Indholdsfortegnelse for March 2023 i Back Street Heroes

Both’ve already proved themselves in organising events for motorcyclists; the annual TVV Egg Run at Easter (and their other charity work), and the weekly bike night at Pinewood, so it seemed logical that the café’d be a great venue for a custom bike show. The Pinewood, just off the excellently named Nine Mile Ride Road, was, many moons ago, a hospital where tuberculosis sufferers went to rehabilitate as it was believed the pine forest was good for the lungs. While the hospital no longer stands, there’s a large car park around the various buildings, some which were old Nissen huts for hospital staff, used for the Scouts, a gym, a miniature railway, the parish council, etc. (the one that made me smile was the one used just for tug-of-war… the…

IF, perchance, you don’t know, let me enlighten you. The Distinguished Gentleman’s Ride is a charity ride, held in 100-plus cities around the world on the same day, where entrants dress like English gentlemen of yore, and raise funds and awareness for prostate cancer research and men’s mental health. Since its founding in 2012, the ride has raised worldwide $31.6 million, with 340,000 riders from 115 countries. The Bristol event was hosted by Sean Good with the help and support of close friends. Coming from a military background, he was drawn initially to the mental health side, and did the first couple of runs in London. He then asked why there wasn’t one in his native Bristol, and was told that, so far, no one had offered to host one…

NCC Cambs’ Custom Bike Show was being held at the end of July last year at the Iron Horse Ranch House on the High Street in Market Deeping, a groovy little American-themed diner right in the centre of the little Lincolnshire town. It’s somewhere I’ve been before a couple of times, and is a pleasant enough ride from the BSH editorial hovel across the flatlands of the Fens. Sadly, I wasn’t at home that morning, and had to ride up, with Pam, from her gaff in Bishops Stortford – an absolute twonk of a ride up the M11, on to the A14, up the A1 to Peterborough, and then up the equally mind numbing A15; 76.5 miles of (mostly) deeply dull dual-carriageway. The car park at the Iron Horse is…

Hundreds of photographs spanning British motorcycle manufacturer Triumph’s incredible history are featured in a new collection specially selected by James Robinson, editor of The Classic MotorCycle magazine. ‘Triumph: Pictorial History of the Great British Marque’ delves into the extensive Mortons photographic archive to cover everything from the late Victorian age to the Great War; the Vintage period (1918-1930); the 1930s; the Second World War; the 1950s boom years; the cool ‘60s; the difficult ‘70s; and the death and rebirth of Triumph in the ‘80s and beyond, right up to the present day. His passion for Triumph is what fuels this hardback book – his personal enthusiasm for Triumph machines over the last 20 years’s well documented, from the charming Model H to the amazing pre-war Tiger 100, Tridents, Thunderbirds through…

ZEROFIT HEATRUB MOVE BASELAYER In addition to its excellent Ultimate baselayer (as detailed last month), Zerofit also has a slightly cheaper baselayer: the Heatrub Move which features 45% polypropylene construction, as well as a hollow polyester shell that work in tandem to regulate body temperature so, as the ride progresses, you won’t overheat in the conditions. It removes sweat from the skin, and the hollow polyester design and ‘LABO’ fabric ensure it evaporates off the surface of the garment quickly, so the unpleasant experience of cold sweat on the body never materialises. The Move has been innovated for slightly milder conditions than the Ultimate in a temperature range of -5 degrees Celsius through 12 degrees Celsius, and costs £40, and you can get yours from anywhere that stocks the Zerofit…

The evening motorway commute home’s in full flow; heaters and heated rear windows’re running against the cold, wipers against the rain. Not all these cars are electric but, thanks to the Government’s manipulation of the tax system, and the deluge of Green propaganda, millions of motorists have switched to battery electric vehicles (BEVs). Then one goes flat, perhaps an older BEV whose battery’s on its last legs, or a newer model whose owner just forgot to charge it (or who couldn’t get it on a charger during their working day). Perhaps they did remember to put it on charge, but demand on the Grid was high so the Government turned off their charger. Whatever the reason, the owner chanced it, but miscalculated and now, battery drained, they’re blocking one lane…

After a nice cooked breakfast and four cups of tea, we were feeling much better as we packed our kit on to the trike, and made ready to leave Bridgend. We had our route all planned out for a nice relaxing ride through the Brecon Beacons National Park, past the Pontsticill and Talybont reservoirs, then around Llangors Lake, on through Hay-on-Wye to our next overnight stop in the picturesque little market town of Kington, just over the border in Herefordshire. Bill suggested a better (allegedly) route though, and I temporarily forgot my long-held rule of ignoring Bill’s route suggestions when it came to travelling anywhere… The first section, on the A4061 up through the rather pretty Ogmore Vale to Treorchy, went well enough, but everything went a bit tits-up at…

That meant that attendance was down, of course, but the hard-core were still there, and still partied like it was blissfully sunny and warm. In fact, probably ‘cos it was wet and you couldn’t really stand outside, they partied a little harder than normal, and I saw the first vom’er losing the contents of their tum at about 9.30pm on the Friday night… early night for them then! Those who did manage to hold down their evening’s liquid intake were treated to an enthusiastic set by Backstreet Noise, an insanely catchy party band who had the dance-floor of the Ogri MCC’s clubhouse packed with gyrating bodies, doing pop-punk and rock covers of songs you’d’ve never thought could be covered like that. When they finally came off, after a number of…

