We talk about customization a lot, but the word itself means so many different things to so many different people it becomes sort of meaningless, another bike industry buzz word that flies around but seldom lands. We thought it might be a good idea to explain howWE customize a bike using the Bicycling magazine test bike we built for Joe Lindsey as an example.
The truth is we didn’t want to send Joe an Axiom SL, initially. When he got in touch with us we were just putting the finishing touches on the 622 SLX, and the opportunity to put our newest creation into a big magazine was exciting.
But Joe didn’t want a purpose-built speed demon. He was more interested in versatility and timelessness, so we arrived, together,at the Axiom SL. It’s light, but not the lightest. It can race, or it can tour. And it showcases our double-butting process, one of the ways we tune ride characteristics to the rider.
Joe filled out our Custom Kit, a small pamphlet we developed to capture all the ideas a rider has about his or her new bike, and also to learn some things the rider might not mention otherwise. It starts with personal information, name, age, and weight, but also occupation and geographic location. We ask about what people do, so that we can get a sense for their everyday ergonomics. Do they sit at a desk all day or are they more active? Clues like this tell us a lot about how a rider will approach their new bike. Where they live gives us some idea about the roads they’ll ride, the hills or the flats, the quality of the surfaces.
Words & Photos by Natalia Boltukhova | Pedal Power Photography
Issue #14 of Cyclocross Magazine included a multi-page spread featuring some Seven bikes outfitted as randonneurs, and highlighting the riding and endurance skills of Matt Roy, David Wilcox, and John Bayley as they conquered the Green Mountain Double Century. Natalia Boltukhova of Pedal Power Photography captured some incredible images of these guys at every step of this grueling race, and she also wrote many tongue-in-cheek captions that, along with her photos, provide a vivid picture of that epic day. In the competitors’ own words, it was: “Insane. Nuts. Brutal. Inhumane.”
A little bit about the bikes:
John Bayley rode his Seven titanium Axiom SL with couplers. This bike is set up as a true Randonneur bike.
Matt Roy rode a Seven titanium Axiom SL Randonneur bike.
David Wilcox rode his Steel Vanilla Randonneuring bike.
Matt Roy had this to say about his experience on the Axiom SL Randonneur bike that day:
“The Axiom SL Rando project bike was great… I beat the living hell out of it. I wore through a set of brake pads in the first 100 miles. I can’t believe it showed up on my porch on Thursday morning and I put it through ungodly conditions less than 48 hours later. It handled amazingly well, climbed great, descended great, felt great!”
Read on to get the full stats of the race, including calories consumed and burned, feet ascended, and number of brake pads replaced, and to see the gallery of Natalia’s beautiful photographs.
Official Data
205 Miles
80% dirt roads
25,000 fine Vermont feet of vertical climbing
[Winning] Team:Matt Roy, David Wilcox, John Bayley
Date: June 11, 2011
Start time: 4:01am
Projected finish time: 7:00pm-8:00pm
Actual finish time: 11:01pm
Weather Conditions: typical New England (rain showers, low 60s, overcast)
Total actual distance: 208.8 miles (according to Garmin 705)
Elevation gained: Approximately 25,000 feet
Total time: 18:52:27
Total ride time: 16:14:12
Average speed: 12.9mph
Calories consumed: approximately 6,150 (according to Matt Roy’s calculations—and he is some sort of medical scientist)
Calories burned: 15,810 (according to Garmin 705)
Flat tires: 1 (pinched on a rocky descent)
Brake pads replaced: 2 sets on Matt’s bike; David confessed he could have used a new set in the rear and has since replaced both sets in his bike; John attested to his brakes still having some life left over after the finish, but her remains unable to perform typing on his computer due to sore hands from braking on descents.
Hypothermia: barely avoided
Support crew: Maureen Bruno-Roy (Matt’s wife and one of New England’s top cyclocrossers in her own right, with super-human organizing skills, mind reading powers, brilliant off-road driving abilities, unsurpassed stamina and positivity-charging powers) and Natalia Boltukhova (photographer, and water bottle-and-what-have-you passer from the car)
Green Mountain Double Century, Or: Pretty Boys Explore Jens Voigtitude and Epicness on Vermont’s Gravel RoadsI knew Irishmen were a little weird. I knew their accent makes it sound like they put an exclamation mark followed by a question mark followed by an ellipsis at the end of everything they say. Here’s John Bayley’s top secret spin the night before the Green Mountain Double Century (GMDC)The riders started out in rain showers and pitch black darkness—so dark, in fact, that it was only later, when looking through the photos, that I was able to see the cool pine needle pattern on the ground and the excited faces of the riders rolling out.One of the very few paved sections of the GMDC, at the beginning of the ride as the sun started to rise. David Wilcox’s generator-hub-powered lights came in handy that day, as the sun never did fully emerge from behind the rain clouds. The fourth rider hung with the Great Trio’s deceivingly effortless pedal strokes, but was mercilessly dropped shortly after the shot.The women of the Grafton Village Convenience Store went to great lengths to provide our intrepid, muddy, wet, hungry adventurers with fresh egg ‘n’ cheese sandwiches and, “still warm out of the oven” perfect blueberry muffins. The boys filled the pauses between devouring the country deliciousness by entertaining the locals, who were taken by surprise with this little tornado of cycling adventure.The three musketeers! Don’t try this at home.Matt showing off his brake pad that lived a very short but adventurous life.A glorious road surface, typical of 80 percent of the route.Egg sandwiches taste like heaven. Fact: Matt Roy is cute. Fact: it was only a matter of putting together a really long, mixed terrain journey so those two could get some quality time together.The joy of suffering side by side.Perhaps the most grueling uphill section.This place had both kinds of paintings: winter landscapes and roosters. But mostly roosters.As the darkness ineluctably started to claim its throne, it all went downhill—literally, and for a while. Adroit and high-speed bunny hops over the occasional bumps, holes, rocks and logs were ahead, despite exhaustion and the poor visibility in the never-ending rain.They are nearly hypothermic, hungry, exhausted, almost no strength or spirit left for smiles. Here they have to make a call: cut it a bit short and just continue straight on paved road to the finish line, or stick to the route and quite possibly make a few wrong turns but finish as planned. Matt: “Argh, [p]uck it! What’s an extra 18 miles at this point? Let’s do it WHY NOT!?”
