We knew we could build a better cross bike, but it was a big challenge.The Mudhoney line has served us, and the riders who race them week-in and week-out, very well. What we know from years of experience though, is that the top step of the podium isn’t always the last step up you can take.
Cyclocross demands a lot from a bike frame. Finding the way forward meant balancing performance against durability. The massive torque generated by cantilever brakes made redesigning the seat stays difficult. The big impacts sustained on the fiendish obstacles race organizers throw at riders have to be absorbed somehow. We wanted to use enough carbon to make the bike light, but to incorporate enough titanium to give proper torsional stiffness and to remain supple through the pounding of race day.
The PRO’s seat stays are titanium at the top to improve braking efficiency, but carbon at the bottom, where lightness and vibration dampening are important. There is titanium in the drive train for maximum power transfer, and titanium in the lugs to absorb shocks. The Ti also leaves some finesse in the frame. It’s livelier than an all carbon bike. No other cross bike tracks so well or maintains traction quite the way the Mudhoney PRO does. Carbon top, down and seat tubes make the Mudhoney PRO our lightest cross frame and one that shrugs off the chatter of uneven ground.
6 is carbon. 22 is titanium. SLX is our lightest, fastest configuration for any bike. Put it all together and you get a feather-light, vibration-eating road machine. The titanium lugs give it suppleness. The Ti drive train connects you to the road. The carbon tubing manages to dampen vibration and give the structure stiffness without adding any extraneous weight.
Oh, and it looks cool.
The 622 bridges the gap between our Elium SLX and our A6 carbon platform. It sits right in the sweet spot between the neutral comfort of the best carbon frames and the liveliness of their titanium counterparts.
When we designed the 622 we threw a couple of our common design restraints right out the window. First, the cost. It’s normal for a bike maker to start with a price point and design to it, weeding out prohibitively expensive bits and pieces at the outset. We didn’t want to do that. We wanted to see what this bike could be without thinking about what it would cost.
The key is the lugs. The titanium lugs we use for the 622 are at once our thinnest, most supple, shortest and most intricately carved. They let us do things with custom geometries that steel or carbon lugs wouldn’t allow. We wanted to strike a balance between the ultimate utility of these lugs and the artistic possibilities that remained. What we came up with is a light, elegant design with custom ‘7’ cutouts that make our hearts sing every time we see them.
The other thing we wanted to do was push round carbon tubes to their ultimate performance capability. Round tubes give you customization options that shaped tubes don’t. By wedding the round carbon top, seat and down tubes, as well as the seat stays, to titanium lugs we allow the bike to give the fullest expression of Seven’s 5E customization. We can build for any tube angle. We can accommodate a wide range of tube thicknesses. We achieve maximum durability.
This is a light bike that doesn’t demand a light rider.
We have long held that weight isn’t the most important thing about a bicycle frame, that talking about weight short changes the aspects of bike building that are really important. In this case, however, we have built a bike that achieves everything that’s important to us, fit, feel, performance, aesthetic appeal, versatility and durability, while also being feather light.
Joe Lindsey at Bicycling Magazine wanted to review a Seven, so we started the conversation with himthe way we start the conversation with anyoneinterested ina Seven. What did he want this bike to be?
He filled out our Custom Kit. Our Performance Design team interviewed him. We generated specs, and he signed off on them. The same process we go throughwith everyone, even those not writing about one of our bikes for a major publication.
Together with Joe, we settled on an Axiom SL, our best selling bike and the flagship of the Seven fleet. We picked a tube set andwent to work. In fact, the only thing special we did for this bike was the paint, a slick mix of polished Ti, matte black and high gloss white. When you’re going to be in a big magazine, you put on a clean shirt and tie, right?
Axiom SL
Joe’sarticle, entitled “Rides Like a Dream – The Best American Hand-Built Bikes,” appeared in the November issue of Bicycling, on newsstands now.
Our quick synopsis: Joe liked his bike.
He wrote:
“The Axiom SL, Seven’s most traditional and versatile frame, is a study in the company’s philosophy: Fit and ride quality are paramount, while character and performance are almost infinitely malleable. A dream bike is not just a machine; it’s a deeply personal expression of a rider’s self, entrusted to master craftsmen to interpret and make real. We do not choose lightly whom to entrust with those dreams; with our test Axiom SL, as with thousands of frames before it, Seven has earned that trust.“
Can you send out a test bike for a magazine review and hope for higher praise? It is hard to explain just how gratifying it is to send one of our bikes to an expert, have him ride it, and immediately understand what we’re trying to do as a company.
Later in the piece, he wrote, “This bike proves that you don’t need carbon for performance… Though the bikes isn’t the lightest… it climbs as well as, or better than, bikes that weigh much less.”
