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

STEVEN ‘STEVE’ MYATT, RIP

THE BULLFROG BASH • HAMC LINCOLNSHIRE HOSTED ANOTHER SCORCHER OF A BASH AT THE COACH & HORSES IN BILLINGHAY IN MID-JULY.

ROCK & BIKE FEST • NEW LAYOUT, SAME GREAT QUALITY FOR THE 20th ANNIVERSARYROCK & BIKE FEST!

DRINK, DROP & DOSS RALLY • WHILE MANY OF US CLAIM THERE’S NO SUCH THING AS A RIDING OR RALLY SEASON, FOR MOST OF US SEPTEMBER DOES BRING TO A CLOSE THE BEST OF THE COMFORTABLE RALLIES, OLD BONES NOTENJOYINGTOO MUCH DAMP.

STONDON BANDIT • ROY GILBY, THE BUILDER OFTHIS ‘EREOLD-SCHOOL BANDIT STREETFIGHTER, ISAGUY WHO KEEPS TURNING OUT NICE BIKES, MORE THAN A FEW OF WHICH’VE BEEN FEATURED INMAGAZINES OVER THEYEARS, UNDER THE MONIKER OFSTONDON CHOPPERS WHICH, WHILEIT MAY SOUND LIKE IT’S APROFESSIONAL OUTFIT, A SHOP, IS REALLYJUST HIM, WORKING ALONE INHIS GARAGE BESIDE HIS HOUSE.

THE YORKSHIRE PUDDING • IF YOU CAST YOUR MINDS BACK TO BSH 483 LAST JULY, YOU MAY REMEMBER I MENTIONED THAT MAG HAD A VERY, VERY BIG PROBLEM.

OLD SCHOOL XS • FOR MOST PEOPLE, JUST BUILDING YOUR FIRST CHOP’S HARD ENOUGH, LET ALONE BUILDING IT TO A DEADLINE FOR WHICH YOU’VE GOT, JUST GOT, TO HAVE IT READY, BUT CAN YOU IMAGINE HOW MUCH MORE PRESSURE YOU’D BE UNDER IF, THE DAY BEFORE SAID DEADLINE, YOU HAD TO TAKE YOUR MOTORCYCLE TEST SO THAT YOU COULD, FINALLY, LEGALLY RIDE YOUR CHOP, TOO?

LUCKY CUP BMF • “D’YOU REMEMBER WHEN A RALLY WAS JUST HELD IN A FIELD? NO CUSTOM SHOW, NO FUNFAIR, NO MERCHANTS’ MARKET? IT WAS BRILLIANT!”

SECOND TIME AROUND • YOU’VE SEEN THE BIKE AFORE YE BEFORE, BUT THE CHANCES OF YOU RECOGNISING IT’RE PRETTY MUCH ZERO, HONESTLY. I’LL LET BRIZ, THE OWNER AND BUILDER, TELL YOU ABOUT IT COS HE KNOWS WAY MORE THAN I EVER WILL…

LONE STAR RALLY • I VISIT THE LONE STAR RALLY ON GALVESTON ISLAND, IN TEXAS, EVERY TWO YEARS (IT TAKES ME THAT LONG TO RAISE THE FUNDS!), WHILE HER INDOORS GOES TO THE BIGGEST QUILT FAIR IN THE WORLD IN DOWNTOWN HOUSTON.

THE REAL-MCCOY • TOM BATTERBEE, OF SLINKY BINT CUSTOMS, A NAME THAT SHOULD BE FAMILIAR TO MANY, HAS LONG BEEN AFAN OF THE WEST COAST CHOPPERS 2-UP CFL FRAME, WHICH HE’S CREATED HIS OWN REPLICAS OF, BUT HE NEVER DREAMT THAT, ONE DAY, HE’D ACTUALLY HAVE ONE.

BACK STREET HEROES

BACK STREET HEROES • Eee, hasn’t the world changed, eh? When I first started drinking (semi) legally, a beer (Younger’s Tartan bitter if you remember it) cost 79p in the local biker pub, and BSH was, I think, 95p. These days both a beer (well, round my way anyway) and aBSH cost more than a fiver each, but what would you say if we could do you a special deal, and do you a BSH at just £4.08 instead of £5.40? That’s a saving of (works out on fingers) 24% – nothing to be sniffed at!

RACE-BRED • CHOPS, THEY* SAY, DON’T HANDLE – THEY CAN’T POSSIBLY WITH NO REAR SUSPENSION, AND GEOMETRY WORKED OUT IN A SHED BY A BLOKE SQUINTING AT IT. THEY CAN’T POSSIBLY, STANDS TO REASON, DUNNIT? I MEAN, YOU DON’T SEE CHOPS ON RACETRACKS, DO YOU?

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.

ROYAL ENFIELD BULLET 350 • WHEN IT COMES TO RETRO, AS IN RETRO BIKES, THEY DON’T COME MORE OLDE-WORLDE THAN THOSE MADE BY ROYAL ENFIELD IN INDIA, AND ESPECIALLY THE BIKE YOU SEE HERE IN FRONT OF YOU: THE BULLET 350.

A YEAR OF CUSTOM BIKING… • WHEN I LEFT OFF LAST ISSUE, THE FUTURE BIKE WAS OVER WITH SHAUN IN DOWNHAM MARKET HAVING OPEN-HEART SURGERY. THE SPONDON? (NOW WITH QUESTION MARK) WAS BEING REPAINTED, THE SILLY-SIDER’D...