ROYAL HIGHLAND CENTRE IN INGLISTON, NEAR EDINBURGH.

BSH CUSTOM CHAMPS 2023 • THE BIGGEST CUSTOM SHOW IN THE WORLD!

SILENT SKINNY GREY FELLOW • ‘S FUNNY, ISN’T IT, HOW THE NEW (IN A MANNER OF SPEAKING) VINTAGE CHOPPER SCENE AND THE BSH (IF YOU LIKE) CHOPPER SCENE HAVE SUCH DIFFERENT BEGINNINGS?

BRAIDWOOD MACHINE SHOW • I LIKE TO MUCK ABOUT WITH MOTORCYCLES, AND THAT’S WHAT BROUGHT ME TO THE MACHINE SHOW IN BRAIDWOOD, NSW (AUSTRALIA) FOR THE SECOND YEAR. EVENTS LIKE THIS’RE BECOMING RARER AND RARER – RIDE IN, CAMP OUT FOR THE WEEKEND, SHOW YOUR BIKE IF YOU WANT, OR JUST HANG ABOUT DRINKING BEER (OR WHATEVER), AND TAKE IN THE ATMOSPHERE.

BACK STREET HEROES

Pay just £3.83 per edition • That’s a 23% saving when paying by direct debit

TUNGSTEN N’ STEEL • HAVING BEEN HOOFING AROUND ON HIS MILDLY MODIFIED TRIUMPH SPEEDMASTER FOR A FEW YEARS, PAT PICA WAS, AS YOU CAN IMAGINE, QUITE SHOCKED WHEN, ON A RIDE TO A MATE’S HOUSE AFTER POOLE BIKE NIGHT, A MYOPIC CAR DRIVER TURNED DIRECTLY INTO HIS PATH, HITTING HIM HEAD-ON, AND WRECKING THE BIKE AND HIS SHOULDER…

INDIAN SPORT CHIEF • THIS ISSUE WE HAVE A GUEST ROAD-TESTER, MR CHRISTOPHER MOSS ESQUIRE. WHO IS, UNLIKE NIK, A PROPER BIKE JOURNALIST, AND SPENDS A LOT OF HIS TIME ON LAUNCHES OF VERY FAST MOTORCYCLES THAT REQUIRE YOU HOLD THEM UP WITH YOURKNEE ROUND CORNERS…

BUILT I’ MESELF! PART SIX • SO, AFTER FIVE ISSUES OF MAKING A SILK PURSE OF A BIKE OUT OF A SOW’S EAR OF A ROLLING CHASSIS (WELL, MAYBE NOT AN ACTUAL SILK PURSE… UNLESS IT CAME FROM WISH), WE’VE COME TO THE END – THE BIG REVEAL!

MR BRIDGES’ MOTORCYCLE DIARIES VOL. VI, PART VI • IF YOU’RE A REGULAR READER YOU MAY’VE BEEN EXPECTING SOME MORE GT550 TYPE STUFF? IT HAS TO BE SAID THAT SO WAS I, BUT HERE WE ARE WITH A HONDA CBR600 (FIG.1).

EMRIC PART ONE • IT WAS ONE OF THOSE IDYLLIC DAYS IN LATE JUNE, THE SUMMER SOLSTICE WAS APPROACHING AND THE UK WAS BASKING IN RECORD TEMPERATURES, PERFECT WEATHER FOR PUTTING SOME MILES UNDER YOUR WHEELS.

BIKES ON...