Back Street Heroes May 2018

accessories

clothing

editor:

NIK SAMSON

nik@backstreetheroes.com 07884 052003 staff writer:

DAVE MANNING

dave@backstreetheroes.com

Pic by Alex

design:

GARETH WILLIAMS publisher:

TIM HARTLEY

advertising contact:

RICK NICHOLS

rnichols@mortons.co.uk 01507 529357 divisional ad manager:

BILLY MANNING

bmanning@mortons.co.uk subscription manager:

PAUL DEACON

circulation manager:

STEVE O’HARA

marketing manager:

CHARLOTTE PARK publishing director:

DAN SAVAGE

commercial director:

NIGEL HOLE

freelance contributors: CHARLEY CHARLES, SIWER OHLSSON, OLD EMPIRE MOTORCYCLES, BOSUN, CAPTAIN SMURF, LOUISE LIMB, SIMON EVERETT, PAM BARAUD, MR BRIDGES, SELINA LAVENDER, RICK HULSE editorial address:

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JANE SKAYMAN

jskayman@mortons.co.uk 01507 529423

Independent publisher since 1885 Having trouble finding a copy of this magazine?

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The Professional Publishers Association Member

Good day, and how are we this month?

After last month’s fantastically inept attempt at weather prediction, I’ve decided to change my name by deed poll to Michael Fish as he’s the only other person who’s got the weather so spectacularly wrong in recent recorded history, and I do feel a kind of kinship with him. Okay, so I only said I HOPE the country isn’t shivering under a blanket of snow, rather than an emphatic ‘No, there is no hurricane coming’, shortly before the country was hit by a hurricane, but I feel your pain, bruv, I really do… ✱✱✱✱✱✱✱✱ The news that MAG are holding a big demo to protest against the proposed inclusion in the Ultra-Low Emissions Zone in London on 21st April got me thinking about the big demos they organised back in the early ’90s – remember them?

a bullshit subject that, if it does go ahead, will in the long run affect a hell of a lot more of us than just the ones who live or work in London. These things do have the habit of spreading – once they start charging bikes in The Smoke, there’s no reason to suppose that Birmingham or Manchester or Liverpool or Leeds or Edinburgh or Glasgow or Cardiff or Cambridge or Oxford or Plymouth or Norwich shouldn’t do the same.

Everyone’s looking for ways to be seen to be more ‘green’ and this, for the powers-thatbe, is an easy point-scoring opportunity, no matter that it actually penalises one of the greenest ways of getting around our crowded and congested cities. It’ll also give us the opportunity to get back that Rage Against The Machine feeling – you know the one, don’t you? Yep, that’s right, that one…

Now I will apologise in advance if I don’t get the facts completely right as it was a very long time ago and I’m not working from notes, just remembering. They, and the various MAGna Cartas, the events held around the demos, are some of my favourite memories. They blur together a bit, it has to be said, but the craic that was the demos is something that’s going to stay with me forever. Riding together, helmetless, with thousands of other bikes, through the streets of So, April 21st – get on your bike and get down the nation’s capital, was such a rush every time we to one of the meeting points listed in the News did it – thousands of like-minded souls protesting, pages this issue. Make a note on your calendar making our voices heard, telling the powers-thatand, no matter what the weather, get your arse be that we wouldn’t put up with the bullshit they there – let’s tell the Government that we aren’t were trying to force upon us (leg protectors, going to meekly accept their latest horseshit power limits, and more). I remember thousands without a fight. Let’s make them sit up and of us hairy-arses filling Trafalgar Square, taking listen, let’s make them know that we, the bikers over the place completely and confusing the of this country, aren’t there to be stepped on tourists; I remember my then girlfriend Nicky when they just need to look good, when there’s jumping into a fountain, and grinning like a no evidence that what they’re proposing is going Cheshire Cat at doing something so naughty, to do anything other than penalise the innocent. and then loads of others doing it too; I See you there! remember the feeling of empowerment as we rode, snaking through the traffic, outriders ✱✱✱✱✱✱✱✱ stopping cars at junctions to allow the massive procession to pass, the wind blowing back Finally, we’re running a new online survey thing my long hair, the sun beating down on my that will allow us to make sure the magazine is the face, grinning at the people around me and best, and as relevant, as it can be, and what we’d seeing it returned tenfold, waving at kids like you to do is slide on over to our website at on the pavements. I remember, when they www.backstreetheroes.com and fill it in, if you said we couldn’t have a lawful demo into the wouldn’t mind? centre, Neil Liversedge, one of the speakers, And, to encourage you, everyone who does will standing up and saying something like: “I’m be entered into a FREE PRIZE DRAW to be in with just going for a ride to Trafalgar, I don’t know a chance of winning a Held helmet or gloves. We if anyone else wants to join me?” have a Held by Schuberth H-R2 full-face helmet Now I’m aware that this was all a long time (worth a somewhat staggering £419.99!) or a Held ago, and we’re all a lot older now than we