I tore myself away from a party-sized hangover, and a flailing tent, in the Derbyshire Dales to do the 100 miles up to Gotts Park Golf Club at Gotts Park Mansion, formerly known as Armley House, a Grade II listed country house in Armley Park, three miles from Leeds city centre. Formerly the home of industrialist Benjamin Gott, it was built in 1781 for Leeds merchant Thomas Woolrick and is now home to the Leeds Custom & Classic Bike Show. A combination of Google Maps, and following a likely-looking suspect, got me there about midday, and I arrived on what looked like the back lawn of the mansion. Camping was over to the right on the golf course, with smooth pitches and views east towards the city. The local public wandered…

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STAR LETTER This month’s Star Letter wins a pair of Weise Montana 150 Gloves, rrp £119.99. These waterproof gloves provide maximum warmth and minimal bulk, thanks to the 150-gram Thinsulate® Supreme lining, which is secured with mcFit® Technology, so it won’t pull out. More at thekeycollection.co.uk DEAR BSH, I don’t know if it’s print-worthy, but I wanted to share my story. I’ve always been a big fan of the custom bike scene, and BSH, for years, and in March this year I decided to take the step and buy a Sportster. It was, apart from the Vance & Hines exhaust, stock, and up to this point I’d owned only sports bikes (R1, GSX-R, Z1000, KTM Super Duke) – nowadays it’s my faithful CB500X I commute into London on. Anyway, I’m…

Darren, the show organiser, and Stuart’d been mates for years when Stuart had a severe accident that left him paralysed and wheelchair-bound. Darren did a couple of music nights to help him, with the help of mates in bands, but free bands’re in short supply so he thought he’d try something bigger. The first Stone Circle bike show was held in 2018 (and featured in BSH), with help from a host of folk, at the Social Club in Avebury (Wilts), and about 800 people turned up and raised a shade over £3,000 to help Stuart’s future needs. There was another in 2019, then Covid happened. In 2022, another show was planned, but there were problems holding the show at the same venue, but the Supermarine Sports Club in Swindon…

Roughleys Bike Show, organised by Andy Roughley and a crew of volunteers, has been going in the middle of Stockport since 2000 (well, strictly speaking, 1999, but it was under another name then), and I’d always heard good things about it, but’d never actually managed to get there – it’s held on the Sunday of the August Bank Holiday, y’see, and as that’s a very busy weekend I’m usually somewhere else on the Saturday too far (and, yes, okay, too hungover) to get to anywhere on the Sunday. I’d decided I was going to redress that it in 2021, and made sure my diary was clear, but then there were bat-lurgi restrictions put on Andy and the crew, and 2021’s ended up not going ahead. For 2022, then, I was…

May 5-7th, at The Royal Cheshire Showground, the NABD (National Association of Bikers with a Disability) will be holding the 30th, and last ever, You’ve Been Nabbed Rally. It is, you see, a rally designed to cater for 3,000 people, but numbers’ve been dropping steadily since 2015 as, sadly, many bikers (particularly those with disabilities) are now getting to the age where camping’s just not pleasurable or, in many cases, even practical or possible, and they’ve been struggling to get enough people to justify the huge amount of time and expense involved in putting on such an event. It also requires more than 120 volunteer marshals working shifts over the weekend and, as many of them’re people with disabilities, it’s become, as everyone’s got older and/or their disabilities’ve got worse,…

Gasoline Ally Speedshop would like you to know that they’re now doing their own girder forks for custom projects, and they’re rather nice. They’re made from 12 SWG (2.6mm wall) steel tube in either inch or 1.25-inch diameter, with 4mm thick lazer-cut mild steel sections (TiG-welded); a custom-made headstock tube in machine-quality steel; custom-built Hagon shocks with various spring options to suit; All Balls Racing taper roller headstock bearings top and bottom; and NMB roller bearings in the yokes. As standard they’re 30 inches in length, but can be made shorter or longer depending on requirements, and brake calliper mounting brackets can be added during fabrication. Turnaround is between three and four weeks, and you can get more info from Gasoline Ally on 01303 901164 or www.gasolineallyspeedshop.co.uk…

FEBRUARY 3rd Feb: Millennium 2000 BC’s Birthday Bash at the Canberra Club, BAE Salmesbury, Balderstone, Blackburn, Lancs (BB2 7LF). Tickets £6. More info from Facebook. 4th Feb: Wycombe MAG’s Late Christmas Party at the Riverside Community & Ex-Servicemen’s Club, St Mary St, High Wycombe, Bucks (HP11 2HE). More info from Facebook. 5th Feb: Mablethorpe Sand Racing at Mablethorpe Beach, Mablethorpe, Lincs. More info from www.mablethorpesandracing.co.uk 5th Feb: Bike Day at the Ace Cafe, London. More info from www.london.acecafe.com 12th Feb: Singles Sunday at the Ace Cafe, London. More info from www.london.acecafe.com 12th Feb: MAG Fred Hill Memorial Ride at 11am at the Ace Cafe, London. More info from www.london.acecafe.com 17-19th Feb: Devitt London Motorcycle Show at Excel, Royal Victoria Dock, 1 Western Gateway, London (E16 1XL). More info from www.mcnmotorcycleshow.com 19th…

IN the middle of February, the call came to go down and collect my trike. A Transit Luton was hired and, once again, the journey down to Leighton Buzzard was underway. I was getting used to this journey now, but travelling down in a heated cabin, and with jovial companions, meant we were soon passing the fluffy cows of Berkhamsted once more, within striking distance of the Desperate Dan workshop. I don’t know why, but I was expecting a completed trike to be waiting for me, and the big pile of parts looked a little disappointing; the wheels were off, tank and seats resting on one side – it was a bare-metal skeleton waiting for someone to finish it off. Cash was exchanged, and all the parts carefully loaded into the…