We’ve heard professional chefs usually have simple breakfasts: oatmeal, yogurt, that sort of thing.The idea is, if you aregoing to be critical and discerningwithyour food all day, you might not feel like engaging that kind of intellect first thing in the morning. Start simple. Begin at the beginning.
Vanilla Is Good.
Wethinkwe understand.Whenwe reflect on our typical morning ride at Seven,it’s an uneventful out-and-back on the Minuteman Bikeway with a stop in Lexington Center for coffee. No traffic, no crowds, no climbs, no egos, no going fast. Just a lethargic double paceline and base conversation peppered with bad jokes and proclamations of needing to drop five pounds or racing ‘cross next season.Some might ask, “why bother?” Rides should be exciting, epic, adrenaline-filled multi-hour slugfests, right?Those types of rides are fun, but not every day.
Asa crewwhoare critical of bicycles and cycling all day and every day,we likea plain-as-vanilla morning ride.
When the snow flies and the temperature yo-yos, you have to change your game plan. At Seven, we try to stay on the bike, outside, as much as we possibly can. There’s no shame in retreating to the rollers or a trainer, but “stationary bike” is a contradiction in terms, right?
Trail riding is an even bigger challenge. On top of the snow/ice/snow mix, the sun sets early, so you need a good light. The upside to snow riding after dark is that the white ground cover amplifies your light. And you need all that light, because traction becomes a random event. Choosing the right line can mean the difference between staying on the bike and sliding down the trail on your butt.
Best also to bring a sense of humor.
To be really successfulon the snow ride, you have to change your basic expectations. That feeling of flow you get from riding dirt in summertime is not available. You have to replace it with the simple joy of being there, of being out in the woods when no one else is there, when the trees rock gently in the wind and the squirrels stay home to feast on winter stores.
It’s so nice to slip and slide and grind your way into the winter woods at night, and then stop there, turn off your lights and let the darkness close in on you. If it happens to be snowinglightly at the time, the sound of the flakes flitting against the already fallen snow is absolute magic.
Back on the bike, staying upright is the biggest challenge, that and keeping your feet dry. The reward is in the adventure, in going someplace that’s hard to get to, and in staying on your bike and moving forward when most “sensible” folks are at home, on the couch.
We’re really lucky that people are riding our bikes all year-round in all sorts of weather on every continent – except Antarctica…as far as we know. We don’t, strictly speaking, have to be out on the trail in the middle of winter, but in addition to loving the outdoors and the challenge of riding through the winter, we feel we owe it to our riders to experience what they experience. It helps us build better bikes, and of course, it makes a hot cup of coffee taste that much better.
Our showroom, such as it is, is a beautiful space, with vaulted ceilings and a generous supply of natural light. In the morning, the sun slants in through the blinds and bathes the few bikes that live there in a warm glow.
Invariably, we display our project bikes there. The Berlin Bike is often in residence. The Bicycling Magazine bike has been a frequent occupant. But, also invariably, those bikes want to go out to bike shops for display or for special events.
Today, just today, the bikes in the showroom consist of: Rex, the very first Seven, the primogenitor, the bike that spawned all others; Rob’s belt drive Cafe Racer with custom Tiberius handlebar and S&S frame couplers; Karl’s Elium SL, all carbon lightness in a pure-speed build.
We should make clear that employee bikes end up in the showroom quite a bit. Back at home, garages and storage rooms struggle to accommodate all of our cycling predilections. It ends up being a symbiotic arrangement. The showroom gets beautiful bikes to display. And our loyal Seven staff get more space for even more bikes.
There are a few frames hung in one corner, examples of our best custom paint work, and a pair of Elium SLXs with internally routed Di2 builds. They’re on their way out, demo bikes for shops who want the very latest in their own showrooms.
We joke a lot about the showroom. What do you call a bike company with no bikes? More than once, a passing tour has offered to buy an employee’s bike right off the display rack. It’s good to make a product you can’t keep in stock. It’s the problem you want to have.
When Seven Cycles put Maureen Bruno-Roy (MM racing) on their new prototype carbon fiber and titanium cyclo-cross bike, the top tube said ‘Mohoney’ – a play on the name of their Mudhoney ‘cross line. The Mohoney has since turned into the Mudhoney Pro, which will be a production bike in 2012.
The new bike, which was released as a prototype in October, incorporates additional carbon tubes into its design, when compared to the Mudhoney SLX bikes that Bruno-Roy has ridden for the past four seasons – not just the same model mind you, but the same exact frames.
While the SLX has carbon top and seat tubes, the Pro trades out its titanium seatstays, head and down tubes for carbon as well, in an effort to lighten the frame and further dampen the vibrations that reach the rider, while retaining the terrain hugging suppleness and feel of titanium.