by Schuberth H-C3 flip-up (worth £419.99!) to give were then, but I’d like to have that feeling away, and also three pairs of Held Gore-Tex Air n again. There aren’t really any good demos Dry gloves up for grabs, worth £175.99 each, too. any more on the same sort of scale (the It’ll only take you a few minutes to complete, so click Brum one is probably the largest these the link and give us your thoughts. Many thanks and days, I s’pose), but with this one on April good luck in the prize draw!

21st we have the opportunity to change that – we have the opportunity to stand up and make our voices heard over

See you next issue!

MICHAEL FISH

Distribution by Marketforce UK Ltd, 5 Churchill Place, Canary Wharf, London E14 5HU. Tel: 0203 787 9001. Printed by William Gibbons and Sons, Wolverhampton.

ISSN: 02679841. BSH is copyright to Mortons Media Ltd 2018 and all rights are reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted, in any form or by any means electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage or retrieval system without prior permission in writing from the publisher.

The publishers accept no responsibility for unsolicited manuscripts or photographs. If you send material to us for publication, you are strongly advised to make copies and to include an SAE. Original material must be submitted and will be accepted solely on the basis that the author accepts the assessment of the publisher as to its commercial value. BSH UK subscriptions £40.00, European subs £55.89, all other countries £67.89, from BSH Subs, Mortons Media Ltd, PO Box 99, Horncastle LN9 6LZ. USA subs $60 per annum from Motorsport, 31757 Honey Locust Road, Jonesburg, MO 63351-9600 and additional mailing offices. Periodicals postage is paid at Jonesburg, Missouri, USA. Postmaster: send USA address changes to BSH, Motorsport, 550 Honey Locust Road, Jonesburg, MO 63351-9600.

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LONG-FORKED HARLEY CHOPPER

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WHO SAYS YOU NEED A BMW GS TO GO TOURING? (pictured)

BIKES AND CARS IN PONTEFRACT… NO MENTION OF CAKE THOUGH

20 N.I. MOTORCYCLE FESTIVAL

SEXY BIKES, STUNTS AND SUPERMOTOS ACROSS THE IRISH SEA

24 38

HINCKLEY TRIUMPH STREET-SCRAMBLER

WHY DON’T TRIUMPH MAKE ’EM LIKE THIS AS STANDARD?

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A VISION OF THE FUTURE TO COME?

SPORTSTER CHOPPER

SPAT OUT OF HULL RALLY

ONE OF THE LAST GREAT BIKER PARTIES OF 2017

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HONDA CB750 CHOPPER

GLORIOUSLY HOME-BUILT SOHC ’ONDA

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MAY 2018

LEAF-SPRING SPORTSTER BOBBER

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LOADS OF GOOD STUFF FOR YOU TO SPEND YOUR HARDEARNED ON

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58 CENTRESPREAD LOUISE LIMB’S LATEST ARTISTIC OFFERING

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THE FULLEST LISTINGS OF THE BEST SUMMER RALLIES, SHOWS AND PARTIES ANYWHERE!

