There seems to be a consensus amongst Seven owners that the best accessory is a half hood. Having received a rather nice tax rebate I thought that this would be a good thing to get.

I went for the Oxted hood which is a bit more than the Soft Bits for Sevens hood but it was available quicker and looked simpler to install. It arrived in a couple of days and was very quick to fit.

The back straps just pass through the roll bar backstay fixings by passing the strap from below. Two minute job. The side straps need to be fixed to the rollbar hold down bolts but that was equally easy. Once the straps were installed, it was easy to put up the half hood – it’s a lot simpler than the full hood. The transparent panel in the back also means that my high level brake light is visible too.

I have yet to drive it in the cold but certainly in the mild autumn weather it made the cabin comfortable (didn’t need a hat) without feeling claustrophobic.

[one minor bug bear is the way the high level rear light creates a bulge in the hood. I am thinking about relocating the light so that the P clip bolt is on the front of the roll bar rather than the back. This will move the light about 50mm forward of its current position. Its a bit of a fiddle to do so I am saving that for the winter months]