Bruno-Roy’s Mohoney race rig was the first ’cross bike Seven assembled with carbon rear stays, which are an adaptation from the company’s Elium SLX and 622SLX road bikes. “This rear triangle was completely novel for them, in terms of ’cross,†Matt Roy, Bruno-Roy’s husband, team manager and mechanic, told BikeRadar. “So this was the first one and it became the basis for the new Mudhoney Pro.â€
Rob Vandermark, Seven’s founder, laser-cut all of the titanium lugs for the Mohoney frame by hand. On the SLX these lugs are structural but on the Mudhoney they’re there purely for aesthetic reasons, as the carbon tubes are mitered and bonded to each other. The new bike is roughly 1lb lighter than Bruno-Roy’s SLX rigs. “I don’t think they expected it to be that much lighter,” said Roy.
Bruno-Roy’s Mudhoney Pro gets the SRAM treatment, in terms of groupset and accompanying kit – Red with a compact crank and 44-tooth Thorne Components outer ring, and Zipp’s Service Course alloy cockpit. The handlebar is Zipp’s new Service Course CSL, which is made especially for smaller handed riders and has a ‘super-short reach’ and two-degree outward bend in the drops.
A compact gxp crank with 34-tooth sram inner ring and 44-tooth thorne outer ring: a compact gxp crank with 34-tooth sram inner ring and 44-tooth thorne outer ring Mo uses a 44-tooth outer ring. Since SRAM only make a 46t ring, she opts for one from Stu Thorne’s Thorne Products. Also note the ‘late model’ Shimano PD-M970 pedals, which remain more popular on the cyclo-cross circuit than the M980 model due to their better mud performance Deviations from the SRAM brand come in the form of Bruno-Roy’s TRP EuroX Mag brakes and Mavic wheel choices. She has both Cosmic Carbone Ultimate and R-SYS SL tubular models. The former are mostly used with Challenge Grifos (with both standard Challenge and FMB casings), whereas the R-SYS are set for mud with Challenge Limus and FMB Super Mud tires. Roy takes a meticulous approach to the upkeep of his wife’s bikes and it shows through in the finished product. When we saw the bike the day before the USA Cycling cyclo-cross nationals in Madison, Wisconsin it sparkled and gleamed, with touches like fully sealed and shrink wrapped cables, custom stickers on the Fi’zi:k TK saddle and an expertly taped handlebar.
Complete bike specification
Frame: Seven Mudhoney Pro prototype
Fork: Seven CX
Headset: Chris King NoThreadset, 1-1/8in
Stem: Zipp Service Course SL, 80mm, -6°
Handlebar: Zipp Service Course CSL, 40cm
Tape: Fi:zi’k Microtex Bar:tape
Front brake: TRP EuroX Mag w/ SwissStop Yellow King pads for Mavic wheels
Rear brake: TRP EuroX Mag w/ SwissStop Yellow King pads for Mavic wheels
Maureen Bruno-Roy’s Seven Mudhoney Pro prototypeBruno-Roy sticks with TRP’s old-school EuroX Mag wide-profile brakeBruno-Roy’s Mudhoney Pro carried her to a top 10 finish at the 2012 USA Cycling national championshipsSwissStop Yellow King pads for the TRP EuroX brakesA compact GXP crank with 34-tooth SRAM inner ring and 44-tooth Thorne outer ringShimano’s stalwart XTR M970 pedalFi’zi:k’s Arione Donna women’s saddleMatt Roy hand placed the Fi’zi:k logosThe Mudhoney Pro uses a carbon head tube that’s wrapped in titanium. Mo’s is just 90mm tallThe Mudhoney Pro also employs a carbon down tube…… and a carbon seat tubeThe mixed carbon-Ti seatstaysThe Ti sheaths extend so to hold the brake bossesMo’s bikeInspiration from the mechanic – that’s an alien with a ray gunThe steel caged SRAM Red front derailleurSeven’s carbon CX forkRoy uses Aquaseal on the sidewalls of Challenge’s GrifoThe Mohoney turned into the Mudhoney ProAn expert tape job with a custom finishZipp’s Service Course cockpitThe Service Course CSL bar has a compact bend with a super-short reachThe Red GXP ceramic bottom bracketRoy finds that clamp-style front derailleurs are stiffer and shift better; Seven use a set of shims to more evenly distribute the clamping load on the carbon seat tubeMechanic Matt Roy running us through Mo’s bikeCustom sealed cablesRoy uses shrink tubing found at electronics stores to seal the cable systemHe even seals the cable as it exits to the rear derailleur anchor boltMore custom sealingSeals on the front derailleur; Roy also uses the shrink wrap as a cable end cap