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IT’S NOT ALL INCEST AND ONION PICKING IN NORFOLK, YOU KNOW…

APOCALYPTICA

COOL AND CLASSY CELTIC CHOP

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NEW 125s THE SECOND PART OF OUR ROUND-UP OF COOL NEW LEARNER BIKES

ROUTE 62 CUSTOM SHOW

ALL THAT’S NEW AND HAPPENING IN THE CUSTOM BIKE WORLD

84 PROJECT BUILD

ONCE AGAIN, THE LAST PART OF OUR NEW PROJECT BIKE BUILD BEFORE THE BIG REVEAL… ALLEGEDLY

ALL THE GEN’ ON THIS YEAR’S COMPETITION

LIVES

114 RICK HULSE

THE MUSINGS OF ONE OF THE MOST ELOQUENT THINKERS IN BIKERDOM!

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TO GET TH TAL EDITIONE DIGIT S SEARCH APP, SIMPLY FOR ‘BA STREET CK HER APP STOOES’ IN THE AP OR ON RE FOR iPAD PLE GOO FOR AN GLE PLAY DROID CHECK O UT TH (BACK S E BSH FACEBO O TREET H AND TH EROES) K PAGE EB AT BACKSH FACEBOOK G S THE OF TREET HEROE ROUP S FICIAL G ROUP –

MAY 2018

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THE BIG PROTEST! As we told you last issue, MAG (the Motorcycle Action Group) and others have got together to hold a Motorcycles Matter demo day on 21st April in London. It’s to protest at the inclusion of older (pre-2007) motorcycles being included in the Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) charge of £12.50 per day, despite the fact that, as we’ve said so many times before, they emit negligible pollution, reduce congestion, and make getting about this, and other cities, much more practical.

That means that, for anyone working in the Zone, their weekly wages are down by £62.50, or roughly £250 a month, which, as most people who ride into cities are often low wage earners, is a hell of a lot of money. Hell, even if you’re on a decent wage that’s a big chunk out of your monthly income!

Now many of us older riders went on the big MAG demos in the ’80s and the ’90s, and not only protested for our rights, but also had a bloody good time too – bikers like sticking two fingers up to authority, don’t they? This is your chance to do it all over a again – to thumb your nose at

the powers-that-be and show them that their ideas are stupid, bloody stupid.

There will be meeting places on the outskirts of London at the Ace Cafe (meet at 10.30am), Ryka’s Cafe at 9.30am, the High Beech Tea Hut (IG10 4HR) at 9am, the Iron Horse in Sidcup (DA15 7AB) at 9.30am, and the Blackheath Tea Hut (SE3 0UA) at around 10am, and then marshalled rides to North Carriage Drive (Hyde Park) for speeches etc.

Please put this in your diary as it’s really important that we put on a good show of strength and solidarity because, as has been said on a number of previous occasions, if London goes ahead with the proposed charges and restrictions, then that gives other cities across the country carte blanche to adopt them too, meaning that anyone wanting to use a motorcycle, one of the least congestion-causing ways of getting around our ever more choked cities, will be, at worst, banned from doing so or, at best, charged the same rate as anyone in a car.

Saturday 21st April – put it Saturday, in your diary!

The biggest display of custom motorcycles in the land, Bike Shed London, is being held on its usual date, the last Bank Holiday weekend in May, at Tobacco Dock, Wapping Lane, St Katharine’s & Wapping, London (E1W 2SF).

The show, with its cool and laid-back vibe, good food, good coffee and toilets that don’t make you feel slightly nauseous to use, attracts more than 200 stunning customs – choppers, bobbers, flattrackers, cafe racers, street-scramblers, streetfighters, and more – from all over the UK and Europe, all displayed in a manner that’s relaxed and conducive to having a good poke round. There’s also art, photography, live music, bars, lounges, a whisky bar, a cigar lounge, a barber shop, tattooists and much more.

There’s a press/VIP preview event on the Friday from 7pm until 11pm with limited public tickets available (£30 in advance, includes entry for the Saturday and Sunday too), and the show itself is open from 10am to 8pm Saturday and 10am to 6pm Sunday, and tickets cost £20 prebook for the weekend or £23 on the door. You will probably need to come both days to be able to see everything at a relaxed pace cos, judging by last year’s event, there’s just so much to see (I was there for three days last year and I’m still not convinced I saw it all…).

