The Seven weld bead may be the most misunderstood aspect of our work. It looks so simple, uniform, and beautiful (or so many people tell us).
Getting to this serene point began 35 years ago when Tim Delaney, Seven’s Lead Technical Welder & Teacher, developed the titanium welding techniques that most builders use today.
We’ve refined and improved our welding techniques countless times over the years. We’ve run countless in-house fatigue tests to enhance our weld durability and to ensure we thoroughly test any improvement concepts.
The weld bead beauty you can see is good; it is a sign of care and quality. The underlying engineering and testing you never see are what make Sevens tougher and truer than any other.
These images of Stef welding show a few examples of the intricate techniques we employ. During her nearly 30 years in the industry, Stef has welded more than 10,000 titanium frames, more than any other human. Regardless, Stef’s work is all about quality, not quantity.
As part of our Special Projects Team, Stef is responsible for welding Seven’s one-off SOURCE Endurance Race Gravel project bike, shown here. Seven’s special projects are frame designs that go beyond Seven’s already extreme customization. In this case, as relates to welding, the SOURCE project has tube interface geometry and tube wall manipulation we’re combining in new ways; it requires nuanced, self-aware welding skills. Stef is the perfect person for the SOURCE project.
Most of Seven’s framebuilding efforts are invisible. That’s okay. We know what we did.
Tube specification accuracy, material cleanliness, as-machined frame alignment, joint fit-up, etc. These types of hidden precisions throughout our tack welding process are fundamental to building a strong straight frame. Equally important, these obscured cornerstones provide the beginnings of Seven’s legendary ride.
Stef understands these nuances better than most. She is part of our Special Projects Team. With nearly 30 years of frame welding experience, she is one of Seven’s Master Welders. Here Stef works through the tack welding procedure for our SOURCE Endurance Race Gravel project bike.
Skip is part of our Special Projects Team. He is Seven’s mostMaster Framebuilder, with more than 30 years of custom machining experience. Here he completes a one-off project code named SOURCE Endurance Race Gravel. The SOURCE integrates a number of details and advanced features in a new combination we’ve not yet offered publicly. Details to follow. And available soon for all.
We’ve been working on a new project bike code-named SOURCE. It’ll be public soon. In the meantime, here are a few images of Skip working on the frame’s rear triangle.