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, IS IT THAT TIME AGAIN ALREADY? ANOTHER NEW ISSUE OF BSH? BLIMEY, WHO’D O’ THOUGHT IT?

BUCKET LIST DREAM • WE ALL HAVE, I’M SURE, A BUCKET LIST – A LIST OF THINGS WE WANT TO DO BEFORE EITHER WE GET TOO OLD TO DO ‘EM OR, TO PARAPHRASE THE GREAT JOHN CLEESE, WE SHUFFLE OFF THIS MORTAL COIL, OR RUN DOWN THE CURTAIN AND JOIN THE BLEEDIN’ CHOIR INVISIBLE. THE THING IS, THOUGH, DO YOU KNOW WHY IT’S CALLED A BUCKET LIST?

INTO THE VALLEY • MAG’S INTO THE VALLEY’S ONE OF THOSE EVENTS THAT OFTEN GETS THE RESPONSE OF ‘OH, I’VE BEEN THINKING ABOUT DOING THAT ONE FOR AGES, BUT NEVER GOT ROUND TO IT’. MY ANSWER, AFTER HAVING ATTENDED IT FOR THE FIRST TIME, WILL NOW BE “JUST DO IT!”

BLACK N’ CHROME GETS YOU HOME • WE SHOWED YOU DIRTY MIKE’S BONNIE A COUPLE OF ISSUES AGO – THIS IS HIS OTHER BIKE, A LATE SEVENTIES IRONHEAD NAMED MIDNIGHT BRAWL ‘COS, HE SAYS, SOME OF HIS HAPPIEST MEMORIES IN LIFE’RE FIGHTING WITH BUILDS LATE INTO THE EVENING AND, BESIDES, LIKE A GREAT GALLEON, METAL BAND, OR WRESTLER, IT DESERVES A KICK-ASS NAME.

RACE THE WAVES • IT MIGHT NOT HAVE REACHED THE BALMY, MID-20S CELSIUS OF WILDWOOD, NEW JERSEY, AND IT MIGHT NOT BE ON THE GLOBAL BEACH RACING CIRCUIT JUST YET BUT RACE THE WAVES IN BRIDLINGTON IS A SPECTACLE TO GET THE ADRENALINE PUMPING - EVEN ON A FREEZING DAY IN APRIL.

COWBOY BEBOP • SO I’M STOOD IN A CHURCHYARD IN A SMALL VILLAGE NEAR BLACKBURN ON A BRIGHT, SUNNY DAY, PHOTOGRAPHING LAURIE ASHTON’S MANICALLY VIVID XS650 WHEN, SUDDENLY, THE THING THAT’S BEEN NAGGING AT ME EVER SINCE I FIRST LAID EYES UPON IT HITS ME…

KESGRAVE BELL BIKE SHOW • THE BELL AT KESGRAVE, ON THE OUTSKIRTS OF IPSWICH IN SUFFOLK, HAS LONG HAD A BIKE SHOW THERE ON THE THIRD WEEKEND IN APRIL – A WEEKEND THAT HAS ALMOST PRETERNATURALLY GOOD WEATHER.

YOU’VE BEEN NABBED • SO, THE END OF AN ERA THEN; THE VERY LAST YOU’VE BEEN NABBED RALLY, SADLY, BUT IT VERY DEFINITELY WENT OUT WITH A BANG!

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

FROM A DARK PLACE… • BACK IN AUGUST 2020, AFTER BEING SIGNED OFF WORK WITH STRESS, BEN ROWETT WAS IN A PRETTY DARK PLACE, AND NEEDED A WAY OUT OF IT. HIS FATHER, ANDY, ASKED HIM IF HE’D LIKE TO HELP HIM IN THE REPAIR AND RESTORATION OF CLASSIC BIKES, AND HE AGREED AND BEGAN WORKING ALONGSIDE HIM.

THERAPY • GETTING A BIKE ON TO THE ROAD, ESPECIALLY A CUSTOM BIKE, HAS LONG BEEN KNOWN TO HAVE THERAPEUTIC EFFECTS ON THOSE TROUBLED BY MENTAL OR PHYSICAL AILMENTS – I’VE LOST TRACK OF THE NUMBER OF FEATURES WE’VE DONE IN BSH THAT MENTION THE CONCENTRATION/EFFORT REQUIRED TO CREATE A ONE-OFF MOTORCYCLE.

BACK STREET HEROES

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DRAGON SOUL PROJECTS • AS YOU MIGHT KNOW FROM READING THE FEATURE ON LONE’S SPORTSTER, THE COVER BIKE LAST ISSUE, NUMBER 471, DRAGON SOUL CUSTOM, THE RENOWNED PURVEYORS OF SPRINGER FORKS, HAVE HAD A BIT OF A RELAUNCH/REBRAND AND ARE, THESE DAYS, KNOWN AS DRAGON SOUL PROJECTS, BUT WHAT DOES THAT ACTUALLY MEAN?

Destiny Cycle NO, NOT THEM… • OUR WILLIE, OR MR SHAKESPEARE AS HE’S MORE FORMALLY KNOWN, SAID, IN ACT II, SCENE 5, OF TWELFTH NIGHT: “SOME ARE BORN GREAT, SOME ACHIEVE GREATNESS, AND SOME HAVE GREATNESS THRUST UPON THEM,” WHICH IS ALL VERY WELL FOR LITERARY TYPES, ISN’T IT, BUT NOT EVERY BIKER.

HONDA X-ADV • IN THESE DAYS OF BLANDNESS, DAYS OF SAME OLD SAME OLD, IT’S NICE TO SEE THAT A BIG MANUFACTURER, ONE OF THE BIGGEST IN THE WORLD IN FACT, STILL HAS ROOM IN ITS RANGE FOR SOMETHING A BIT OUT OF THE ORDINARY, A BIT QUIRKY, A BIT… WELL, MAD.

MR BRIDGES’ VOL. VI, PART VII MOTORCYCLE DIARIES • THE LAST TIME I...