And, once again, us lot at BSH are going to be there too with a couple of suitably funky custom bikes and a range of goodies and offers. We’ll have a stand at which we’ll be lounging about all nonchalantlike, and we’ll be taking pics for the mag too so come up and say hello.

For tickets or more info on Bike Shed London surf on over to the website at www. thebikeshed. cc

LAST CHANCE TO WIN A SPEEDMASTER

The National Motorcycle Museum wants you to know that there’s still a chance for you to buy tickets for the museum’s winter raffle draw, the first prize of which is a brand new Triumph Speedmaster 1200 which will be registered new to the lucky winner in April 2018.

Second prize is a luxury hotel break at the Manor Hotel, Meriden, plus dinner for two at the Marco Pierre White Steakhouse, and third prize is a Triumph Visitor Experience factory tour for two people.

Tickets cost just £2 each and may be obtained via the museum on 01675 444123 or ordered securely online from www.thenmm. co.uk, and the draw will take place on Sunday, 22nd April at the International Classic Motorcycle Show, Stafford.

Good luck!

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MAY 2018

This year’s BMAD Bike Festival, held on the seafront at Paignton in Devon over the weekend of 4-6th May, is the event’s thirteenth!

It was started in 2005 by the founders of Bikers Make A Difference (BMAD), Kelvin and Jayne Halloran, who wanted to have a social gathering of bikers on the seafront, and to raise valuable money for local charities, and has now grown to being the biggest biker, music and beer festival in south-west England.

There will be 28 live bands on two stages across the three days,

GRIZZLY’S CUSTOM BIKES

culminating in headliners Hells Bells on Saturday night (there are bands on Sunday night too as it’s the Bank Holiday weekend), hundreds (literally!) of trade stands, a fairground, and, of course, the now famous custom bike with its first prize pot of £1,000!

And, as you may already be aware, there’ll also be the first round of the 2018 BSH Custom Bike Championship with the now familiar five categories (Chopper, Custom, Paint, Engineering and New School).

If you’d like to enter your bike in the competition, just turn up and put your bike in the custom show as normal, as all bikes in it are eligible for the Champs.

Tickets cost just £12 for the weekend (no camping on site), and you can get more info from the website at www.bmad.co.uk

BUMINTHEMUDRAL This year’s Bum in the Mud rally, held on a small windswept (very) island off the coast of Essex (well, I say island, but it’s connected to the mainland and only cut off for a few hours a day), will be held over the weekend of 27-29th April.

There will be ten bands across two stages (one indoor, one outdoor in a big marquee), burlesque dancers, excellent real ales that make you fall down (and girlie lager too), loads of trade stalls to help you spend all that extra money you have (or haven’t) got, and a custom show on Saturday afternoon sponsored by us lot ’ere at Back Street Heroes.

Tickets cost £25 prebook or £30 on the gate, and you can get them and more info from their website at www.buminthemud.co.uk

As of the beginning of March, Grizzly’s Custom Bikes Ltd was renamed Grizzly’s Custom Bikes Kent Ltd, and will now be run by a gentleman by the name of Paul HayesWatkins as Lyndon and Jenny, the original owners, are retiring.

The excellent service will continue

The English Electric Motor Co is arranging a series of demonstration days for its range of electric bikes.

The company supplies the Zero and Super Soco range of electric bikes, all of which are quite funkylooking modern-styled bikes, and is arranging a series of seven Electric Alley demonstration days around Essex, Suffolk, Cambridgeshire and Norfolk to start with. Riders are booked on a first come, first served basis, and you can book and find out more from the www. englishelectricmotorco.com website.

Harley-Davidson adds to the long legacy of its Sportster range with the introduction of the new Iron 1200 and Forty-Eight Special models.

These new high-bar Sportsters combine styling trends from the custom bike scene with the solid foundation of the Sportster platform, and both feature the punchy performance of the Evolution 1200 V-Twin engine. New fuel tank graphics distinguish both the Iron 1200 and the Forty-Eight Special, and combine bold colour stripes with a formal typeface, colour and graphic elements originally popular in the 1970s.

