Rolling Chassis Time

At last the chassis is ready to roll, and its time at the metal shop is nearly over.  All thats left in this stage is to mount the rear fender - there will be no front fender  - and sort out the exhausts. Once these are finished  - the chassis can move on to the workshop for final dry assembly and then stripped down and off to paint.  Dave can then fabricate me two more identical chassis for the other bikes, and the main fabrication will all be finished by April.

Slowly but Surely

Its moving on, this week I completed the wheels - well the wheel rims and spokes were laced onto the old Harley Hubs by Hagon in Hainault Essex - the wheels are 23" diameter the largest diameter motorcycles wheels you can get.  There is only one tyre that fits this rim - The Avon Cobra which is a universal tyre that fits both front and back - but is fitted in a different direction.

I dropped these wheels off at the metal shop so that the Rolling Chassis can finally be completed. This is the frame, forks, wheels and tank.  Next week I will post some pictures of this and look at the way i am going to differentiate each of the three bikes with bespoke exhausts, bars and paint jobs.

Meanwhile back at the Metal Shop

After the Street Bob arrived I went over to see how Dave was getting on with the main fabrication -  he had just finished tacking up my design for a tank - I wanted it styled, and to fit snugly between the two main spines of the frame - a job he has accomplished superbly.  I have nothing but the utmost admiration  for the way he can work with metal.

With the engine and the tank in place, the frame is really taking shape, the next stage will be a sculpted electrical box following the tank and frame, to hold the electrics and battery.   

The Harley Davidson Dyna - FXD

As I have said before, I bought my first Dyna in 1999, and used it to commute to London and back when I had my own property consultancy - I used to do about 400 miles a week rain or shine - and the last thing I wanted to do at weekends was have fun on my Harley.  After a few years I realised the train was best bet (economically and for my sanity) and went back to weekend fun rides and summer commuting.  This allowed me to take stock of the bike and over a number of years change it into "my bike".  What you see now, is a different colour, with a new tank, wheels, exhausts, bars, brakes, as well as raked forks and a tuned engine - I have probably spent more on it, than the original cost - but thats half the point.

Its partly due to my fondness for this bike that I decided to use a stock Street Bob as the base for the three new bikes, but also for sound commercial reasons which I will no doubt expound upon in the future.  But for now the key points are:

1. Its the cheapest big engined Harley you can buy.
2. Its the biggest selling type of Harley in the UK in the last 3 years.
3. It uses a 96" Twin Cam A engine which is not particularly used by other custom bike builders as the engine is rubber mounted and mated to the swing arm.  This will have advantages to me in due course. 

The last one of the three Street Bob's arrived today, and when I look at the stock bike, its OK, but not great. 
I certainly prefer the styling on my 10 year old model - and this just emphasises why people customise Harley's - when the project is finished the new bikes will be unrecognisable from the Street Bob - and they will need to be to command about three times the price.

Bits and Pieces

Well the FedEx Man and the Postman, have been busy delivering three sets of stuff to me over the last few weeks, and what with the bits removed from two Streetbob's the garage is really filling up.  

So far:

From CPV in Holland - 3 sets of forward controls and 1 set of hand controls (2 more to come in March)

From Chopper Shox in Las Vegas - 3 Ride like a Caddy seat pans and shocks in stainless.

From Crime Scene Choppers in California - 3 Streamline Gas Caps - which I found out about from the excellent Cyril Huze Blog (www.cyrilhuzeblog.com)

From Shaw Harley Davidson - 3 V-Rod Belts.

From CMF Wheel Rims in Devon 3 23' by 3.5" Stainless front rims and 40 spokes - and the same again for the rear but using 23" by 4.25" rims.  I took one set out to Hagon in Essex today to get it laced onto the Harley Hubs cut from the Streetbob.  I am getting another set powder coated black next week and will take them out for lacing after.

Its all coming together nicely.

More Press

Well I didn't realise it, but the Macbeth bike and I actually made it into the February Issue of BSH - only a small photo on the Brightona 2008 Rally - but it all counts.

Back Street Heroes

Well I went for a photo shoot up in Battersea today for Back Street Heroes with the Macbeth bike , and it will be the cover and centrefold of the April 2009 Issue.  A nice day with 4 hours in the studio, whilst the photographer took 600 pictures of my bike and a model who gradually disrobed as the day went on.

