Boys Trip to Torquay (Third Year)

Last weekend was our annual boys trip to Torquay - this year, it was me on Macbeth, Preben went on the Othello Tracker, Paul on his Blackline, Andy on his XR1200 and a new recruit Steve, who went on some huge BMW tourer with a reverse gear (he will be getting a Harley soon - its inevitable) - I could see him checking out the Harleys in Dockgate 20 Dealership.

We had a slight route change this year as Andy (who was our Ride Captain) had heard about a great pub in Glastonbury, so after checking in at the Travelodge and having a Subway we set off on a pub crawl to end up at the mythical King Arthur.  Needless to say the pub was crap, and full of 14 year olds drinking alcopops - but we had had plenty beforehand and stayed in the excellent Mitre Inn (this is the best pub in Glastonbury).

The next day was a misty start, and my first port of call was Riders of Bridgewater for a quick oil change after I had topped up the day before with car oil - service there was great and well recommended.  The mist soon burned off and we made our way to the North Coast of Devon to visit the very picturesque Lynmouth - I would definitely go back here for an overnight stay!  On departing Lynmouth after Andy followed his rubbish Satnav for one more wrong turn, I headed off with Preben in the other direction and followed the course of the River Exe through Exmoor  - this is a great road.  Then seeing a sign for the M5 we blasted it to Torquay for some early beers.  Torquay is a top place - its a holiday resort and has a great vibe to the town., and so another heavy night followed with obligatory shorts in the Hotel Bar when we got back.

As usual its a slow ride back on the Sunday, but it was a warm sunny day and after a Mcdonalds at Chichester we were soon back on form for some final beers back in Tunbridge Wells.   600 miles in 3 days on a hardtail is not so bad!

Sadly this really marks the end of the riding season for proper trips - next one will be St Tropez in May 2013.....

......and finally here is Paul's video of the trip!

Loud Pipes

I finished the Macbeth Bobber (no.3 ) - back in 2008 and as one of my earliest bikes I really concentrated on the looks and styling. I was particularly pleased with the long 1.75" black exhausts, with the crown tips.

 However, it soon became apparent these were exceptionally loud with a really harsh note, also I kept scratching stuff with the long crown tips.  So I cut a foot off each and added a baffle and a nice Biltwell tip.

Even after this the bike was still way too loud for casual riding around town  - offensive to put it mildly, so I have at last got around to sorting it out and had a great new 2-1 set of stainless 2.0" pipes made by P&D and added a short Supertrapp muffler.  The result - it sounds perfect, looks great and goes even better.

London International Custom Show 2011

Next month is the London International Custom Show which is held at Alexandra Palace in North London on the 26th and 27th of February 2011.  I don't like entering Bike shows  - mainly as I never win and its a bit of a pain getting them all clean and up there - but its February and I have some time to kill until the riding season.

I am going to enter two bikes, the first is the Macbeth Bobber, which is going in the BSH Signature series where the editors of Back Street Heroes pick their favourite cover bike - here is the bike when it was on the cover:

The second bike I am going to enter is my Caesar Racer No VI in the modified Harley Class, for bikes which are essentially original Harleys but modified - often pretty radically.  This is a tough class as the main Harley Dealers enter a bike and they have some serious resources - but its good fun anyway.

Anyone who wants to come along drop me a line

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.

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.

Feb 2010 Back Street Heroes

Nice to see a picture of the Macbeth Bike in this months BSH - Blue even liked it!

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.

NEC Motorcycle Show 2009

Back Street Heroes had a Custom Extreme bike display at this years bike show and Stu the Editor was kind enough to take my Macbeth bike up for display, with some of the other cover bikes of 2009 from the mag and their sister publication Streetfighters. I had a nice look around and particularly liked the new concept bikes from Victory and BMW. I do like BMW's and could easily become a convert of their superb technology and styling......but custom bikes.....custom bikes.
I also met up with a few old friends including Gary our tour guide from Route 66 in 2008 who is convincing me to come on his Cowboys and Indians tour in Oct 2010 into Nevada, New Mexico, Arizona and Texas -sounds great.

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