Indholdsfortegnelse for January 2023 i Back Street Heroes

Sod what Sean Bean, as Ned Stark, may’ve said in Game of Thrones, winter isn’t coming – it’s already here. Hopefully that doesn’t mean we’re about to be overrun by hordes of incoherent reanimated dead running amok (although, it has to be said, the Christmas shopping rush isn’t that far away and you can definitely see the parallels…), or that so much snow’s going to fall that polar bears’ll be seen wandering the aisles of Aldi (other supermarkets selling useless shite’re available) trying to decide between fruit jellies or salted seal meat, but it is damn cold out there if you venture out on two wheels. Me, I’m back to thermals and electrickery, and getting a face full of road kak every time I take to the highways… I really…

IT refers, y’see, to the ancient belief that swans sing a beautiful song just before their death, since they’ve been silent for most of their lifetime, and it’s come, all these years later, to refer, often, not to the last warblings of particularly musical cygnus, but to the last significant thing someone does in their chosen career or life path. This motorcycle, the one wot you see here, is an example of that. Harvey Cooper, the owner and builder of this 1980 T140 Bonneville-based chop, has built, over his long years in the bike scene, several bikes, mostly based around motors of British extraction, and while he has no plans to give up riding any time soon, he reckons this ’ere long-fork Triumph’s the last one he’s going to build…

Me? I don’t really know meself, but I do lean towards favouring the experts (however unfashionable that may be in these ‘post-truth’ days). I also, and this may be a slightly blinkered viewpoint, don’t really take a huge amount of notice as it doesn’t, here in our tiny, 600 by 300 (miles), piece of the planet really seem to affect us that much… okay, so you may disagree if you’re unlucky enough to live in one of those areas of the UK affected by flooding, but over ‘ere in the east it mainly just means we get more sunshine, lots and lots of sunshine, and that’s a Good Thing in my book – I feckin’ ‘ate riding me bike in the rain. 2022’s long, hot summer meant that not only…

ON that latter note, I did order the shims for the GT550. However, what I ordered were two shims the same size as the ones that were already in there which, of course, wasn’t of much use so, to those of you who were eagerly awaiting the setting of the valve clearances, my apologies – maybe next time? While I was there, there was the matter of the broken-off cam cover bolt (technically it’s a bolt as it has a shank) to remove. Normally broken-off bolts or screws aren’t that much of an issue and, if one won’t come out, then drilling it and helicoiling it’ll solve the problem. Getting this one out was a bit more of an issue, though – while there was enough left to grab hold…

AIROH REV 19 HELMET The REV 19 is Airoh Helmet’s ‘proper’ flip-up helmet (as in the front flips up and over to the back, à la Roof Boxer, Shark Evoline or LS2 Valiant), and combines full-and open-face versatility so as to meet all riding conditions, safety, and comfort requirements. It has an Extra Wide visor for improved visibility, with retractable sun visor, Pinlock, and Bluetooth connectability. They’re available in multiple sizes (XS, 53-54 cm, to XXL, 63 cm), and the recommended retail price is £399.99, but we have seen them offered as low as £169.99. For further information: www.airoh.it ICON HOOLIGAN GLOVES These funky little lightweight gloves’re ideal for those who want maximum control over their controls, and’re well made (as you’d expect from stuntfreak/off-road-friendly Icon), and have touch-sensitive panels…

It’s a 1340cc (80 cubic inch) Flathead Harley, based around a 1200cc (74 cubic inch) 1941 Model U engine in a 1936 rigid frame, and it’s a bike that, as a chop, has been around a fair while – it was originally built by his stepfather back in 1982, and won at all the big shows (Kent, the South & West, etc.) back then, and was actually the first British-built chopper to be featured in Easyriders back in 1984 (Dec ’84 if you want to look it up). Vince was, at the time, knee-high to a midget, and just about remembers the bike, but his mother and stepfather split up at some point in his early life, and he wasn’t to see the Flattie again for the best part of…

HE passed away doing what he loved, riding his motorcycle, in 2004, but his legacy lives on nearly twenty years later as his philosophy of life, his there think, too, and his trademark question mark symbol’s been used on bikes, and in tattoos, as a kind of badge, an emblem, for those who think the same way he did. Dave Addis, the famous Midlands-based custom painter Flakey Dave, is one of them. Back in 2003 he, like the rest of us really, was an avid watcher of the Biker Build-Offs and, watching the one where a relatively unknown Larry was up against the more established Paul Yaffe, he got to thinking. He really liked Larry’s attitude, his obsession with attention to detail, and the paint on the bike he built…