It was a tough day.

The New Frame

Went over to P&D today to see how the new frame is working out.  Its going to have a visible backbone, with the tank underneath, 35 degree rake  and about 3" stretch.  We will be running 23" wheels front and back and so will have to use a V-Rod drive belt, which really stretches the frame out - this will be one long bike.  Its my design and I am hoping that it will come together well.

The wheel rims arrived today from CMF in Devon, 23" Stainless, running 3.5" wide on the front and 4.25" wide on the rear.  I will be getting them built on the stock Harley hubs from the FXD.  My seat pans also arrived today from Chopper Shox in Las Vegas.

Getting Started

If I was going to start a custom bike business I needed to have a plan - a brand - a product.

Working backwards, I wanted to create a splash at launch, and being honest, building another bike like Macbeth probably wouldn't achieve that - so I decided to build three bikes all at the same time - but variations on a theme.  As far as I know no other bike builder has done a multiple launch.

I love old school, the simplicity and clean lines of a rigid, but I  like modern styling cues, I also wanted reliability and rideability - and the end bikes to be worth a max of 30,000 Euros.  So I bought three brand new 2009 HD Streetbob's to use as a base - its cheaper than the parts and you get through registration a whole lot easier.

I have given them the following working titles:

No.4 - A Bar Hopper (Red)

No.5 - A Cafe Racer (Black)

No.6 - A Bagger (Blue)

On Thursday 6th January we (me and Richard Taylor, who is giving me lessons in bike building as we go) pulled the first one apart - saved what we are going to use and the rest will go on E-Bay.

Oh yes - the Brand - well Lisa came up with the name 7 Ages - its from Shakespeare of course and in so many words sets out that life is a journey of many parts but one that progresses and changes through the seven ages of man - just like a bike ride!  Over the next few months we will refine this initial thought into a brand, with values and an image.

So 7 Ages Custom Motorcycles it is.

How it all began

I have been into motorcycles for well over 30 years - my first ever bike at 17 was an AMF Harley Davidson 125cc - a nice single cyclinder bike, that promptly put me in hospital for a couple of months with a fractured spine. But I rode it home from the hospital - much to the annoyance of my mother and kept it for a few years. I have been pretty much brand loyal ever since - maybe its genetic as my grandfather had one after WW1.

I started getting into Harley's seriously again in 1996 when I bough a Sportster -an 883 custom - I had a stage 1 and then bought some chrome bits, before I traded it up for one of the first twin cams a 99 FXD which I still have although, its only the frame and engine that really remain of that original bike - I have gradually customised in a simple add on way over the last 10 years, I still love it and hope to keep it forever.

Afer that a Screaming Eagle 2005 Fat Boy, which I had a 240 rear end and stretched tank put on, and have only just recently swapped for a 2009 Streetglide. Then in 2005 I met Richard Taylor a local bike builder who I got to do some minor work on my faithful FXD - at the time he was working on a new project - the Air Bike - its a superb piece of engineering, with a 360 section rear tyre and a 23'' front wheel, it sits on its frame and rises and lowers by his bespoke air suspension - I bought it and that was really the start of my custom obsession.

I should also say I love riding and get out and about alot, regular trips to the US, I rode to the south of Spain in 2007, and did Route 66 in 2008 (see my blog on this) - i should add much of this was possible as I gave up work in light of the impending recession in July 2007.

During 2008 i fulfilled a long standing ambition and built my own bike in conjunction with Richard Taylor - the ''Macbeth Bobber" - it took most of the year and was eventually finished in September. All in all I was delighted with the result, but more importantly loved the whole process of the build -  my real contribution was the design and concept - which included most of the parts used, the frame style and the paint finish, and of course some wrenching.

Its called the Macbeth Bobber for my wife Lisa, who had no interest in Motorcycles, but an abiding love of Shakespeare; so to show that despite her view that I did not pay any attention to her interests - I had this bike Shakespeare themed.

Well two part quotes "something wicked this way comes" and "...full of sound and fury". a nice historic Macbeth emblem on the saddle and a 3 (for 3 witches on the oil tank). I am hoping to get it

0n the cover of BSH this year and enter it in the London Custom Motorcycle Show in May.