The Iron 1200 is the one with the blacked-out very West Coast (America, not Weston-superMare) black

though, with Alex and Will remaining in the hot seat, and the phone number (01303 240440) and website (www. grizzlyscustombikes.co.uk) remain the same. Pop in if you’re passing to Unit 18, Highfield Industrial Estate, Folkestone, Kent (CT19 6DD).

screened headlight fairing and the mini apehanger ’bars (very Sons of Anarchy stylee), and the Forty-Eight Special is the chromey one with fatter front wheel (130 tyre). Both run the 1202cc Evolution 1200 engine with 73ft-lb of torque, and solo seats (pillion seats available separately), and come in a choice of Vivid Black and Billiard White, while the Iron also comes in Twisted Cherry, and the Forty-Eight Special also in Wicked Red. Prices for the Iron 1200 start at £9,395, and for the Forty-Eight Special at £9,995, and both will be available in May. MAY 2018

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WEST COA AST CHOPPER RS New from West Coast Choppe ers are these long-sleeve mesh jerseys, and these Converse-sstyle baseball boots.

The jerseys are available in two styles (predominantly black, as a shown, and predominantly wh hite), and the boots only in trad’ bla ack with white highlights. Jerseys are in sizes S-4XL, and the boots 36-46 (3.5 to 12.5 UK), and yo ou can get them from anywhere that stocks

These new hip ‘n’ n groovy, very Seventies,, Biltwell lids are made from injection-moulded d ABS plastic and have a hand-painted finish, an n expanded polystyrene inner shell, and a hand-sewn brushed Lycra liner with contrasting

DRAGON SOUL SPRINGERS the Custom Chrome range – check out www.customchrome-europe.com to find your nearest place. cognac, and whisky tans, with a choice of seven thread colours, and custom metal machined fasteners, and you can have additional personalisation with up to 20 characters on the front and 35 on the inside (all inscriptions are laser-etched for accuracy and a perfect finish). It costs from £80 from rom Wingback Win b London – see www.wingback.co.uk for more info.

This rather splendid leather travel wallet is handmade using the finest quality Italian leather which, after tanning, is left untreated to retain a natural grain quality and individual markings gs.

It holds a passport, boarding b pass, travel cards and d plenty of currency, alll in a compact size that wiill fit into a jacket pockett, making it ideal for summer touring.

Available in charcoal black, chestnut brown, ch chilli,

diamond-stitched quilted opencell foam padding.

Available in sizes XS-2XL, and in five colours (Flat Silver, Midnight Black Miniflake, Bourbon Metallic, White Tri-Stripe and Bronze Metallic), you can get them from anywhere that stocks the Custom Chrome range – check out www. customchromeeurope. com to find your nearest place.

Made to order in the UK, these springers are classically styled, made from FE45 grade steel (the strong, chromoly alloy steel), with the axle in EN3B engineering steel, and are CNC-machined for correct tolerances.

They’re TIG-welded in a specially made assembly m jig for maxim mum accuracy, while ssmooth op peratting is achieved th hrough h five bronze Oilite e bushes in each rocker, plus bronze p wa ashers with nylo nyl on bushes

to give extra dust protection and increase longevity.

There are the grease nipples in the legs, and highstrength steel bolts are retained with castle nuts.

They come in ‘standard’ length (23 inches long) and two inches under stock (21 inches), but other sizes can be made to suit, and are made to order in just 20 days!

Prices start at £750, and you can get more info from 07425 165257 or www. dragonsoulcustom. co uk co.uk

BRASS BALLS CYCLES MEAT HOOK FOOT-PEGS These motocross-inspired, arrowhead-shaped footpegs feature a serrated pattern for extra grip, and are made from billet aluminium with a steel clevis, and will fit most standard Harley foot-peg mounts (so if you have H-D forwards on your non H-D they may fit).

Available in black, silver or red from over 2,500 Zodiac dealers across Europe, they cost (roughly) £185.

Check them out at your local Zodiac dealer or on the website at www.zodiac.nl

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MAY 2018

The Garage is Airoh’s new ultra-compact open-face helmet, designed with classic/vintage lookk, befitting the cafe racer and custom sce ene.

