Seven – Page 119 – Seven Cycles

Forbes: Why You Need a Custom Road Bike

By Larry Olmsted: The Great Life, Forbes

If you like riding a bicycle, you will love riding a custom made bicycle.

Not everything is better in a handmade custom version: I’d rather fly in a jet from Boeing or Airbus than one some artisan made in a garage. But when it comes to road bikes, even the best off-the-rack bikes, even the models the top pros use, can’t compare to good custom versions. If riders in the Tour de France did not have paying sponsors, they would likely all ride custom models (and many ride custom versions of “stock bikes” you can’t buy anyway, or totally custom bikes by others painted to look like those from their sponsor). In fact, I was just in Mellow Johnny’s, the Texas bike shop owned by the most famous cyclist in history, 7-time Tour de France champ Lance Armstrong, and they had a hand-built custom frame on display with a placard saying that it was the first bike Lance EVER bought with his own money – and that was a recent purchase.

Continue reading “Forbes: Why You Need a Custom Road Bike”

Bastille Day Ride, Burgers, Beers, & Bikes with Seven & Signature Cycles

Team Rockstar on a climb — Photo courtesy of Mark Heithoff

RSVP HERE!! On 14 July, Bastille Day, Seven Cycles will visit Signature Cycles in Greenwich, CT. It’s going to be a fun evening celebrating a mix of liberty, velocity, and fraternity – and beer and bbq. Here’s what we have in store:

Seven special offers for those attending the evening:

If you place an order for a Seven at the event, or before close of business Sunday 24 July – the final day of the Tour de France, Seven will provide:

Free upgrade to Seven’s First Priority Production Program at no charge – a value of $750-$900 AND
50% off of a custom paint job – a value of $350-$750; OR
50% off of the 3-year protection plan – a value of $247

The Evening’s Timeline:

5:15 – 6:30 pm: Bastille Day Ride. On the 14th, the Tour de France will be at stage 12, its midpoint and the first major climb: a brutal ascent from Cugnaux to Luz-Ardiden. This 211km stage ends with two Hors Categorie climbs – including the Tourmalet – that are sure to be memorable. In honor of the Tour, join us with a symbolic “Storming of the Bastille.” The Signature Cycles crew and members of their team will lead a short and fast tempo ride, starting at 5:15pm sharp. We won’t be climbing any “beyond category” climbs but we will be feeling pretty independent.
Test Ride Bikes: At this event, you’ll have a rare opportunity to test ride a Seven! We’re bringing our fleet of demo bikes, with several models and sizes available. If you’d like to try a Seven on this ride, please email us so we can have a bike ready to go for you. We’re certain that all the test bikes will be spoken for prior to the ride so plan ahead and reserve your bike now. R.S.V.P. to reserve a Seven demo bike.
6:30 pm: Outdoor Grilling & Cold Beer. Signature Cycles will be grilling up burgers on the patio for omnivores and vegetarians alike. And of course, the cold beer will be flowing!
7:00 – 7:30 pm: Talk with Rob Vandermark of Seven Cycles. Rob will talk about some of the new and exciting projects we’ve got going on at Seven Cycles. You’ll get an exclusive sneak peek into the cutting edge designs that Seven Cycles is working on for the upcoming seasons. After the talk Rob will hang out to chat about anything and everything bike related: materials, customization, and of course, bad movies.
See some rare Sevens: We’re bringing four unique, diverse, and interesting bikes to the Signature event.
- High-Design Show Bike: The Berlin Bike – a fun bike that has been featured at the Berlin Bike Show and will be featured in German GQ.
- Special Edition Endurance Bike: Randonneur Bike – our prototype for this fast-growing segment of serious riding.
- Special Edition Travel Bike: Single Speed Belt Drive – a perfect travel bike to bring along on your summer vacation.
- Pro Cyclocross Bike: Three-Time National Champion Mo Bruno‘s Cyclo-Cross Bike. Cross season is coming up fast!
7:30 – 8:00 pm:Customer Bike Portraits: And to continue with the Bastille Day theme, Signature Cycles will send everyone away with a souvenir: a professional portrait of you and your bike. So be sure to bring your bicycle for a photo – or maybe you’ll go home with your very own brand new Seven!

Signature Cycles Employee with his Serotta — Get A Portrait With Your Bike!

So whether you live in Connecticut, the tri-state area, or beyond, you won’t want to miss this unique event on 14 July. You’ll have the rare opportunity to test ride a Seven, meet Rob, and mingle with fellow cyclists – and to have you and your bike commemorated with a professional portrait.
Allez!

Don’t forget to R.S.V.P. for this one-time opportunity.

Check Out Seven’s Development Squad Facebook Page

'cross racer — Squad Superstar Matt Engel

Seven’s Development Squad is ramping up, getting ready for cross season and racing across the country. Check out their exploits on Facebook.

The Seven Development Squad Facebook page is really active: each member posts their training plans, results, product reviews, photos, 7 entries, videos, and other content as the season unfolds. You can even add your own comments or pose questions for them to answer. We want this to serve as an interactive space open to anyone interested in the team. Click here and become a fan today. It’s the best way to get up-to-the-minute details on the Squad’s racing schedules and to see what’s new.

Lucky Number Seven

By Peter Easton

Road Magazine

In the contemporary world of bicycle manufacturing, the majority of artistry that defines the mainstream production of a bicycle can be found primarily in glossy advertisements and flashy animated websites. In some instances, the actual product consists of very little art outside of a paint job. For some factories and warehouses, their stalls are filled with endless rows of frames hanging in repetition, barely distinguishable from each other. The art of framebuilding has seen many pioneers, those artists and sculptures who set out to carve their niche in a specialized segment of the industry, each with their own talent, materials and eventually, customer loyalty that helped fill orders and spread the word. But itâ€™s no secret that a life as a framebuilder is a labor of love, and not the glamorous lifestyle some photos may portray. Tight margins, endless hours and demanding customers are just a few of the issues the struggling torchbearer has faced, and many have folded, with little success as a business.

Toward the end of the 1990s, a significant shift in frame building and materials was in full swing, and titanium had become the exotic metal everyone had to have, and few builders had expertise in. Light, resilient, compliant and with a high strength to fatigue ratio, titanium bike manufacturing sprung up across the country in an effort to capitalize on the demand, explore new possibilities, and advance the development of an emerging technology. While many looked closely at how to produce a large number of frames with cheaply sourced titanium, one builder felt the time was right to take a larger look at how to develop the infrastructure to build a large number of frames one at a time.

Continue reading “Lucky Number Seven”

Berlin Show Bike

Berlin Bike full

Designed specifically for the city of Berlin, this urban bike is equipped to do anything in the city. This Elium SLX show bike is one part commuter, one part urban bike, one part utility bike, and three parts style.

For the commuter, this bike includes:

Belt drive for an extremely low-maintenance drive train
Internally geared hub
Full fenders and belt guard modified and painted to match the bike

For utility purposes, this machine has:

Integrated custom titanium rear rack
Custom titanium double kickstand
Lighting system uses a hub dynamo generator

The style of this bike is very utility-urban:

Unification of titanium and carbon fiber
Integrated headlight and taillight
Very stylized custom Seven Tiberius handlebar
Every element of the bike is customized, tailored painted and matched in some way

For urban riding, this bike provides:

Compact titanium custom flat bars
Super light construction- even with the fenders and rack