So having finished one bike  - I decided spend a big part of 2009 indulging my obsession with custom motorbikes.

This blog is going to chronicle this year where from a standing start I want to set up a small custom bike business, with a brand, some bikes to sell, a few parts, and of course some T-Shirts. It will involve a lot of time and effort and importantly co-operation from many different people.

I am very excited.

End of the Road

Here we all are sitting in the BA lounge at Boston airport...its 5:30 and we have 4 hours to kill before our flight.

its been a great tour - the sights in New England have been superb, and its great that our annual tour has grown to add Tim and Paul.

Al our host was superb and today himand his wife Barbara made us breakfast and lent us a car to do a bit of shopping. We said our goodbyes abiout 11 and rode the 160 miles to Boston, to check in the bikes and then Greg the manager at Eaglerider gave us a lift to the airport in his van which is the home of 2 german shepherds Sammy and Jack who came too.

All in all I have ridden 3700 miles and visited 13 states of America - its the longest i have ever been away and cant wait to get back - but its been a superb trip, with some great memories and friends.

Littleton to Manchester

This will be very brief as i am using the hotel owners laptop in Manchester.

Another great day, heading off in glorious sunshine to Mount washington, where we saw this ancient cog railroad to take you to the top, and then had a fantastic ride down the mountain and into Conway.

From there we travelled through New Hampshire to Lebanon before coming into Vermont. About 30 miles out we stopped and said goodbye to Guy and Roger and continued the last bit in the rain to the motel where we are now.

Tonight its a taxi to town for our last night in the USA - then home on the 9:30 flight to LHR - really looking forwards to getting home now.

Lake Placid to Littleton

Tim on Bike


...a super day to head upsate New York....loads of lakes and motels - a superb chasm cant remember its name but it begins with A...

Ausable...just googled it http://www.nynaturalwonders.com/

we get to the Canadian border and turn right into Vermont and the land flattens out into dairy farming territory - after 160 miles we gte to Newport by a lake and have a lunch at a cafe which takes forever - Al says they must be Canadians....i have a Philly Cheeses steak...and its great.


After lunch another 100 miles to Littleton in New Hampshire - we stop off at a HD store for T Shirts - but i restrain myself - and just buy some new gloves to replace the one I let blow away from inside my jacket.

In the hotel now and getting ready for night at the 99 Bar and restaurant opposite.




Paul on Bike

lake Placid

We had a really nice night out - we went to the local steak house and had a nice bit of beef and red wine. Had a great chat abbout the world and bikes - the resort is a really nice place and has that european ski resort feel.

Then over for a vermont special at Ben and Jerrys..i ordered the cheapest thing i could see which was a waffle cone at $1.69...well its like a traffic cone - upside down with three scoops of ice cream and cost $6.19 - How?

After that back to the bar to talk about everything from cornering to skiing ... then bed a mere three hours later - job well done..


This morning its beautiful and you can see by the pic why it is called lake Placid - today its a 300 mile trip through New York State up to the Canadian border which we follow through Vermont and then into New Hampshire where we are staying tonight.

The Magnificent Seven

OK here i am at lake Placid Crowne Plaza - very nice.

We set off this morning at 9;30 my new group of seven including myself....they are the three Americans from Vermont, and my three friends from Tunbridge Wells who i have know for some six years - we met through school where we all have a child of the same age. This resulted in a club called the First Friday Chaper as we all meet for a beer on the first Friday of each month - we also have an annual ski trip - and now an annual bike trip (well for me and Iain its our fourth).


Anyway te americans are from left to right:

Roger, who is a mortgage broker and rides a nice dyna wide glide, he has been friends with Al since junior school.

Al - worked with iain's dad in the 60's and has been friends since - he is our host, and has a 95 Road King.

Guy - owns two restaurants in manchester Vermont and is a mad Harley man doing 100'000's miles on his Harley - he is the tour guide, and rides a fully customised softail.

The TW group are as follows fro Left to right:

Iain ; is a lawyer who does real estate finance so we have some work stuff in common although not much as neither of us works that much - but at least he has a job - he has a Ducati at home - but really wants a Harley but cant swallow his pride and get one.