Every material has its place in the bicycle. Carbon has it’s place. Titanium has it’s place. Steel has it’s place. No one material can be all things to all riders. Choosing the right material or materials for each rider is what we’re about. Obviously, we’ve been very successful with titanium. It’s what we’re known for, and it’s good to be known for something.
But far beyond the cycling shorthand of carbon vs.Ti or heavy bike vs. light bikeare universal characteristics like fit, ride quality and performance. What we try to do with every bike we build is to consider what the rider wants. Rather than building bikes and telling riders they need them, we ask riders what they need and then build bikes to match. It’s an approach that makes sense to us.
And it’s an approach that tests well, even in a new shirt and tie, on the big stage, with an expert at the wheel.
World Cup Race Report: Czech Republic
Mo at World’s in Plzen, Czech Republic
For the past 2 weeks, Seven-sponsored cross champion Mo Bruno Roy was at the World Cup races in the Czech Republic, and she came home with some stories to tell and some excellent race results.
Mo raced on Saturday 16 October in Plsen, and came in a respectable 18th in a field crowded with many multi-time champs. Mo had this to say about her race:
“With every passing lap, I was riding stronger and stronger. I was able to pass enough riders to get myself into 20th position by the finish. I was hoping for a top 15 and knew that I’d have to improve my start next week to get into the mix.”
Photo collage by Matt RoyAfter some well-deserved rest and some sightseeing in and around Prague, MM Racing headed to Tabor for the next Worlds race on 23 October. It was a chilly, dry day, which made for a fast course. Mo was missing her mud, but her performance didn’t show it: she took 18th in yet another field crowded with pros from around the world. This was Mo’s best performance in a World Cup race.
“With two laps to go I was leading a large group of about six riders. Everyone was pushing the pace and trying to create some time gaps. Each time one rider made an error, another one of us would take the advantage until the last lap when the pace began to pull the group apart.
“I finished 18th for the day a bit disappointed to not have been able to secure a top 15 spot but pleased with my best World Cup finish to date.”
Spotlight on Seven
Mo and MM Racing paid tribute to Seven in their latest newsletter. All we can say is, “back at you MM Racing!” We love being your sponsor: it’s been a fruitful and fun relationship, one we hope to continue for a long time.
Where to even begin with these guys. I mean, come on, between Bob’s Red Mill and Seven Cycles, could we possibly have better sponsors! Everyone at Seven is amazing. Hands down.
Photos by Matt O’Keefe; Collage by Matt Roy
This year marks our fourth season with Seven Cycles, and to mark the occasion, Rob Vandermark, Matt O’Keefe and the crew at Seven put their heads together to create a new ‘cross machine for me, effectionately dubbed the “Mo-honey.” It’s a work of art… a work of art that I get to race!
I asked Rob to put his thoughts about the Prototype into words for me. Have a look at the evolution of the “Mo-honey.”
This cross project came together out of three distinct and disparate projects. Initially the venture started surreptitiously two years ago in part as a product of the Seven Cycles Collaborative. The design also evolved from specific aspects of our Elium SLX line, and the project even includes some of the best elements of the A6 carbon frame platform. We chose to create this bike because of our track record with the carbon tube design and ride performance on the Elium SLX, knowing we’d be able to make our lightest bike yet, while maintaining the durability for which Seven carbon frames are known.
As with the Elium line, the titanium lugs enable us to easily accommodate any frame geometry, tube size, ride characteristics, and frame options. Mo’s cross frame is a testament to this – her bike includes many of the custom aspects and features available on any other Seven model.
Recently, this bike was accused of being our “most artistic frame†yet. We definitely agree. This new model is the lightest, most technically sophisticated, and visually stimulating frame we have in our line.
We’ll have the Prototype in Northampton at the next stop of the New England Pro Cyclocross Series. Please come by to check it out. It’s amazing. Thanks, Seven. We love you guys!”
Sign up here to receive your very own copy of MM Racing’s newsletter.
Wow. Wow. And wow. Andrea Smith and her Ladies First Racing team are cleaning up the New England cross series this season. Ladies First swept the podium at this past weekend’s Down East Cyclocross Race in Maine. We couldn’t be more proud of Andrea and honored that she chooses to race on a custom Seven Mudhoney.
Meanwhile just back from the Czech Republic, Seven Cycles sponsored rider and close friend Mo Bruno Roy has been sampling the mud on the World Cup circuit. 20th in Plzen last weekend, she inched up to 18th in Tabor this weekend: both solid results walking off the plane from her tune-up here in New England and into a field jam-packed with pros. Mo is riding her brand new prototype Seven cross bike on this European tour, and we can’t wait to get her feedback. Stay tuned.