Team Seven’s Mary McConneloug and Mike Broderick have taken Horace Greeley’s oft-cited advice to “Go West” and are now happily ensconced in their winter training location: Sebastopol, California.
Upon arrival in the Bay Area, Mike and Mary jumped into the Single Speed Cross Championships on their Sevens. Mike converted Mary’s Mudhoney and his Sola 29er to single speeds the day before the race, and they both proceeded to dominate the course: Mike took 2nd place and Mary took 3rd. While this race was seemingly wacky – costumes were encouraged – it was also technical and challenging.
Mary and Mike will wrap up 2011 by continuing their training in Northern California, with its bounty of incredible trails to explore and conquer. They kick off their 2012 race season with the Trans Andes Challenge in Pucon, Chile on 23 January, and will begin a European racing tour in the early spring, including three Olympic qualifying races in April and May. Their full race schedule is below, stay tuned to this 7 for updates and results.
The 2012 Summer Olympic Games will be held in London, England in August, and if Mary makes the team, this will be her third consecutive Olympic Games. We’ll keep you posted on all of Mike and Mary’s doings, and you can follow them on their very well-written Mary and Mike’s Riding Blog.
Date
Race
Series
Results
1.23-1.28
Trans Andes Challenge, Pucon, Chile
3.17-3.18
UCI Mountain Bike World Cup Cross Country #1, Pietermaritzberg, South Africa
UCI Mountain Bike World Cup Series
4.7
Pan American Championships, Mexico
4.14-4.15
Olympic Qualifying Race
UCI Mountain Bike World Cup Cross Country #2, Houffalize, Belgium
UCI Mountain Bike World Cup Series
5.12-5.13
Olympic Qualifying Race
UCI Mountain Bike World Cup Cross Country #3, Nove Mesto Na Morave, Czech Republic
UCI Mountain Bike World Cup Series
5.19-5.20
Olympic Qualifying Race
UCI Mountain Bike World Cup Cross Country #4, La Bresse, France
UCI Mountain Bike World Cup Series
6.23-6.24
UCI Mountain Bike World Cup Cross Country #5, Mont Sainte-Anne, Quebec, Canada
UCI Mountain Bike World Cup Series
6.30-7.1
UCI Mountain Bike World Cup Cross Country #6, Windham, New York
UCI Mountain Bike World Cup Series
7.28-7.29
UCI Mountain Bike World Cup Cross Country #7, Val d'Isere, France
In September of 2004, I was fresh out of grad school and substitute teaching in order to afford my lavish lifestyle of living at home, eating my parents’ food, driving their cars, drinking their wine, and searching for full time employment on their computer. At the time, I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do, but had a few traditional Monster.com searches that I checked daily, all the while wasting an exorbitant amount of time on fun searches using words that had no hope of yielding a legitimate job. One time I searched the word ‘bike’ which produced mostly garbage, but oddly enough, had an interesting hit. Seven Cycles, in Watertown, MA needed a customer service rep.
I had worked in three bike shops, led several biking trips for kids and college freshmen, and thanks to subbing, interning, and student teaching in a public school, felt like I had enough patience to cut it in the world of customer service. Before I sent out a cover letter, I thought I’d make the forty-minute trek to the nearest Seven Cycles retailer to see one in person for the first time.
The store was across from a town green, and their window suggested they meant business if not bidness. Once inside, I was overwhelmed; Merlins, Litespeeds, Looks, and a variety of other rare bikes littered the floor. I took a lap. When the salesman approached, I asked where the Sevens were, and he said something to the effect of, “Seven? Sweet bikes, but they won’t make you one until they know your astrological sign. We don’t have any on the floor, but I’ll grab you a brochure.” I didn’t mention why I was interested, but thanked him for the brochure, picked up an Apple Cinnamon original Powerbar and walked across the street to a bench. I probably spent an hour thumbing through the catalog while indulging in culinary perfection.
2004 Brochure
The slate blue cover was understated and classy, and the mantra, ‘one bike. yours.‘ sounded like they might care about me or at least someone considering owning one of their bikes. The first bike to be featured in 2004 was an Elium. Without looking I can tell you that it was outfitted with Ksyrium SL’s, a Dura Ace kit, and a titanium stem. It even had a pie plate, which was just as odd then as it is now. I took in every detail. That night I fired off a cover letter and a resume to Seven and wondered if they’d respond.
They did. At the time, I never would have thought that just seven years and two months later I could say that I helped play a small part in each of the eight brochures we have produced since.
When 2012 edition went off to print I had a Proustian moment that brought me back to that day in the park. Last Friday afternoon, the first pallet of completed brochures was delivered, but you would have thought Tom and Gisele walked through the door based on the smiles and general jubilance.
This year’s brochure is especially exciting because nearly everyone had a part in its creation. I’m a team guy after all. Rob, Kirk, Jennifer, Matt, Stef, Krissy, Joe, John, Dan, Neil, and many others all helped to make it happen. No outside help, other than the printer, laid a hand on it. I think that’s something to be proud of.
We’ll mail you a free one if you fill out the request form online. For full effect, I recommend reading it while snacking on a Powerbar. Let us know what you think.
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.
We came up with the Mudhoney PRO.
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.