Me: enough about me.

Paul: is a local TW guy and dabbles in property and runs a car bodyshop business - he will buy a harley aftre this trip - as i can tell he soooo wants one.

Tim: works at Credit Suisse and surprised us at Christmas by saying he would pass his test and come on this trip - he did and Paul lost £100. He has a sportster, but i bet will buy a bigger bike before year end.

Anyway we all set off today, through Vermont and into New York State (how many states is that for me this trip so far?) and its so picturesque - we are mainly in the Adirondak National park, which is full of rivers, and lakes and mountains - superb.

The roads are great with more hills and bends than the whole of Route 66, its a real joy. We are out for dinner tonight and then tomorrow we head upto Canada and follow the border along.

Off to the bar now.....

Goodbye, the flight and Boston to Manchester

For a country as modern as the USA its frustrating the when one of your friends gets a mobile signal and the others cant – more so when there is a WiFi network but you cant connect – oh well – i am typing this up in word on Friday morning in the Aspen Motel in Manchester Vermont.

I said a sad goodbye to everyone on Wednesday night at the farewell dinner at the Westin Hotel at LAX – i really hope to see many of them again – but time and distance etc.....Steve and Ian - i certainly will and look forwards to it.

My ticket out said a 10:45 departure and being me – i was there at 9:00, only to see the flight was now 10:05, so i got straight on to an ancient 757, to find that first class was like a wide economy seat – still only a 5 hour flight. This huge guy rightly told me i was in his seat, but said i could keep if if i let him read my V-Twin mag – seemed a fair deal. As we sat down half the people on the plane came on said hello to him. I asked him why and he said he was well known in the US....i said but not in England! He then pointed to the guy opposite and said he was with Pharrell Williams – had i heard of him? (vaguely i think he is in N*E*R*D) – anyway shut my eyes and listened to music the whole flight which arrived promptly at 6:15am.

Got a cab to the Hotel and met Iain, Paul and Tim for breakfast, who are mega excited but i am still a bit tired – so excited we get to Eaglerider HD at 8:15 – they dont open until 9:00, but who cares! We collect the bikes 3 Road Kings and a Fat Boy for Tim and start our ride to manchester about 165 miles away, the weather is cold overcast and the odd light shower, a real contrast to Santa Monica which was a 100 degrees F.

The scenery was beautiful, GREEN as you get, rivers everywhere and picture postcard villages and churches. We stopped for lunch at a restaurant by a river in Battleboro – and then onto manchester – this was the scariest ride of my life, i didnt realise how tired i was and could barely stay awake, and was so glad to finally arrive.

Our hosts Al and Roger were there to meet us and took the other three out for a ride in the evening while i had a sleep (i so needed it).

That evening we went over to Al's and had supper with Roger and Guy our road companions – they are all in their 60's and epitomise “Live to Ride”, a real contrast to their counterparts in Laughlin. A fantastic pasta meal - first non fried meal in two weeks – get the maps out, and it looks a brilliant trip up and along the Canadian border.

In bed at 9:30 and i am now ready and excited about the next three days – hope the WiFi works at the Crowne Plaza in Lake Placid!!

Victorville to Santa Monica

Well Ga sorted all the problems, with a drill and a bolt he fixed Helena's gear shift and he arranged for a bike for the French to be collected on the way so we all could ride up to Santa Monica Pier about 90 miles away.

Not much to say about the ride - LA Freeways are a nightmare, poor road surfaces, no lane discipline and fast riding - apart from the dust it was quite a buzz though.

it was a bit emotional as we got to Santa Monica as its been an epic journey and we have bonded as a group really well. Lunch was at Bubba Gumps Shrimp House, where i won a badge in the Forest Gump Trivia quiz....."which leg did Lieutenant Dann lose?......."You a'int got NO legs Lieutenant Dann" - being the correct answer.

Tonight is the farewell dinner at the Westin Hotel at LAX where I am now - it starts at 8:00, and i will slip off just after to check in for the flight to Boston.

Hopefully when i am there i can write a nice summary of the trip.

