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

CUSTOMBIKE (GERMANY) • CUSTOMBIKE, IN BAD SALZUFLEN IN GERMANY, IS ONE OF THE BIGGEST CUSTOM BIKE SHOWS IN EUROPE WITH 20,000-PLUS VISITORS, MORE THAN 250 BIKES IN THE BIKE SHOW ITSELF, AND MORE THAN 200 EXHIBITORS, TOO.

KING KENNY KRUISER • MAYBE I THINK TOO MUCH ABOUT STUFF, BUT LOOKING AT THIS BIKE ‘ERE MAKES ME WONDER WHETHER THIS’S WHAT’D RESULT IF FAMED AMERICAN MOTORCYCLE RACER ‘KING’ KENNY ROBERTS DECIDED TO BUILD A CHOPPER…

PML EASTER BIKE SHOW • CERTAIN THINGS, YOU KNOW, MAKE ME IRRITABLE TO THE POINT OF, ALMOST, IRRATIONALITY, AND THE VAGUENESS OF PML MOTORCYCLES’ ADDRESS IS ONE OF THEM…

Double-Assed Monkey • FOR MANY OF US ‘ERE ON THIS WINDSWEPT ISLE OFF THE COAST OF EUROPE, THE COUNTRIES THAT MAKE UP WHAT’S CALLED EASTERN EUROPE DON’T REALLY FIGURE MUCH IN OUR IMAGINATION. SOME OF US’VE VENTURED TO POLAND, AND SOME TO ROMANIA OR HUNGARY, BUT FOR MOST OF US BIKER TYPES IT’S MORE A CASE OF “WHERE?”

LIL’T • BSH, WE’VE ALWAYS SAID, SHOULD BE REPRESENTATIVE OF THE WHOLE CUSTOM BIKE SCENE IN THE UK, NOT JUST CHOPPERS AND THE LIKE, AND SO, TO THAT END, HERE WE HAVE A US-STYLE BIG-WHEEL BAGGER – A STYLE OF CUSTOM MOTORCYCLE THAT MIGHT BE DESCRIBED AS ‘MARMITE’; SOME PEOPLE LOVE ‘EM, SOME PEOPLE HATE ‘EM. CARL, THE OWNER OF THE ONE YOU SEE HERE, IS DEFINITELY IN THE FORMER CAMP, SO I’LL LET HIM TELL YOU ABOUT IT.

INTO THE VALLEY • A HAT-TRICK REFERS TO, AND I QUOTE, ‘ANY THREE CONSECUTIVE VICTORIES OR MAJOR SUCCESSES’ – SOMETHING MAG HAVE PULLED OFF WITH INTO THE VALLEY BEING COMPLETELY SOLD OUT FOR THE THIRD YEAR IN A ROW!

SPLINTER • A SCOOTER? A CUSTOM SCOOTER? IN BSH? WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON? ACTUALLY, ALL THREE OF THE ICONIC BIKE MAGS IN BRITISH CUSTOM HISTORY’VE RUN SCOOTER FEATURES IN THE PAST. THERE WAS FIRST A SCOOTER IN BSH BACK IN THE ‘80S; AWOL RAN AT LEAST ONE, IF NOT MORE; AND 100% BIKER RAN AT LEAST ONE, TOO. THE ONE YOU SEE HERE NOW HAS SERIOUS PEDIGREE – IT WAS BUILT MORE THAN TWENTY YEARS AGO, AND WON COUNTLESS AWARDS, AND A COUPLE OF YEARS AGO IT WON BEST OF SHOW AT A CHOPPER CLUB SHOW, TOO.

THE WAITING ROOM • JOE SAT ALONE IN THE BAR AND WAITED. FAR OFF IN THE DISTANCE, HE COULD HEAR A CAR APPROACHING, ITS UNMUFFLED PIPES SINGING A SONG OF HELL. THERE WAS STILL TIME LEFT THOUGH; TIME LEFT, BUT NOTHING LEFT TO DO.

ONCE - RACER… • THE CUSTOM TENT AT THE TRIP OUT, THE ACTUAL CUSTOM TENT, NOT THE ARENA WHERE ALL THE BIKES AND CARS PARK UP ON THE SATURDAY, IS, AS YOU CAN IMAGINE, FULL OF CHOPPERS IN A VINTAGE STYLEE – THE SORT OF BIKES YOU’D BE EXPECTING TO SEE AT SUCH AN EVENT. THIS YEAR, THOUGH, THERE WAS SOMETHING DIFFERENT IN THERE, TOO – ON A PLINTH NEAR THE BACK WAS THE BIKE YOU SEE BEFORE YOU: TED’S IRONHEAD-POWERED BOARD-RACER.

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RED MARLEY HILLCLIMB • IT DAWNED ON ME, YOU KNOW, AS I WAS HAULING MYSELF UP THE STEEPEST BIT OF THE HILL AT RED MARLEY IN ORDER TO GET THESE PICTURES, THAT THE LAST TIME I WAS HERE WAS, I THINK, 2008 OR 2009, AND THAT WAS SEVENTEEN OR EIGHTEEN YEARS AGO, AND THAT MEANT I WAS, THEN, 40 OR 41 – NOT 58, AS I AM NOW. NO WONDER SCRAMBLING UP THAT BLOODY HILL, ONE-HANDED COS I’M CARRYING A CAMERA, FELT A LOT MORE DIFFICULT NOW THAN IT DID THEN…

BENDA NAPOLEONBOB 500 • I REMEMBER READING SOMETHING, SOMEWHERE, NO IDEA WHERE, MANY YEARS AGO NOW ABOUT HOW THE CHINESE HAVE A LIKING FOR THE SOUND OF CERTAIN WORDS IN ENGLISH; JUST THE SOUND, AND THEY’RE WONT TO NAME THINGS USING WORDS THEY LIKE THE SOUND OF WITHOUT CONSIDERING OR, PERHAPS, GIVING A SH*T ABOUT, THEIR MEANING. I SEEM TO RECALL, TOO, THAT A SIMILAR THING WAS ONCE SAID ABOUT THE JAPANESE AND SOME OF THE ODD NAMES...