WATERTOWN, MA—Visiting dealers and seeing Seven Cycles demo bikes outfitted with Campy Record groups and multi-thousand dollar wheelsets gave Rob Vandermark a sense of pride. The company's dealers thought so much of its bikes that they spec them with the very best.

"But the number of people walking into a bike shop wanting an $8,000 to $10,000 bike is a limited market," said Vandermark, president of Seven Cycles. "Plus, if you are running that parts on spec on a demo bike, you are not going to let just anyone take it out around the parking lot, which further limits the appeal of our brand."

So Vandermark took a hard look at the business to see if it could widen its appeal. However, changing company culture in the age of value shopping hasn't been easy.

The same custom geometry Seven frame that pushes the $10,000 limit with fancy spec runs about $3,000 to $4,000 spec'd with Shimano Ultegra or SRAM Force or Rival.

"Five years ago we would have never spec'd an Ultegra bike. It was Dura-Ace or Record or nothing. But now that kind of thinking is too exclusive and that's not us either. We really want more people to experience a custom bike," Vandermark said.

To get more people on its handcrafted frames, Seven Cycles has launched its Gateway Program. Customers pick the Seven frame they want, and Seven works up a parts kit thousands of dollars less than its usual top-of-the-line spec.

"We all grew up in the high-end world and it's been hard to change. I don't think we are to the point of considering 105 yet, but seeing how little Ultegra other company's spec on their Ultegra models, we may have to rethink our all Ultegra group," he said.

Gateway has driven Seven's sales up this past season, which has kept welders busy. Even though Vandermark said the company's demo program is down, he writes that off to dealers limiting inventory dollars rather than interest in its new price points.

"Many bike buyers tell us Seven is out of their price range, but when you ask them what they bought, it's usually a $4,000 to $5,000 bike. We want that business," Vandermark said.

The company, which can make anything from a 20-inch time-trial bike to a 29er cargo bike, also realized that "custom" bike means something entirely different to the average bike customer.

"We get asked all the time if we make fixies, and I reply 'Yes we do, we build custom bikes'. But that doesn't do it," Vandermark said.

So Seven added a fixed-gear bike to its catalog though it was available all along. It turned out to be very popular this past season.

While most folks at Seven commute, the company, which focused on enthusiast-oriented bikes, didn't offer a commuter bike. That will change next year when it will add four commuting bikes.

"We've noticed a big increase in touring bike orders, and with the touring market flat, we expect they are for commuting. So we are putting commuting in our catalog to let people know we do them as well," Vandermark said.