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!

Making a Video

A couple of my friends are keen on making videos and offered to make a free one of my bikes.  So this Sunday we set off to Dungeness on Hamlet and Othello for a spot of film making on the coast - great fun was had by all, and the film will be posted in a few weeks.  In the meantime here are a few stills I took.

A Fine Day and some Press

Well the 24th of Feb has turned out to be a fine day, with temperatures nearing 20 degrees C I had to go out for a ride in the spring sunshine.  Whilst I was doing this I had the wonderful Nutty of Clean Bike Clinic giving 2 of my bikes a very nice detail clean in readiness for the International Custom Show tomorrow at Alexandra Palace.

Press wise in the post this morning came HOG magazine, which I must say is getting more interesting and diverse and far less of a sales mag for the Company - I was delighted to see a sneaky pic of Caesar Racer had crept into the advert for their new Iphone App.

In the March Issue of BSH there was a great feature on The Carole Nash Live Show at the NEC and they were kind enough to include a picture of Hamlet and Othello there too.

Next post will be about Ally Pally

We Move Bikes and a Screaming Eagle Engine

I successfully bought a 110" Screaming Eagle engine on Ebay this week from Riders of Bridgewater, and as posting the beast was not on the cards  - I had a nice drive down to Somerset to collect it today.  On the way down I passed the signs for Gloucester which reminded me, as where We Move Bikes are based, who I have used to ship bikes on recent trips to Helsinki and St Tropez.

So by a weird coincidence when I arrived home and read the monthly Harley Owners Group magazine, it was nice to see an article about them and hiding in one of the photos was my Hamlet bike.  They are a top company and provide really good service and I would strongly recommend them for when you just can't face that long ride!

As for that Screaming Eagle engine, well it was planned to go in my bike No. 8 (formerly Blower Bike), but its a touring style engine, so I will have to get a touring transmission to mate to it and a special primary as well - then really modify the frame......maybe not such a bargain. 

Riding Hamlet in South of France

One of the points nearly always made to me when I meet other bikers when I am on a custom, is that its all SHOW and no GO.  To prove a point last year I rode Macbeth to St Tropez for the Harley Euro Festival and it happily went some 1200 miles - and surprised me at how usable it was.  This year I had Hamlet shipped down there  - mainly as I was going down with 9 other guys on Harleys with big fuel tanks, and Hamlet is to be sold and I wanted to keep the mileage down - but still did around 300 miles.

One of the highlights of the trip was a rideout with Chelsea and Fulham HOG, of around 60 miles around the hills and coast of St Tropez.  The film was made by my friend Gary France (see above photo) with two Go-Pro cameras mounted to the front and back of his brilliant custom Tailwinds.  Later this year Gary is going on a huge solo tour of the USA -so follow his blog www.garysusatour.blogspot.com

Harley Euro Festival - St Tropez 2010

Well back from this great weekend event - and despite the weather it was a superb rally - and a must for my 2011 calendar.
Brief highlights:
Tues Day 1 - Met up with 9 other riders in Kent for a blast down to Beaune - unfortunately I got some engine trouble on my 2009 Streetglide and had to divert to Lille where a really helpful team from the main HD dealer drilled out my breather bolts and gave me an oil change.  So I now had 400 miles to catch up the rest of the group on my own, which I managed in around 5 hours.
Weds Day 2 - It was raining and very cold, one of the group decided to head direct to St Tropez, while the rest of us followed the plan to head for Gap and then the Route Napoleon to the Italian border at Jaussier. It was about 275 miles though twisty mountain passes - but in cold wet rain and hail lost a bit of its shine.  Still we arrived in Villa Morelia for a nice group dinner.
Thurs Day 3 - The rain held of and we completed the last 200 miles through Gorges Verdun into St Tropez - cold but dry - and were soon ensconced in a nice bar overlooking the arbour and checking out the scenery.

Friday Day 4 - went for a ride out with the guys in the morning and then headed up to Grimaud for the bike show where I met my friend Gary France on his bike Tradewinds and Steve Willis of Shaws on his new V-Rod (he came runner up in class).  Bands and bikes were great and a very nice sunny afternoon.
Saturday  - Day 5 - met all the Chelsea and Fulham guys for a ride around the coast and ended up at the beach for a nice party courtesy of Warrs.  I went on the Hamlet bike and lent my Streetglide to an old friend Gavin.  On return to the main campsite I stupidly accepted Gavin's offer a drink, which lead to an 8 hour Rum and Pernod session, with the C&F boys - great at the time, but........
Sunday - Day 6 - had to be up at 8 to pack and get ready for the ride back with the group of 14 from 1066 - now a day of hell is riding 450 miles in the rain in an open face helmet with a monster hangover - how I survived I dont know - but it must be thanks to Bealy being a great Road Captain.
Monday - Day 7 - up at 7:00 am and a blast on my own to Calais and home (dry but very cold).
A great trip and adventure covering 2000+ miles, and special thanks to: Oren, Nicholas, Paul, Gary A, Mark, David, Adrian, Rob, John, Gary F, Gavin, Janet, Oliver, Grizz, Mrs Grizz, Manuela, Terry, Sarah, Maz, Bealy and anyone else I met.

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.

HOG Gallery - Ride of the week

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

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.

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!

Bike EXIF

Really pleased to have made it into Chris Hunter's excellent BIKE EXIF website yesterday, it's a top site and I thoroughly recommend subscribing to his daily emails.

In the Garage

There is a great new book thats just come out called Motorcycle Dream Garages and it made me realise what a mess my garage is......but it has potential.

1. Macbeth Bobber using S&S 93" Panhead
2. Hamlet Tracker using HD 96" Rubber Mount
3. 2009 Stock Streetbob - to rip apart for next custom
4. 1999 FXD - to keep forever
5. Air Bike - 360 section rear tyre, and air suspension, using TC 88" - race tuned.
6. 2009 HD Streetglide

Finished

At last Bike No.4 (King of Infinite Space) the Hamlet Tracker bike is finished and I am very pleased - its the fastest custom I have ridden and the rubber mounted Harley Twin Cam is a superb engine. It will no doubt need a bit of adjusting but its there and now I need to get on with Bike No.5.