WEST COAST MIDLANDS CHOPPER
Back Street Heroes|February 2020
WHILE THE FASHION FOR THE US-STYLE BILLET CHOPPER MAY’VE PETERED OUT A LITTLE IN THESE DAYS OF BOBBERS AND 60s/70s CHOPPERS, THE BIKES THEMSELVES DO STILL HAVE THAT CERTAIN JE NE SAIS QUOI, DON’T THEY?
NIK
WEST COAST MIDLANDS CHOPPER
Kiah Passey’s chop, the bike you see here, is one such machine. Originally built by the now legendary West Coast Choppers in the USA, it was originally white when he first saw it a while ago, and although he wasn’t too keen on the colour, he could see the potential in it so he bought it, and set about making it into the bike he could see it was destined to be one day.

West Coast Choppers (WCC), in case you don’t know, is a brand that began selling screen-printed T-shirts and stickers with the company’s Iron Cross (not Maltese, no matter what anyone tells you) logo while its founder, Jesse James*, was still at school, and purveyed accoutrements of the chopper lifestyle long before any actual West Coast Choppers custom bikes’d ever been built. Even after the company did begin building bikes for the likes of celebrities such as Shaquille O’Neal, Kid Rock and Keanu Reeves, 60 per cent of its revenue still came from sales of clothing, beverages and tools and, in fact, even though they built between 12 and 15 bikes a year, at prices of around $150,000, each actually lost money for the company, but helped cement the WCC name as the epitome of cool.

هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة February 2020 من Back Street Heroes.

ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.

هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة February 2020 من Back Street Heroes.

ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.

المزيد من القصص من BACK STREET HEROES مشاهدة الكل
THE SLED
Back Street Heroes

THE SLED

I’M A SEMI-PRO SHED BUILDER, WHO BUILDS UNDER THE NAME DIRTY DICK’S… I SAY ‘SEMIPRO’ BECAUSE I’VE ONLY, AT THE TIME OF WRITING, SOLD TWO BIKES (AND, USUALLY, I GET PAID IN BEER FOR ANY OTHER WORK I DO).

time-read
2 mins  |
May 2021
THE CHIEF
Back Street Heroes

THE CHIEF

I BOUGHT MY ENFIELD, A 2001 350 BULLET, IN SHROPSHIRE IN JUNE 2019, WITH JUST 11,000 MILES ON THE CLOCK. IT WAS IN TRIALS TRIM, BUT I ALREADY HAD IN MY HEAD WHAT I WANTED TO DO WITH IT – MAKE IT INTO A ‘50S-STYLE CUSTOM, BASED LOOSELY AROUND AN INDIAN SCOUT THAT I’D SEEN PICTURES OF.

time-read
2 mins  |
May 2021
MADE O'GUBBINS
Back Street Heroes

MADE O'GUBBINS

OVER THE LAST YEAR OR SO, MANY OF US’VE HAD TO FOREGO THE JOY OF SEARCHING FOR PARTS AT AUTO-JUMBLES, SHOWS AND BREAKER’S YARDS, RELYING ON EITHER THE HIT-AND-MISS OF INTERNET AUCTION SITES, OR TURNING TO OUR OWN STOCK OF PARTS, WHEN LOOKING AT BUILDING OR MODIFYING A BIKE.

time-read
2 mins  |
May 2021
BUDGET BOBBER
Back Street Heroes

BUDGET BOBBER

PEOPLE ALWAYS SAY CUSTOM BIKES’RE EXPENSIVE, THAT ONLY THE RICH CAN HAVE ‘EM, BUT IF YOU REALLY WANT ONE THERE’S ALWAYS A WAY…

time-read
2 mins  |
May 2021
LEAF IT OUT
Back Street Heroes

LEAF IT OUT

THE SUZUKI LS650 IS PERHAPS BEST KNOWN FOR HAVING ONE OF THE LEAST SUITED AND MOST RANDOM MODEL NAMES IN MOTORCYCLING HISTORY – THE SAVAGE.

time-read
2 mins  |
May 2021
SIZE O
Back Street Heroes

SIZE O

I DECIDED I NEEDED A BIKE FOR MYSELF AS A KEEPER (RATHER THAN THE USUAL BUILD IT, SELL IT, FUND THE NEXT ONE), BUT TIME AND FUNDS WERE GOING TO GET TIGHT. I WANTED A ‘60S/’70S-STYLE HARDTAIL WITH A DECENT-SIZED MOTOR, SINGLE OR TWIN, AND SOMETHING I DIDN’T HAVE TO DO ANY FRAME MODIFICATIONS TO.

time-read
3 mins  |
May 2021
LITTLE VICTORIES
Back Street Heroes

LITTLE VICTORIES

SOME FOLK SAY WORK’S A NECESSARY EVIL, OTHERS MAKE THE MOST OF THEIR SITUATION. A GOOD FRIEND ONCE SAID TO ME THAT IT’S THE LITTLE VICTORIES THAT COUNT WHEN AT WORK, USING THEIR MACHINERY TO MAKE BIKE PARTS, BLAGGING FREE STATIONARY, OR JUST HAVING A POO ON THEIR TIME…

time-read
4 mins  |
May 2021
BACK TO THE EIGHTIES!
Back Street Heroes

BACK TO THE EIGHTIES!

AFTER THE STYLISTIC EXCESSES OF THE 1970S, THE 1980S SAW A KIND OF DIRECTION CHANGE IN CUSTOM BIKE BUILDING – ONE WHICH RESULTED IN NO SMALL PART FROM THE ABUNDANCE OF FAST, RELIABLE FOUR-CYLINDER MOTORCYCLES FROM THE LAND OF THE RISING SUN.

time-read
2 mins  |
May 2021
APPLE
Back Street Heroes

APPLE

MY GOAL WAS TO CREATE A CAFÉ RACER WITH STYLING FROM THE FIFTIES – ROUND CURVES THAT’D MAKE IT POP.

time-read
2 mins  |
May 2021
3 DIRT DIGGERS
Back Street Heroes

3 DIRT DIGGERS

OVER THE LAST FEW YEARS DIRT DIGGERS, HELD AT THE EDDIE WRIGHT SPEEDWAY STADIUM IN SCUNTHORPE, HAS BECOME THE NUMBER ONE, ALL-COMERS-WELCOME BIKE RACE IN THE UK.

time-read
2 mins  |
May 2021