![BSH CUSTOM CHAMPS 2020 OVERALL WINNER - BEST BUTCHERED CLASSIC BSH CUSTOM CHAMPS 2020 OVERALL WINNER - BEST BUTCHERED CLASSIC](https://magarticles.magzter.com/articles/11525/567091/5fe0814fc04aa/BSH-CUSTOM-CHAMPS-2020-OVERALL-WINNER-BEST-BUTCHERED-CLASSIC.jpg)
The winner, it turns out, was Richie’s TDR – voted for by three out of the four judges. It’s a subtle bike, and perhaps one that may not, to those not in the know, be immediately obvious as to why it won. I mean, it’s just a painted trailie with a few nice bits, isn’t it? Err, no, it isn’t – it really, really isn’t.
When Yamaha launched the TDR250 in 1988, it was a bike before its time, predating the craze for supermoto bikes that didn’t really get going until the mid-1990s. Yamaha’ve never been afraid to push the boundaries of biking (witness their hubcentre-steered GTS1000, and the current three-wheeled Niken), and while the TDR was, really, never a particularly strong seller (no one’d really asked for a kind o’ roadgoing trailie with a stupidly quick two-stroke engine), it later became a cult bike in its own right. Back in my days of being a spotty yoof, I had the ‘proper’ version, the TZR250, and one day, while my bike was being serviced, I was given a TDR as a loaner. At first glance, as a confirmed speed freak, I wasn’t impressed, but by the end of the first street that’d changed as the TDR’s front wheel’d gone involuntarily skyward away from every junction – something my TZR never did unless you made it do it. By the end of the day I didn’t want to give it back, and it took me another 25 years to get one of my own, and it’s a bike that, to this day, I regret selling.
Esta historia es de la edición January 2021 de Back Street Heroes.
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Esta historia es de la edición January 2021 de Back Street Heroes.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.
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![THE SLED THE SLED](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/11525/631050/6087c70737f11/crp_THE-SLED.jpg)
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).
![THE CHIEF THE CHIEF](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/11525/631050/6087b45408336/crp_THE-CHIEF.jpg)
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.
![MADE O'GUBBINS MADE O'GUBBINS](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/11525/631050/6087b328a081f/crp_MADE-OGUBBINS.jpg)
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.
![BUDGET BOBBER BUDGET BOBBER](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/11525/631050/6087ca02d88f4/crp_BUDGET-BOBBER.jpg)
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…
![LEAF IT OUT LEAF IT OUT](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/11525/631050/6087b584e4153/crp_LEAF-IT-OUT.jpg)
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.
![SIZE O SIZE O](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/11525/631050/6087c5142a0ee/crp_SIZE-O.jpg)
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.
![LITTLE VICTORIES LITTLE VICTORIES](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/11525/631050/6087c0ccb5e62/crp_LITTLE-VICTORIES.jpg)
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…
![BACK TO THE EIGHTIES! BACK TO THE EIGHTIES!](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/11525/631050/6087cba598b1b/crp_BACK-TO-THE-EIGHTIES.jpg)
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.
![APPLE APPLE](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/11525/631050/6087cdfd6df1e/crp_APPLE.jpg)
APPLE
MY GOAL WAS TO CREATE A CAFÉ RACER WITH STYLING FROM THE FIFTIES – ROUND CURVES THAT’D MAKE IT POP.
![3 DIRT DIGGERS 3 DIRT DIGGERS](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/11525/631050/6087bcce60e79/crp_3-DIRT-DIGGERS.jpg)
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.