Indholdsfortegnelse for April 2025 i Back Street Heroes

While some planned events went off to pubs and farms, the Wabbits found another social club not too far away in Fishbourne (not far from the Roman villa), made a slight change to the date, and all systems were go! Thankfully, there were no worries about finding the venue, as there were great direction signs to a village hall tucked away down a tiny lane. A quick hello at the gate, and I was directed to park my faithful steed on an already packed field, not far from Layla and April’s stunning chops (Layla later picked up the award for Best Chop). I’ve always liked the Wabbits as they’re very much a social club with a bike habit, and also seem to turn up at many events across the south…

She clearly meant this as an insult. She was stood on a chair behind her front window, shouting at me through the little window at the top. I could see her mouth through the opening, her nose hidden by the frame; her eyes, floating free on their own, stared at me through the glass. This was an awkward situation. I was very much aware of how vulnerable some people are and feel in their own homes, but I’d done the Customer Care training and knew exactly how to resolve it. “I am from the bloody Council!” I bellowed back. “I’ve come all the way over here to help you complete the forms, here’s my ID!” I slapped my ID against the window, right in front of her face. She peered…

The Mr. C Band started off as a group of like-minded friends making music in a welding shop purely for the love of it. Soon tiring of playing covers, and seeing a lack of dedicated biker songs, they swiftly grew into a four-piece rock n’ roll biker band, writing and playing their own music revolving around bikes and the biker lifestyle, with song titles like Ride My Triumph, Cruise Control, Vision Starts To Blur, Straight White Lines, and many more. Check them out on Spotify, Facebook, YouTube and Instagram, or go to their website at www.mrcband.com…

MARCH 2 March: Bideford Classic Motorcycle Show at Bideford Pannier Market, Market Pl, Bideford, Devon (EX39 2DR). Tickets £5. More info’ from www.bidefordbikeshow.org 2 March: Mablethorpe Sand Racing at The Beach, Mablethorpe, Lincs. More info’ from www.mablethorpesandracing.co.uk 2 March: Bike Day at the Ace Cafe, London. More info from www.london.acecafe.com 2 March: Motorcycle Ride-In Day at The Classic Motor Hub, Old Walls, Ablington, Cirencester, Gloucs (GL7 5FF). More info’ from www.classicmotorhub.com 6 March: Krazy Horse Film Night (Rush) at the Abbeygate Cinema, Hatter St, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk (IP33 1LZ). More info’ from www.krazyhorse.co.uk 8 March: MR Autojumble at New Marske Sports & Social Club, Gurney St, New Marske, Redcar, N. Yorks (TS11 8EQ). Tickets £5. More info’ from Facebook. 8 March: Kempton Park Autojumble at Kempton Park, Staines Road…

SPREADING THE MISERY What may be a minor malady or a trifling inconvenience to one person, to another person, particularly one with a suppressed or diminished immune system, can be a serious debilitating illness that may take months to get over, or a potentially life-threatening condition. In the workplace the problem is further exacerbated by short-sighted employers who cling to Victorian attitudes toward their employees, or indoctrinated managers who consider colds and flu to be minor issues and insist that employees attend work even when sick, thereby ensuring that one unwell employee soon becomes many unwell employees, with the inevitable subsequent reduction in productivity and/or attendance as a result of their thoughtlessness and failure in their duty of care. Incredibly, even in UK hospitals, even on respiratory illness wards, managers…

During those forty years the Rock & Blues’s resided at three sites – born on a patch of land in Long Eaton, and initially run by Road Tramps MC, with bands setting up on the back of a lorry trailer (as did many rallies back then), in 1985 it moved to Coney Grey Farm, now known as the Coney Grey Showground, with a short sojourn to Donington Park during the Foot & Mouth crisis which severely affected the use of farmland in 2001. At its height, attendance figures were around 15,000, and big headline bands included Hawkwind, Suzi Quatro, Motörhead, Bad Manners, The Stranglers, Jethro Tull, The Commitments, The Specials, The Levellers, and Bob Geldof. Then, as big bands became less and less affordable, tribute acts rose in popularity –…

Anyway, it’s been a few years since I last went, probably not since they moved it from its traditional date in early October to, now, the first weekend in September. I get why they moved it (the weather’s better at the beginning of September than it is at the beginning of October), but the first weekend in September’s a much busier date on the biker calendar, and I’ve always had summat else to do. Held at Trinity Park just outside the county town of Suffolk, Ipswich, Copdock’s now a fairly massive deal, held over two days, but with the main day being the Sunday. It’s spread out over the whole site, with a massive autojumble; a sizeable traders’ village; a field for a moped endurance race and another for Motoball…

First things first, TFB (The Future Bike): the plan, because of the damage and wear to the bores of the GSX-R 1100 motor it’s had for the past few years, was to transplant in a spare Bandit 12 motor I had but, it turns out, that wasn’t in great shape either. I did also have the old motor from Pam’s 750 which, we were under the impression, needed new gaskets an’ stuff, but that turned out to be a bit FUBAR, too. The joys of f**king about with twenty-plus-year-old engines, eh? It was decided, then, that the way forward was to rebuild the 1100, and Shaun set to with that, only to find that the barrels were already 2mm oversize and couldn’t be rebored further. He was slightly stuck at…

Ginger Garage Products is a small bespoke company based in south Warwickshire who make distinctive resin skull-shaped helmet holders, either wall mounted or in desk/shelf form, for any biker, petrol head, cosplayer or hat addict. They’re made from hard resin, mounted on steel rods and plate, painted black, and with a welded spark plug accessory, and there’re nine distinct designs to choose from. They also make bespoke cabinets and bars from original 45-gallon oil drums, with a wide selection of different oil manufacturers’ logos on them. Check out their stuff, and their shop truck (a ‘68 Dodge A100 panel van), and their CX500 café racer, too, at their website at www.gingegarageproducts.com…

