Seven Cycles – Page 123 – U.S. Built Custom Bicycles in Titanium and Titanium-Carbon Mix

Bicycling – Dream Bikes: Rides Like a Dream: Axiom SL

Traditional Ti with Unmatched Heritage

Since opening in 1997, Massachusetts-based Seven Cycles has produced everything from belt-drive commuters to carbon-fiber time-trial bikes. But Seven’s beating heart has always been custom titanium, a legacy of founder Rob Vandermark’s long tenure at one-time industry leader Merlin Metalworks. When he left, he took his vision and expertise (not to mention several employees). If you want a Merlin today, you buy a Seven. The Axiom SL, Seven’s most traditional and versatile frame, is a study in the company’s philosophy: Fit and ride quality are paramount, while character and performance are almost infinitely malleable. A dream bike is not just a machine: it’s a deeply personal expression of a rider’s self, entrusted to master craftsmen to interpret and make real. We do not choose lightly whom to entrust with those dreams; with our test Axiom SL, as with thousands of frames before it, Seven has earned that trust.
The Axiom is not going to be mistaken for a top-drawer carbon race bike. It flexes, but in doing so shows it’s alive. Seven can tune even more stiffness into the bike, but I wanted a more balanced ride. This bike proves that you don’t need carbon for performance. Like other custom shops, Seven can build in a BB30 bottom bracket, but this bike is wonderfully reverent, with a traditional 68mm BB shell and a straight 1 1/8-inch steerer tube with a standard King headset. Though the bike isn’t the lightest, at 16.04 pounds for a 54cm, it climbs as well as, or better than, bikes that weight much less.
This Axiom uses a very neat Di2 setup, with just three holes in the frame—near the head tube for the wiring harness, and at the seat tube and chainstay for each of the derailleur wires. The battery is housed in the seat post, which gives the bike a clean and stealthy look. Should you ever decide to go back to mechanical, you could get cable stops on the frame even after the fact.

Visiting Seven: Metalsmith Grace Hilliard-Koshinsky

backpack made of steel — Photo courtesy of Grace Hilliard-Koshinsky

Recently, sculptor Grace Hilliard-Koshinsky visited Seven for a guided tour of our shop. When Grace arrived, we noticed that she had an unusual accessory: a backpack made of steel.

Our interest piqued, we took the opportunity to learn about Graceâ€™s process in creating this trompe-lâ€™Å“il sculpture. Grace fabricated her hollow steel backpack using 20 and 18 gauge mild sheet. After hand-forging round stock into a swage, the â€˜zippersâ€™ were plug-welded onto the backpack. Assembly was achieved through a combination of TIG and Gas welding. Grace worked with Elizabeth Brim, a Blacksmith who has developed a method of inflating metal like a balloon while it is red hot. This technique, combined with subsequent forming and alteration, achieved the look of a worn steel backpack.

As a metalsmith and maker, Graceâ€™s work ranges in size from jewelry scale to larger sculptural objects. She works with ferrous and non-ferrous metals in addition to other materials such as wood, fabric and enamel. According to Grace one of her goals in her work is to alter our visual expectations and in doing so, â€œto comment on the notion that the value assigned to materials is directly tied to whether people or objects are kept or given away.â€

Itâ€™s great when visitors to Seven can enlighten us, and that is one of the many reasons we enthusiastically encourage customers and anyone interested in observing our designers, engineers, craftspeople, and service professionals in action to get in touch with us and schedule a visit to our Watertown headquarters.

Thanks so much to Grace for sharing her work and philosophy with us!

Cyclocross Magazine: The Green Mountain Double Century

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)

Three riders on a Vermont Road — Green Mountain Double Century, Or: Pretty Boys Explore Jens Voigtitude and Epicness on Vermont’s Gravel Roads

John Bayless superman on his Seven — I 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)

Green Mountain Double Century start — 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.

Cyclsts at sunrise — 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.

cyclsist eating at Grafton Village Convenience — 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.

three rides smiling and holding hands — The three musketeers! Don’t try this at home.

brka pad wear — 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.

Matt Roy eats an egg sandwich — 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.

Suffering side-by-side — The joy of suffering side by side.

Three riders ascending — Perhaps the most grueling uphill section.

Paintings for Sale — This place had both kinds of paintings: winter landscapes and roosters. But mostly roosters.

three riders fly downhill towards dusk — 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.

Near the End — 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!?”

Mike Broderick and Mary McConneloug 2012 Race Schedule

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
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	UCI Mountain Bike World Cup Series
8.11-8.12	2012 Summer Olympic Games, London, England
9.5-9.9	XC World Champoinships, Saalfelden, Austria
Cyclocross Races will be added, stay tuned!

Matt Roy’s Perspective from the Pit

Mo at the races — Matt Sending Mo off to the races at US Cross Nationals

As a proud sponsor of MM Racing, we were excited to see that while Mo Bruno Roy was cleaning up and making the podium at this past weekend’s Jingle Cross in Iowa, the other half of MM Racing, endurance racer and chief of the MM racing pit crew Matt Roy, got some accolades and attention from Podium Insight. Along with his duties as a part of MM Racing, Matt is a PhD candidate at Harvard Medical School, he also wrenches for the Cannondale p/b Cyclocrossworld.com team, working for Stu Thorne.

Lyne Lamoureux of Podium Insight asked Matt some important questions, about racing in the US versus racing in Europe, what it’s like to be in the pits at various races around the country, and from the pit crew’s perspective, what are the key elements to having a successful race. Typical of Matt, his responses were both enlightening and funny!

Lyne asked Matt for some tales from the pit:

“This isnâ€™t super funny but I see Marianne Vosâ€™ dad in the pit a lot. He speaks Flemish and essential no English but heâ€™s just the friendliest guy, we always smile and say hello. Marianne flatted and he didnâ€™t have enough air in one of her tires, I offered him my air pump but it was in PSI and he uses BAR, and I didnâ€™t have a smartphone at the time, and I couldnâ€™t do the conversion for him for whatever 1.8 bar was. So the two of us were using pantomime to try to figure out what psi and trying to estimate what barâ€¦ it was just a funny little bit of lost in translation. He ended just getting a hand pump from somebody.”

Matt also provided some insight into his learning curve as to essentials needed in the pit:

“I donâ€™t bring everything. If you saw what I brought to the pit in the first National Championships compared to what I bring now, I have pared down dramatically. I always bring a pair of shoes for Mo, thatâ€™s a worst case scenario if she loses a shoe in the mud, I can give her a new shoe. Thatâ€™s one totally excessive thing that I still stick with. We have two bikes, and sometimes we have three. You shouldnâ€™t have to do major repairs, and those major repairs only in case of crashes because you have faith in your equipment going in, you know you shouldnâ€™t have to worry about something coming loose. Itâ€™s typically mud or crashes. So for me, I always bring my airgun and I also bring lube and a towel because you donâ€™t want to grab a bike with wet handlebars.”

Click here for more of this interesting and informative interview with Matt Roy, and good luck to MM Racing this weekend at NBX Gran Prix of Cross 2011 in Warwick, Rhode Island!