We’ve met Dutch from NCC Herts, and Excalibur Engineering, before, a few months ago when we showed you his green monster of an FJ Yamaha. This bike, his Yam 600 digger, I photographed the same day when I visited his workshop just off the A507 (not the A505 as I previously said) in Bedfordshire*, and it’s one of those tales of a bike’s creation that makes for a good story. It was found, you see, when he spotted it laying, uncovered, in someone’s garden. It didn’t look particularly well at the time, and turned out to’ve been there for over a year with, and this’ll make you wince if you have any amount of mechanical sympathy, the (spark) plug out, allowing water ingress into its dark and private places, and…

What you might not know is there’s been a change of ownership of the HUC brand; the original builder after, it has to be said, a fair few supply and logistics issues, has sold the rights to the designs to Andy and Jake at Gasoline Ally Speedshop in Windmill Hill in Sussex, and they’ve continued the production of the four basic HUC frames, and’re working on new models and variations on the existing ones as customers require. The Gasoline Ally workshop, as I saw when I went there to take these pics, is a very professional set up with a sizeable main frame assembly area, a well-equipped machine shop, and a sales/display area, and they can now offer both frame construction and full bike builds, as well as a vast…

Well known for her motorcycle illustrations gracing the pages of BSH for nigh on 40 years, our own Louise Limb’s been collecting some of her favourite works to put in her very popular calendars for over ten years. Her Motorcycle Art calendar for 2023’ll feature a selection of classic images from her illustration archive, and maybe even the odd new piece, and’s guaranteed to brighten even the darkest February day. Retailing at £19, including UK postage and packing, each A4-sized calendar comes in a board-backed envelope, and the first 100 are personally signed and numbered by Louise herself. You can only purchase these limited edition calendars and cards direct from Louise via her website www.louiselimb.com…

However, with the influx of the next generation, there’s more and more of a trend towards specialised gatherings, catering for ‘60s and ‘70s-style chops brought up-to-date with next generation styling. There’re a few of these gatherings about now, mainly in Europe and beyond, such as the Pre Evo gathering (the name speaks for itself really, nothing newer than a Shovelhead), and the now defunct Flanders Chopper Bash, but we do have a couple of homegrown ones, too: The Hook Up Chopper Show, and The Trip Out. They’re growing in popularity and, I must admit, I really, really like being surrounded by kick-start choppers, people telling their stories of breakdowns en route, and a substantial amount of spannering going on. Things shake loose on hardtails, and constantly need checking and adjusting…

After many years of thinking, I decided the time’d come to take the plunge, so I built a shed, and enrolled on a TIG-welding course – the first of many new skills I’d have to learn. I’ve never worked in engineering, but I’m a joiner by trade so joints and angles, etc., are things I know well. I also have a couple of excellent mates, one a professional welder, the other who really knows his way around bikes. I had planned to build an XS650 bobber as I like the style and simple look, and came across a frame kit online – all the bends done, you had to do the joints and welding. This set me off thinking, as I looked at the pic’ of the pile of pre-bent…

There are folk out there who do still build them, but not too many, and we’ve featured a few, if not most, of those built in the last few years (Chris from NCC Kent’s steampunk Savage, for example; Hank from Trike Design’s ‘Diamondback’ trike; almost anything made by Destiny Cycles; Lamb Engineering or Shaun Barley; even my rat-rod and the silly-sider), and it’s always a pleasure when another comes along as it’s such a rare occurrence. String from Raw Steel Choppers’s never been afraid to, to use another horrible American phrase, think outside the box; his last bike, Moonshine, differed from the norm with its I-beam downtube and radical fork arrangement, and he created the frame, etc., for Chris’ aforementioned Savage, too. His new bike, Social Distance, moves on a…

For 2023, BMW Motorrad has updated its R 1250 R roadster with a host of new standard features and optional extras, including Dynamic Traction Control (DTC) for precise control over all road surfaces no matter how slimy; a new ECO riding mode to help travel as fuel-efficiently in these days of rising fuel prices as possible; a new full LED headlamp with adaptive turning light; a full colour TFT display featuring integrated arrow navigation, extensive connectivity, and a Sport Core Screen; a USB socket; an Intelligent Emergency Call facility; seat heating for rider and pillion; and two new paint schemes (Triple Black and Sport). Prices start at £12,230, and you can get more info’ from your local BMW dealer or www.bmw-motorrad.co.uk…

Send pics of your bike, your lady, your bloke (but not your dinner, this isn’t Facebook) to nik@backstreetheroes.com…