You can never have too many.
Snow 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.
The Seven Cycles Showroom
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.
Bike Radar: Pro bike – Mo Bruno-Roy’s Seven Mudhoney Pro
By Matt Pacocha, US editor, in Madison, WI
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
- Front derailleur: SRAM Red w/steel cage
- Rear derailleur: SRAM Black Red
- Shifter: SRAM Black Red
- Brake levers: SRAM Black Red
- Cassette: SRAM PG1070, 12-28t
- Chain: SRAM PC1091
- Crankset: SRAM Black Red Compact, 170mm, 44/34t
- Bottom bracket: SRAM Red GXP ceramic
- Pedals: Shimano XTR PD-M970
- Wheelset: Mavic Cosmic Carbone Ultimate (or R-SYS SL w/ mud tires)
- Front tire: Challenge Grifo, 17-21psi, Aquaseal coating
- Rear tire: Challenge Grifo, 17-21psi, Aquaseal coating
- Saddle: Fi:zi’k Aliante Donna K:ium
- Seatpost: Zipp Service Course SL
Critical rider measurements
- Rider’s height: 161.9cm/5ft 4in
- Rider’s weight: 48.08kg/106lb
- Saddle height from BB, c-t: 66.4cm
- Saddle setback: 1.8cm
- Seat tube length, c-t: 50cm
- Tip of saddle to center of bar: 46.5cm
- Saddle to bar drop: 2.9cm
- Head tube length: 9cm
- Top tube length (virtual): 49.5cm
- Total bicycle weight: 7.4kg/16.33lb
Gallery Images
Shop Ride: Sevens on the Trail
Bodies at rest tend to stay at rest. That’s Newton’s first law. So you can imagine the difficulty one encounters trying to rise from a warm bed before the sun has even sighted the horizon, to fortify oneself with hot coffee, and then head out for a trail ride. That the temperature is in the mid-20s only compounds the challenge.
And yet, it’s January in New England and the trails are not yet coated in snow and ice, so we do what we can.
And all the way to the meet up, you have those second thoughts reverberating around your cranium. “What am I doing? Man, it’s cold. This is stupid. The guys probably won’t even show up. I really could have used the sleep.”
Then the guys DO show up and next thing you know the heat is coming into your legs, into your core. The leaves crunch under your treads. Frozen earth rides like asphalt in places. The wet parts have gone crusty in the hard morning freeze.
You still can’t quite believe you’re there as the sun begins to suffuse the woods with gray light, but the equation is shifting. You’ve kicked off that equal but opposite reaction, joy and inspiration pushing you down the trail, momentum interrupted only by the odd rock or root. Quite unwittingly, you’re smiling.
And then you’re at it hammer and tongs. Up steep ridges you grind, your breath coming in great billowing gusts. Your fork floats and pops as you hurdle downed trees and then you find a brook in full babble, and you brake without saying a word to your companions. You stop and listen. As much as the riding, this is what you get out of bed for.