Seven – Page 64 – Seven Cycles

The Company That Rides Together

OK. so it was 24F when we met at the shop, and ok, it was still dark, but it was Lily’s last day, so we pulled on our warmers and shoe covers and rolled out 13 strong. It’s not often we get that many of us out together on one ride, and it’s too bad that it took Lily leaving to bring us all together, but it was a solid reminder why we do what we do. Having this be a part of our work indicates that, somewhere along the line, we’ve made good life choices.

The Union Square Donuts that arrived just before 9am (thanks, Heather!!), when we rolled back into the parking lot, and the two vats of coffee that came along with them just stoked the joy of a Friday morning ride with friends. And ok, we’re all at our various machines and desks now. We’re working. But we know WHY we’re working, and it is good.

It’s sad to lose Lily to the Pacific Northwest, where she will no doubt thrive on the many trails, in the many donut shops and cafes, but we’re all grateful for the time we got to spend with her, and for the way she brought us together this morning to do what we do.

#TBT

For our tenth anniversary, we built some commemorative bikes. They had special paint schemes, special seat tube collars and special, laser cut headbadges, like the one above, which we found this week under one of the desks in the office, like a doubloon from a Spanish galleon washing up on a Florida beach.

What Comes Around

The circle is a powerful symbol and a strong shape. Our friends at Circles Japan commissioned this paint scheme, dubbed, aptly enough, “the circle,” for a run of road and cyclocross bikes we did with them. Shinya Tanaka, Circles’ owner and big-thinker, loves the idea of iterative learning and improvement, of putting back into his cycling community all the good things he takes out. We iterated this scheme in five different colourways for him.

There are a lot of great pictures of these bikes here. It is good to work with people you can call friends, people who can teach you about their cycling culture and reinforce what we all, as bike lovers, have in common. Watch this space for more collaborations with Circles and others in our extended circle of friends.

Images: Ryota Kemmochi

Race Stays for Race Days

With road season on the horizon here in the Northern Hemisphere (they’re already racing Down Under), we are turning more of our attention to the growing list of road bikes on our build schedule. For riders who like to go fast, the go-to material of the last decade has been carbon fiber, and the reason given most is its inherent stiffness. Many of the race bikes we build incorporate carbon fiber in some way, either in the rear triangle, as in our Elium SL, or more extensively, as with our 622 SLX. Those frames can be lighter than a double-butted Ti frame, though much of that difference gets lost once the bike is completely built. Light wheels and/or components make a bigger difference to overall bike weight than the frame.

All of those bikes, the Elium SL, the 622 SLX and the double-butted Axiom SL, have titanium chain stays. We think they make for a smoother, more durable bike than carbon stays, but we have wanted to be able to make them stiffer for some time.

Now we are offering 1″ chain stays that will fit a tire as large as 28mm. These stays are more than 50% stiffer than a 7/8″ stay. That’s a big jump for a small gain in diameter. We are thinking of them as race stays for race days, for our riders who want all the stiffness and power transfer they can get out of their drivetrain, but also want the comfort and durability of a metal bike.

Some Sundays

It’s a funny post title for a Friday, but Some Sundays is how we think about the great rides of the year. Some Sundays everything is perfect, the weather, the group, the route. It all comes together in that alchemical mix. You look up from the handlebars and realize you’re having as much fun as a responsible adult has any right to. And then you’re sitting in the cafe or on the couch in the afterglow, caffeine (or beer) and endorphins swirling around in your head, the happiness of the hard-riding cyclist.

On Fridays here at Seven, there is a constant chatter about who’s riding what over the weekend. Some will ride in the woods, others on the road. Some will join big groups out of one of the local shops. Others will ride in twos and threes, everyone finding their spot, scheduling around commitments, family obligations, errands, riding at night sometimes, for fun, or because there’s just no other time.

Like you, we all aim to ride every Sunday, but life gets in the way. Despite what we all say, there are things more important than riding bikes. But some Sundays it all comes together, even when Sunday is Saturday, or Friday, or Monday morning before work.

Here’s to a great January Sunday morning ride for all of us.