Made from a high hperformance comp posite, it’s one of the smallest an nd lightest open-faces on the market,, and has a removable and washable hypoallergenic h lining, faux vintage leatherr internal detailing, a subtle reflectivve edge g trim for increased visibility, a micrometric retention system, and it comes with vintage-style goggles (bubble, long peak and retro visors are available separately too).

These new breathable and mesh-lined waterproofs offer premium weather protec tion and are made from the highest quality materials.

Th over-jacket The j k has h an adjustable dj bl toggle and a foldaway hood, and d the trousers have an adjustablle waistband and full-length sid de zips, and both are pre edominantly black with fl fluoro highlightss to allow you to be e seen in poor we eather.

The jacket costs just £59.99, and the trrousers £39.9 99, and you can g get them from m anywhere thatt stocks the Oxfford Products range – check heck out ww ww.oxfordprodu products.com t to find your clo osest o sest place. place l

Just in time for summer (possiblyy), these new lightweight Davida Metropolitan gloves use a combined leather/textile mix for comfort, finesse and feel.

Using an urbane mix of black and d grey colours, they feature stretch panels and technical materials on the back of the hand, and between each h finger, for excellent breathability and d moisture wicking, a real suede palm and suede panels on the fingers for abrasion resistance and grip, Kevla ar stitching, a reinforced thumb on the twist grip side, and Velcro wrist straps.

Available in unisex sizes XS––3XL, they come in two colours (bla lack with white grip strips, grey with wi black grip strips, and cost just £25 (plus lus VAT).

Get yours from anywhere that stockss the t Davida range or www.davida.co.uk

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MAY 2018

Available in sizes XS-2XL, and in four colours (carbon fibre, raw, white and matt black), it costs from £149.99 to £229.99 for the full carbon from anywhere that stocks the Bike-It range – check out www.bikeittrade.com for your nearest stockist.

S&S FAT BOB EXHAUSTS S&S Cycle have come up with a set of their Grand National slip-on exhaust cans for the new H-D Fat Bob (as tested a couple o’ three issues ago).

They’re ceramic-coated black for a moodier (and racier) look and, when combined with an S&S Stealth air-cleaner, they give a healthy 12% increase in horsepower, a handy extra 6% increase in torque and, of course, a much sexier exhaust note (a stainless ‘dB-killer’ is available too).

Available from Drag Specialities dealers, the Grand National slip-on cans will cost you £461 including the taxman’s cut. If you don’t know where your local dealer is, you can find them at www.partseurope.eu

MUC-OFF POLISHING BALL KIT Keep your alloy etc. shiny with the Muc-Off Polishing Ball Kit. Perfect for polishing and removing scuff marks and light scratches from wheelss, spokes, spokes eng engine and hardware, the device simply attache es to any common drill, and comes with a bottle of their nondusting Metal Polish h.

Designed to help you quickly buff hard-to-reach areas in seconds, it costs just £34.99 from anywhere that stocks the Muc-Off range – find your closest place at www. oxfordproductss. com

Need to agree or even disagree with something you’ve seen in the mag? Heard a bloody awful joke you think we should groan at? Email nik@ backstreetheroes. com or send it snailmail to the address in the front (somewhere) of the mag!

Dear BSH, I was reading Nik’s editorial in March’s BSH and was interested by his ideas, probably because it touched a nerve a little. I don’t want to bore you too much, but I’m probably going to anyway so sit tight.

I’m 35 now, and passed my test in October 2017. I’ve been riding bikes since I was 16, and although I spent a good few years homeless, I still had a bike. The problem was due to some pretty shitty family issues, my mum dying when I was 11 being the main one.

I went sorta off the rails when I was a kid, flopped miserably at school, and consequently had a real hard time finding and holding down a job. I did work, in fact although I was going through crap, and had endless dead end, minimum-wage-for-extra-longhours jobs, I was only out of work for a total of about three months in the years betwixt my 16th birthday and now.

I tried really hard, eventually opting to start my own property maintenance business in 2012. I had that until December 2016, but I’d been knocked by so many people that I’m now £36,000 in debt, and I had a really bad breakdown and knocked it on the head.

