Smoking Hamlet

Here is another great little video by Paul Leeson of our recent shoot down in Dungeness - proves we go fast sometimes!

13 Months....

Last Sunday we made a video down at Dungeness - really just a cross between an art film, a bit of fun, and a chance to show the bikes.  I had a soundtrack in mind by a recent favourite band Sweet Billy Pilgrim - and by the wonders of Twitter they let me use it.
Over the last few years I have taken a lot of "road videos" just sticking a camera on the bike and letting the scenery do the talking  with the aid of a soundtrack.  But as with my photography making better films is becoming much more interesting - although its a lot more effort.
The soundtrack of this song "Here it begins" is effectively a score by Sweet Billy Pilgrim of a monologue by Mandy Patinkin from the film "Music of Chance".
Anyway here is the film  - filmed, directed starring and edited by Paul Leeson..... - watch it in full HD!

My Road Trips

Another blog this time combining three of my previous road trips - Route 66, St Tropez and Blue Ridge Mountains, into a complete road trip blog - to this I will be adding my forthcoming Cowboys and Indians tour starting in Las vegas on October 2nd 2010 - check it out - www.7agesroadtrips.blogspot.com

Cowboys & Indians

When I rode Route 66 we had a great guide by the name of Gary "Ga" to us - and since then we have stayed in touch and met a few times when he is over to do the Motorcycle Show, promoting tours in the USA with his company California Sunriders.  Well I had a chat with him at the last one on a cold November day in Birmingham and he talked me into a Cowboys & Indians tour of the South, - here is the sales pitch....

“We’ll visit old west towns like Sedona, Tombstone and Bisbee, AZ, Silver City, Old Mesilla, and Carlsbad, NM, as well as Fort Davis, San Antonio and Dallas TX. Along the way we will stop at various attractions, including The O.K. Corral, Copper Queen Hotel, Gila Cliff Dwellings & White Sands National Monuments, Carlsbad Caverns and Big Bend National Park. We will also take a tour of the Alamo in San Antonio, Texas. We are including two nights at a historic Guest Ranch just outside of Fort Davis, Texas where we will have a choice of activities such as horseback riding, pistol and rifle shooting, paintball, hiking, stargazing and more. We’ll also enjoy a fireside chuck wagon dinner under the stars of Texas.

The tour will be going through some of the best riding and scenery that the Southwestern United States has to offer. The ride has a variety of roads including the plains of W. Texas, deserts, and mountains. We will be stopping in the actual places many famous figures from the past called home and where they gained their reputations, such as Billy the Kid, Pat Garret, “Doc” Holliday, Francisco ‘Pancho’ Villa, Apache warriors Cochise, Haskay-bay-nay-natyl a.k.a.“The Apache Kid” & Geronimo, Judge Roy Bean, James Bowie, William B. Travis, Davy Crockett, Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, Wyatt, Virgil & Morgan Earp, James and Bat Masterson, Ike Clanton, Tom McLaury and Robert “Bob” Ollinger.”

In all its about 2300 miles and I fly into Las Vegas on October 2nd ready to ride, so please check in for updates and posts.

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!

Ace Cafe Bike Show 2010 - Stuff I liked

Here are a selection of shots that I took at the show of the various attractions, and these include me with Russell Mitchell of Exile fame - very nice guy with plenty of time for a good chat.  Some promotional girls, nice lights in boxes, the tank of a bike dedicated to Gerry Tobin who was killed a few years ago, a cool Magna Charger, and a couple of old bikes.  Cheers to Steve Willis of Shaws for the pic of me with his girls - and Nutty for the pic of me and Russell - for all you photo buffs - its a Pentax K7 and a 40mm Pancake lens.

Ace Cafe Bike Show 2010 - Being an AMD Judge

One of the most interesting things about entering a bike show is that you get to be the judge (although you can't vote for your own bikes) so along with your competitors and a panel of experts you all get to place your top 5 bikes in the various classes - and at the end of the marking the one with the most points wins - sounds good to me.  My favourite Freestyle was Speedshop from Holland and my favourite modified Harley was Shaw's Salt Flat Tracker it was the morris minor flip out indicators and colour)

Here are some pictures of my favourites including my own:

HD Twin Cam Timer Cover

Just had some 7ages timer covers made up to remove the last HD badges from my bikes - a very nice job.

Othello Tracker - Ready to Ride

Its a shame is just above freezing, wet and the roads are still covered in salt - otherwise I would be out tearing about on this one to see how it goes.  Its essentially the same as the Hamlet Tracker, but as they are hand built there are a few subtle differences - paint (Obviously), pipes, slightly longer frame, bars, mounting positions of rear light and plate, lower gearing, air filter......etc...etc....
Look and enjoy.

Hamlet Tracker - Ready to Ride

Its the last day of January and I want to get ready to ride so out comes the hamlet Tracker all polished and ready to ride.  It will be registered on 1st March ready for sale this year.

Facebook Page

Just created a Facebook Page - check out the link and become a Fan.

2009 Year 1 for 7 Ages

I started this Blog in January 2009 - I remember I had a number of aims for the year - to have some great motorcycle rides and to get 7Ages started as a genuine custom motorcycle brand.

Highpoints for the year:

• A fantastic ride to the Harley Euro Festival in St Tropez on Macbeth.
• A tour of the Blue Ridge and Smokey Mountains with friends on a Streetglide.
• A trip to Helsinki and back to see friends on my Streetglide.
• Getting Macbeth on the cover of BSH and displayed at the NEC Bike Show.
• Building Hamlet and getting it featured on Bike EXIF and Cyril Huze Blog.
• Getting the 7Ages brand created and the website up.

For 2010 - my ambitions are to finish, Bikes 5 (Othello) and 6 (un-named cafe racer) - exhibit at some shows and maybe sell 2 bikes! Rides well St Tropez is booked for May and New England for June, and maybe a trip to the southern states for September / October.

Progress on Bike No. 5 (Othello Tracker)

Engine is now in the frame and the tank mounted - give it a few weeks and the bulk of the wrenching will be done - then its just the wiring!

Cyril Huze Blog - Hamlet not Othello

Its been a good week for PR as I have now bee featured in Cyril Huze's excellent Blog - I think its ranked No 1 in the world for custom motorcycles. A great post, but we mixed our Shakespeare up and ended up calling the bike Othello not Hamlet, but there you go - Bike No. 5 The real Othello one will be ready in a month or so, and we can get that addressed then - I should have stuck to just using numbers!

King of Infinite Space - Gallery

For nice studio shots of this bike taken by Roddy Paine go to the main bike site www.7ages.co.uk