London in the Sunshine

Had a great ride through London, with my friend Gary France today.  I met Gary last year  - I think through blogging - but found out we have quite a bit in common - we both worked in property - we both gave up work early and we both love custom bikes.  So with Spring well and truly here we decided on a ride through London.  Two loud customs certainly got plenty of attention as we started at The Royal Observatory and followed the River Thames to Chelsea and Warrs Harley Davidson for some lunch.  Please check out and follow his excellent blog www.garysusatour.blogspot.com about his awesome 15,000 mile solo trip to the USA this summer.

We attached videos to our bikes - but Gary had the excellent Go-Pro on a super mount and I had a cheap Samsung mounted with Gaffer tape, and so despite Gary's best attempts at editing, he only used his footage - but if you love London and bikes enjoy this ride with us.

St Tropez Euro Harley Festival 2010 - Update

Just got Bike No.4 Hamlet ready to be shipped down to St Tropez by We Move Bikes - its a bit of an extravagance but with all that impressive yachting hardware on the quayside at St Tropez you need something to get some attention.  I collect it Thursday 6th of May, and will run around on it over the weekend - maybe enter it in the best Dynaglide competition -if they will let me!
Daily updates on St Tropez on this blog and Facebook.

Springtime for Macbeth

At last spring is really here in the UK - warm sunshine, and 19 degrees C.  I decided to get Macbeth out for the first time this year and go for a blast - a nice 100 mile run down through Sussex to Shaw Harley Davidson, then back through the Garden of England home.  Bike has now done 5000 miles and is really running sweetly.

FXD Caesar Racer (Bike No. 6) - Fabrication Finished

Just brought the Caesar Racer back to base ready for break down and send off to paint - then away for final assembly and hopefully on the road in June.  Colours will be Orange (frame and details), Black & White & Orange - Tank fenders and fairings - plus lots of mirror bright stainless and chrome.  It will have "Et tu, Brute?" on the tank and "6" on the rear cowl. Super Cool.  What really pleases me with this bike is that I have had it since new in August 1999 - and this is its third reincarnation!

Harley Euro Festival - St Tropez 2010

Just got the ticket in the post today, which reminds me that its just 31 days until we set off to St Tropez.  The route is sort of planned and 9 of us are riding down - I only have to be ride captain for a small part from Rheims to Beaune on day 1 - I have done this a few times before so no problem.  This time though I will be on my 2009 Streetglide for proper comfort touring rather than the Macbeth Bobber which had to stop for petrol every 60 miles - having said that it was comfortable and went fantastically!

Just been scanning through my pictures of last year and thought I would post a small gallery.

Davida Helmets

I have long been a fan of Davida Helmets - I like the visibility and comfort they provide, and of course they are hand made here in the UK on the Wirral.  I am just getting some made up with the 7Ages logo which will be for sale on the mainwebsite - I have gone for the Speedster which is smaller and is a 1970's style.

HOG Gallery - Ride of the week

Nice one
http://www.hogeuropegallery.com/rides-of-the-week/2010/10/

Caesar Racer (Bike No. 6) - Progress

Et Tu, Brute? - Yes its all coming along nicely - we got it outside today for a proper look at the proportions and details and I am feeling really pleased with the design.  I have a slot booked for the paint in a few weeks and that will take a month, so I am realistically hoping that this bike can be finished sometime in early June - ready to ride in the glorious English Summertime!  I still have a few details to finalise, controls, grips, indicators, mudguards etc - but the style is definitely 7Ages.

Romeo's Beemer - Bike No. 7 - update

Well we just pulled apart the marvellous 1982 BMW R80 and I am left with this very impressive chassis and engine - and a whole load of bits, which will end up on Ebay one day. The first decision I have made is to run this new bike with 23" Wheels front and back, with a 4.25" wide rear wheel and a 3.75" wide front wheel. I am going to get them CNC'd up by Taylor made wheels replicating the existing pattern from the BMW wheels, and keeping the large rear hub for the brake and shaft drive. Not sure about the forks yet - I have two sets sitting in my garage a 2" under set of springers and a a stock set from a new Harley. To keep the bike simple it will be a hardtail frame and I will be sketching away for a few weeks to get the lines how I want. Thats enough to be getting on with - except - I am running the working title of "Fortunes Fool"  - BMW Blue frame and white / grey paint.

Othello Tracker (Bike No. 5)

I have been waiting for the sun to shine, so that I can ride the bike over to Roddy Paine's studio and get some professional shots done.  (A full spec of the bike is available on the Main Site).  The bike rides well indeed like Bike No.4 Hamlet, the 23" wheels give a precise feel when cornering and the HD lump has bags of grunt and a fantastic noise through the fish tail exhausts.  Its been registered brand new as a 10 plate and I will be selling it this year - contact me for details.

Ace Cafe Bike Show 2010 - Results & Thoughts

Well for my first competitive show it was an interesting experience, and there were certainly some good lessons to be learnt!  Like if you really want a prize enter the smaller competition like "Old Style". or "Metric" or "British", where there were only about 5 or 6 entrants in each so the odds of getting a good prize are very good.  Congratulations in particular to Huggy who won the old style competition on his old Harley he keeps in the street dosent clean and rode to the show! - I voted for him just because of that - he won a Zero Engineering Samurai Chopper kit - nice  (I wished I had entered Macbeth in that one).

In the Freestyle I came a creditable 8th, which considering my bikes are not show bikes, (limited chrome and shine) I was really pleased with; when you see the top 3 which have won all over Europe.  In particular I loved Special Parts Supply (Best in Show) from Holland and also KCosmo from Garage 65 in Italy - really fantastic bikes.

In the Modified Harley section I ended up 5th behind Shaws with a 1st, 2nd & 4th and Warrs who came 3rd, I was a bit disappointed with this, but it would appear that despite clearing it first with AMD that heavily modified frames (ie pretty much just the VIN) are eligible if they have a Harley Engine, that was not the view of many of the Judges who insist on stock frames only.  So I suppose 5th is OK!  Congratulations anyway to Shaws and Warrs, their bikes are super cool and I would happily ride one anywhere!