I then went to deliver shopping for Sainsbury’s for atrocious money but, determined to sort my shit out, I stuck at it, working 12-14 hour days, sometimes seven days a week, paying most of it out on the debt.

Really desperate for a lift I went into my local motorcycle training place, SMTs (Sutton Motorcycle Training) in Sutton in Surrey. I’d known the owner, Damon, for a while as I’d re-done my CBTs there, and he kept on about me doing my DAS – I told him I wanted to, but wasn’t in any sort of financial position to cough up the £700-odd for the tests etc. Damon, being the person he is, told me to drop in money whenever I had it, so it was fivers here, tenners there and so on, and

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MAY 2018

he booked the tests, and told me we could figure out whatever was owed when I was in a better place.

Anyway eventually I’d jumped through those hoops you talked about, pleased the fat guy with the clipboard, and had my full licence. I then, after some looking and a lot of luck, managed to get a job with the local water company as an outside maintenance person (read as ‘grass cutter’), working from 8am till 4.30pm Monday to Thursday, and 8am till 1pm on Friday (better money too). I managed to make a massive hole in the debt, and cleared a very high interest credit card, and then I got a Saturday and evening job (back at Sainsbury’s) to pay off the DAS and buy a bike.

I now own a VL800 Intruder, and I’m still paying the debt, but I’ve impressed the company so much that they’re training me to be a mechanical engineer, so hard work (well, lots of hard work…), some very lovely people, and a shit load of luck, both good and bad, have brought me to where I am now.

Rallies are still out of my reach, for obvious reasons, but I’ll get there one day…

I don’t want anyone to feel sorry for me, but I just ask that folks are a little more aware that there are a lot of kids out there that love bikes, and would love to have full licences, and work bloody hard, even though the odds are stacked against them, to get their licences. All they need is encouragement, and possibly the Government to cut them some slack, and they’ll be flooding the rallies all over the world.

Sorry if I’ve bored you anyone, but Nik’s idea is a great one, and I hope some people take it on board. Thank you for a great magazine, and for putting my trusty old AJS 125 in December 2017.

All the best!

MICK AYTON Jesus, mate, you’ve really been through it – well done on keeping your head above water. N.

Dear BSH, Regarding the old argument, what is a biker – sorry to raise this issue yet again, but here’s what I think’ll bring it to a close.

Last year on my way to the Bulldog Bash, on what should’ve been a normal ride to the event as I’ve been there many times, my bike broke down and I was, you might say, in the middle of nowhere.

I was carrying tools and a few spare fuses, plus a few other things, but I was unable to find the fault.

Anyway, after a time a group of bikers, who were just out for a ride, passed by. A few minutes later they returned to see if they could help. I explained the fault and that I was now waiting for the AA. Rather than just ride off the group remained with me, and also made efforts to sort out the fault as I knew it would be ages before the AA got there.

They remained

with me till an AA man arrived (it was 11.30pm when the bike was finally sorted), and offered me a bed for the night if the AA couldn’t sort the bike, plus they’d made phone calls to mates to see if someone had a trailer to recover it if needed.

I’ve ridden bikes for many years and always stop if I see a biker broke down or looking as though they need help. I make no judgment on what you ride or what colours you’re showing, MC or MCC; if you’re on a bike, trike or combo and you’re stuck, I will stop and do whatever it takes to help – always have, always will.

So then, a biker – a person who’s not judgmental, will always offer the hand of help, cares not what you ride nor your colours (but shows respect for them), is loyal to all family and friends, a friend for life, and stands up for the rights of others. That’s just about it, I think.

JOHN, aka Tramp

Dear BSH, Just read the editorial in issue 407; absolutely bang on, really good idea – it really is about time all the initiation bollocks came to a close.

One other factor is that when you/I first went to a rally the people doing the initiations were all about the same age as everyone else, while now they’re certainly old enough to be the father, or sometimes even the grandfather, of the poor sod being initiated, and that’s a totally different situation. That’d be bullying if it happened anywhere else.

I fully support your idea for welcoming them and recognising the effort they have made to get that far cos it really isn’t easy for them now.

Regards. DAVE