K1 RACER K1 Racer is the name of their BMW K100 café racer that they’ve fitted a radial USD front end (forks and brakes), later wheels, and an updated remote-reservoir rear shock to update the old (1980s) running gear, and then an Aprilia tail-piece with a one-off brown seat, a V-Rod headlight, aftermarket rad’ cowls, their own high-level exhaust with suitably stumpy can, motogadget speedo unit, clip-on ’bars, LED indicators, Biltwell grips (got to have Biltwell grips on a café racer these days, it’s the law), and Continental tyres. The paint is a grey/silver mix, with red, white and black stripes to emphasise its sportiness, and all the work was done in-house at Lord Drake Kustoms in Malaga. IRON 1925 The Iron 1925 is a 2018 Sportster Iron 883, inspired…

As we all know, unfortunately, motorcycle clubs often get a bad reputation through various platforms. However, when you see them out in groups, this is not usually the case – more often than not, they’re on a mission to raise money for one or more charities. The Thames Valley Coalition of Motorcycle Clubs (TVC) have been raising money for their three chosen charities (the Ollie Young Foundation, Bikers Against Child Abuse, and the National Association for Bikers with a Disability), and have raised £2,250, giving £750 to each well-deserving charity. They accomplished this through selling raffle tickets with donated prizes from each club, organising ride-outs, and participating in various other events throughout the year. Based in Reading and the surrounding Thames Valley areas, including Reading, Newbury, Thatcham, Andover and north…

If you’d like to help raise money for our veterans, who are often treated shockingly by the powers that be once they’ve left the services, the QRRA (Queen’s Regimental Riders Association) are holding an event on 15 March that’ll be right up your street. The Great Tommy Sleepout will be at the QRRA Clubhouse on Kennels Field on Homestall Road in Sittingbourne, Kent (ME9 0BE), and it’ll be a chance to party with other like-minded souls and raise a bit o’ dosh for those who need it, too. There’ll be food and a bar, a bit of entertainment, and more, and you can get more info’ from www.qrra.co.uk or Facebook.…

It’s thirty years (well, 31 actually) since Triumph Motorcycles launched their factory take on the streetfighter, and they’ve just unveiled the new Speed Triple 1200 RS for 2025, with unmatched triple power and torque, peerless handling, and even more state-of-the-art rider-focused technology. The 1160cc triple engine delivers 183PS (180hp) at 10,750rpm, and 128Nm (94ft/lb) of torque at 8,750rpm, and Öhlins latest-generation SmartEC3 semi-active suspension, Brembo Stylema calipers, and Pirelli Diablo Supercorsa SP V3 tyres take care of the handling. Prices start at £17,495 OTR, in three eye-catching colours (Jet Black, Granite/Diablo Red, Granite/Performance Yellow, all with striking new graphics), and with more than 25 optional accessories, and bikes’ll be arriving in dealerships from April. Find out more at triumphmotorcycles.co.uk…

DEAR BSH, I read with interest the letter from Dan in the latest issue, and can’t believe the weird attitude. I belong to an international fire-fighters club, the Red Knights MC, and have done so for many years. Our chapter patch, England 2, displays the knight and red cross of St. George, and our 3-piece backpatch clearly shows that any fire-fighter, serving or retired, is free to join us no matter what race, colour, or religious belief. We’re not a 1% club, but are family-orientated and raise money for children’s burns units all over the country. We also have a permanent memorial site and remembrance wall for fallen fire-fighters that anyone can visit at White House Farm, Rettendon, near Chelmsford - well worth a look if you’re ever down that…

I always wanted a treehouse when I was a kid, but the only trees around us were in fields owned by the sort of people caricatured as Farmer Palmer in Viz magazine back in the late 80s when it was funny. In 2008 when we moved back to the house I’d grown up in, I still wanted a treehouse, but still didn’t have a tree. I couldn’t wait for one to grow, so I built a treehouse without one – a log cabin on stilts. People ask how I got it through planning? Simple. I talked to the neighbours, explained what I wanted to do, and they thought it was cool, so I built it. It meant working every dry evening and weekends for two years, but it was worth it.…

A person who expresses an opinion that disagrees with others so that there’ll be an interesting discussion about an issue – teachers often play devil’s advocate to provoke discussion in the classroom. I see little point in reusing old fasteners, and even less point in replacing them with anything inferior to the original. Generally, that means stainless steel unless specifications call for something else. I like to keep the workshop well stocked with the usual suspects (M6, M8, 5/16ths, etc.) but, occasionally, you find yourself in need of something a little more obscure. For most of us, there’d be little point in buying a box of 200 2BA screws because, come the day you die, someone’s going to throw 196 2BA screws into a skip. I found myself in that very…

Once we had the power on, he pulled the choke lever on the T-bars, and pressed the starter button. The bike roared instantly into barking mad, end-of-the-world, window-shattering, Lancaster bomber-style life. After 30 seconds of howling insanity he closed the choke, and the smooth-as-silk engine burbled happily away to itself. He cracked the throttle open, and the chop snarled at him in response. I sat with my hands on the ‘bars, blipping the throttle. In the reflection of the bike’s single mirror, I could see I was grinning like a Cheshire cat. At last, I dismounted from the growling machine and the rep turned everything off. We both stood looking at the bike in silence. The engine ticked as its metal heart cooled. He didn’t need to talk – he…