Seven – Page 110 – Seven Cycles

Close Encounters of the 622 Kind

Bryan saw something in my expression and invited me over.

“Check it out!”

Clamped in his final machining stand was a yet to be finished, and very raw 622 SLX. He popped it out and handed it over. Until this morning I had not seen a 622 in the flesh, let alone held one.I basked in its aura for a bit, maybe a little too long.

“Well?” he asked.

Still stunned by the frame’s lithe beauty, I had forgotten to pay a compliment to one of its craftsman and could only muster a fleeting thought. Had I not been in a trance, I would have told him just what I was thinking,

Everything is different than I expected. The lugs are miniscule and oh-so-shapely. The matte finish looks appropriately industrial, but in the right light, the filament-wound fibers twinkle.

My word! They twinkle!

Deceptively lightweight yet surprisingly beefy. Elegance and power rolled into one. Mamacita.

But in the heat of the moment, all I could say was, “it’s awesome.”

Sorry Bryan, I was awestruck.

-Karl B.

Tales from the Seven Shop Ride: The Value of Vanilla

Weâ€™ve heard professional chefs usually have simple breakfasts: oatmeal, yogurt, that sort of thing.The idea is, if you aregoing to be critical and discerningwithyour food all day, you might not feel like engaging that kind of intellect first thing in the morning. Start simple. Begin at the beginning.

Wethinkwe understand.Whenwe reflect on our typical morning ride at Seven,itâ€™s an uneventful out-and-back on the Minuteman Bikeway with a stop in Lexington Center for coffee. No traffic, no crowds, no climbs, no egos, no going fast. Just a lethargic double paceline and base conversation peppered with bad jokes and proclamations of needing to drop five pounds or racing ‘cross next season.Some might ask, “why bother?” Rides should be exciting, epic, adrenaline-filled multi-hour slugfests, right?Those types of rides are fun, but not every day.

Asa crewwhoare critical of bicycles and cycling all day and every day,we likea plain-as-vanilla morning ride.

–Neil D.

Lumens

You can never have too many.

Snow Ride

When the snow flies and the temperature yo-yos, you have to change your game plan. At Seven, we try to stay on the bike, outside, as much as we possibly can. There’s no shame in retreating to the rollers or a trainer, but “stationary bike” is a contradiction in terms, right?

Trail riding is an even bigger challenge. On top of the snow/ice/snow mix, the sun sets early, so you need a good light. The upside to snow riding after dark is that the white ground cover amplifies your light. And you need all that light, because traction becomes a random event. Choosing the right line can mean the difference between staying on the bike and sliding down the trail on your butt.

Best also to bring a sense of humor.

To be really successfulon the snow ride, you have to change your basic expectations. That feeling of flow you get from riding dirt in summertime is not available. You have to replace it with the simple joy of being there, of being out in the woods when no one else is there, when the trees rock gently in the wind and the squirrels stay home to feast on winter stores.

It’s so nice to slip and slide and grind your way into the winter woods at night, and then stop there, turn off your lights and let the darkness close in on you. If it happens to be snowinglightly at the time, the sound of the flakes flitting against the already fallen snow is absolute magic.

Back on the bike, staying upright is the biggest challenge, that and keeping your feet dry. The reward is in the adventure, in going someplace that’s hard to get to, and in staying on your bike and moving forward when most “sensible” folks are at home, on the couch.

We’re really lucky that people are riding our bikes all year-round in all sorts of weather on every continent – except Antarctica…as far as we know. We don’t, strictly speaking, have to be out on the trail in the middle of winter, but in addition to loving the outdoors and the challenge of riding through the winter, we feel we owe it to our riders to experience what they experience. It helps us build better bikes, and of course, it makes a hot cup of coffee taste that much better.

The Seven Cycles Showroom

Our showroom, such as it is, is a beautiful space, with vaulted ceilings and a generous supply of natural light. In the morning, the sun slants in through the blinds and bathes the few bikes that live there in a warm glow.

Invariably, we display our project bikes there. The Berlin Bike is often in residence. The Bicycling Magazine bike has been a frequent occupant. But, also invariably, those bikes want to go out to bike shops for display or for special events.

Today, just today, the bikes in the showroom consist of: Rex, the very first Seven, the primogenitor, the bike that spawned all others; Rob’s belt drive Cafe Racer with custom Tiberius handlebar and S&S frame couplers; Karl’s Elium SL, all carbon lightness in a pure-speed build.

We should make clear that employee bikes end up in the showroom quite a bit. Back at home, garages and storage rooms struggle to accommodate all of our cycling predilections. It ends up being a symbiotic arrangement. The showroom gets beautiful bikes to display. And our loyal Seven staff get more space for even more bikes.

There are a few frames hung in one corner, examples of our best custom paint work, and a pair of Elium SLXs with internally routed Di2 builds. They’re on their way out, demo bikes for shops who want the very latest in their own showrooms.

We joke a lot about the showroom. What do you call a bike company with no bikes? More than once, a passing tour has offered to buy an employee’s bike right off the display rack. It’s good to make a product you can’t keep in stock. It’s the problem you want to have.