Laughlin to Victorville

Well this was the last full day of riding on Route 66 - tomorrow we just have the 80 mile ride into LA and the end of destination at Santa Monica pier. I think we all realised that as it was a quiet day today - but a good one nonetheless.

Still the weather was hot sunny and windy as we crossed the Mohave desert from nevada back onto Route 66 and into California, where we stopped at the towns of Amboy and Barstow, before nding up in Victorville.

The three notable events were that Ga did a photo shoot for us riding solo on a deserted Route 66 in the desert, our lunch was late at 3:00 and took two hours, and then in the 30 mile ride to Victorville, helena's bike broke and we had to hang around on the hard shoulder. Ga couldn't fix it so we left it there and came to the Hotel for a few beers. Ga went and got the part and he has vanished to go fix it.

We are staying on the Quality Inn and Suites, which is another travel inn type hotel - but at least this one has a bar. Tonight we were privileged to see the local Salsa classes, and watch the instructor run a bizarre group of shapes sizes and types through the 6 basic steps of Salsa .....they don't count the 4 as its a half step.....so 1,2,3...5,6,7.

Time for a quick shower then back to the bar as its my last night here before I fly to Boston tomorrow.

Ga gets a haircut and the road to Laughlin

....a nice start with a bright day as we left Williams and the Grand Canyon to head for the Mohave desert and Laughlin Nevada, which is like a mini Vegas for sad older yanks.

Our first stop was a little town of Seligman, where we had to wait for Ga to gte his haircut which he does aat this barbers twice each season as its the best on Route 66 (not sure that is even remotely true) anyway Angelo who is some chairman of route 66 histotical society came and gave him a haircut.



The rest of us wandered up and down main street of this typical failed route 66 town taking in the deserted shops and motels and trying not to spend in the gift shops, Oh and we havde a fantastic massive brekkie at Westside Loli's - a German who came here 30 years ago, without a lot of prescience.

Anyway after this on the road and into the desert heading for Kingman and a harley dealer so we could all top up our T Shirt collections - all credit to Ga, he got us free bandanas (why would i want one?) and a 10% discount on the stuff we bought.



its now 3:30 and in typical Ga style we should have had lunch in Oatman at 3:00 still its only 40 miles away down a windy treacherous road over the mountains - with the famous deadmans curve....nice americans have made a mini cemetery there.

its a cool ride but Trudi dropped her bike (Trudi is tiny and cant reach the floor at slow speeds - why does she ride?) while we were admiring said curve and as a result decided to ride the rest of the 10 miles into Oatman at 10mph while we all stalled and stuttered behind.

Oatman is another ghost town - but this time because the miners all left - and when they went they left their donkeys which have gone wild and wander around at will eating tourists and gifts outside the shop - they were cool.


Despite arriving at 5:30 Ga still arranged lunch at the million dollar hotel (it has loads of signed $1bills stapled to the walls and ceiling)- i abstained and wandered the town with the icelanders taking pictures. From there a nice 30 mile sunset ride to laughlin, where we are staying in one of those huge lightless tacky hotel casino's - the Aquarius.

We are all meeting now for the buffet dinner with all you can drink for free promotion - cant wait; and then we are off to watch Steve play poker as its one of his main skills at work it seems - lets hope he wins as Ga wants 50%. Just like last time i went to las vegas i don't intend to bet 1 cent tonight!

.......3 hours later i am back in my room - the place is full of fat aging white people just sitting and pumping money into machines. There are NO normal bars in the whole town, so we (me Ian and Mick) went to the Outback steak house in our casino, and had some starters and a few beers - after, we checked on Steve who seems about $30 up aftre 3 hours.....why - and DaVid who was happily $50 up with Christelle standing faithfully behind.

Bed is calling - its 10:30 and we have 200 miles across the hottest part of the desert tomorrow cant wait.

Adam's 50th Birthday

...and i bet he wished he had kept it quiet!
we all ate in the hotel and Ga to his immense credit got a nice cake and some fizz for us all, which lead to a nice impromptu drinking session in the hotel bar, accompanied by a juke box that would have stretched Mr Harveys DJ talents, but we found, Springsteen, Eagles, Led Zep, Garth Brooks.......nothing this century though.

Top night nonetheless and makes you realise what good friends you can make on these trips.