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.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

SHOW BIKE AQUITAINE • HOME IS WHERE THE HEART IS, AND 24,000 BIKERS FROM ALL OVER EUROPE HAVE A VERY SPECIAL PLACE IN THEIR HEARTS FOR MONTALIFORNIA IN THE GIRONDE IN SOUTHWESTERN FRANCE, FOR LIFE AFTER BEING PART OF THIS IMPRESSIVE EVENT

'Splitter! • LANE-SPLITTING, AS OUR OVERLY DRAMATIC STATESIDE COUSINS ARE WONT TO TERM IT, OR FILTERING, AS IT’S CALLED OVER HERE, SEEMS TO BE AN ODDLY IMPORTANT THING TO THOSE THE OTHER SIDE OF THE POND, WITH ANY (CUSTOM) BIKE WITH TALL, NARROW ‘BARS TERMED A LANE-SPLITTER.

DGR STOKE-ON-TRENT • AFTER A WINTER THAT WOULD’VE LEFT NARNIANS DITHERING, WE WERE ALL PRETTY QUICK TO GET OUT AND ENJOY THE SUDDEN CHANGE TO BLUE SKIES AND DRY ROADS, AND IT WAS THE PERFECT WEATHER TO GET OUT AND RAISE FUNDS BY TAKING PART IN THE DISTINGUISHED GENTLEMAN’S RIDE.

DGR BISHOPS STORTFORD • 2023 SAW THE FIRST DISTINGUISHED GENTLEMAN’S RIDE TO START OUT FROM BISHOPS STORTFORD, AND OVER 150 RIDERS DONNED THEIR FINEST TOGS, WITH PLUS FOURS, CRAVATS, AND FINE TWEED THREE-PIECE SUITS DE RIGUEUR FOR THE EVENT.

ERSAT INDIAN • TONY, THE BUILDER OF THE BIKE YOU SEE HERE, IS ONE OF THOSE PEOPLE WHO GETS PLEASURE FROM BUILDING BIKES/CARS/BUSES/KETTLES/WHATEVER – ONCE THEY’RE COMPLETED, THEY BECOME ‘OLD HAT’ AND HAVE TO BE DISPOSED OF TO MAKE WAY FOR THE NEXT PROJECT.

BIKE FESTIVAL SOTH-WEST • AFTER TWO YEARS OF METICULOUS PLANNING, THE HIGHLY ANTICIPATED BIKE FESTIVAL SOUTH-WEST FINALLY UNFOLDED OVER THE WEEKEND OF 30 JUNE TO 3 JULY LAST YEAR, MARKING THE COMMENCEMENT OF WHAT PROMISES TO BE AN EXHILARATING ANNUAL TRADITION.

DARKNESS INTO LIGHT • WHEN CLIFF JONES WENT TO SEE SIMON AND THE CREW AT MINT CUSTOMS IN HERTFORDSHIRE, HE HAD A VERY DEFINITE PLAN IN HIS HEAD OF WHAT HE WANTED THEM TO BUILD FOR HIM – “A BAD-ASS H-D HARDTAIL WITH COPPER ACCENTS, A WHITE FRAME, AND A PATINA TANK.”

OUTKAST FESTIVAL • IT TAKES A LEAP OF FAITH TO LAUNCH SOMETHING NEW, BUT THAT’S NOTHING NEW TO MR AND MRS O AS IT WAS ONLY THREE YEARS AGO THEY LAUNCHED THE OUTKAST CAFÉ IN MATLOCK BATH.

FIRTH-SIDE FLAT-TRACKER • THE FLAT-TRACKER, AS A MOTORCYCLE GENRE, A ROAD-GOING MOTORCYCLE GENRE, HAS SEEN SOMETHING OF A REDUCTION IN POPULARITY THE LAST FEW YEARS, I THINK, IN FAVOUR OF THE MORE MODERN STREET-SCRAMBLERS, STREET-TRACKERS, AND OTHER VARIATIONS ON THE THEME OF THE STYLISED DIRT BIKE.

WIAD-JAMMER THE FAIRING, THE BIKE, THE LEGEND • I FIRST SAW THIS BIKE A YEAR OR TWO AGO IN A FACEBOOK POST, AND THEN IN PICS FROM VARIOUS VINTAGE CHOPPER EVENTS, AND JUST LOVED THE CONCEPT OF A CHOPPER, A PROPER SPRINGER/HARDTAIL CHOPPER, WITH A FAIRING. I’LL LET TOMMY, THE OWNER AND BUILDER, TELL YOU ABOUT IT:

BACK STREET HEROES

SUBSCRIBE TODAY • CHOPS & BOBBERS, TRIKES & BIKES – JOIN THE BSH COMMUNITY TODAY

DRACA • WE FORGET SOMETIMES THAT IN THIS COUNTRY WE’RE ACTUALLY VERY LUCKY WHEN IT COMES TO OUR VEHICLE MODIFICATION LAWS – WE CAN DO, PRETTY MUCH, ANYTHING WE LIKE TO OUR BIKES, AND CARS, TOO, OBVIOUSLY, AS LONG AS WHAT WE DO DOESN’T STOP THEM FROM PASSING THEIR YEARLY MOT TEST. ELSEWHERE IN EUROPE, AND AROUND THE WORLD, INHABITANTS OF OTHER COUNTRIES AREN’T QUITE SO LUCKY…

GOVENTRY MOTOFEST • ALTHOUGH SLIGHTLY CONFUSINGLY NAMED (THE MOTO IN ITS NAME IMPLIES IT’S A BIKE EVENT – IT SHOULD BE MOTOR, WITH AN ‘R’, AS IT’S MORE ABOUT CARS THAN BIKES), THE COVENTRY MOTOFEST HAS, OVER THE LAST FEW YEARS, GARNERED A GRAND REPUTATION AS A GOOD AUTOMOTIVE DAY OUT WHETHER YOU’RE INTO FOUR WHEELS OR TWO.

AS FEATURED ON TV • SOME JOKES KIND O’ BACKFIRE, DON’T THEY? RUSS COUPER, MOUSE TO HIS FRIENDS, HAD A JOKE PLAYED UPON HIM FOR HIS 40th BIRTHDAY…

TANK ART • ART IS,...