Seven Cycles – Page 131 – U.S. Built Custom Bicycles in Titanium and Titanium-Carbon Mix

Check Out Seven’s Development Squad Facebook Page

'cross racer — Squad Superstar Matt Engel

Seven’s Development Squad is ramping up, getting ready for cross season and racing across the country. Check out their exploits on Facebook.

The Seven Development Squad Facebook page is really active: each member posts their training plans, results, product reviews, photos, 7 entries, videos, and other content as the season unfolds. You can even add your own comments or pose questions for them to answer. We want this to serve as an interactive space open to anyone interested in the team. Click here and become a fan today. It’s the best way to get up-to-the-minute details on the Squad’s racing schedules and to see what’s new.

Bike Radar: Seven Axiom SL Di2 review

Axiom SL Di2

Seven’s titanium frame-building skills are superb, but what sets the Axiom apart is not the attention to detail but the ride.

The Axiom SL is no comfort biased, all-day mile-eater, this is a race bike through and through. The set-up is truly aggressive; this bike wants to go fast.

The front end responds instantly to input both through the pedals and in changes of direction. It’s more at home in fast criterium-style racing than long climbs over big cols, although the frame does a superb job of dulling vibrations and chatter from poor road surfaces.

The Di2 drivetrain is faultless and Seven has done a superb job of routing the wiring internally through the chassis. Mavic’s Cosmic Carbone clinchers may seem a strange choice on a titanium bike, but their weight penalty over a standard wheel is easily offset by the aero advantage that comes into play once you’re up to speed, and you can hold a high pace for much longer.

It’s easy to heap praise on what is a superb bike, but in a world obsessed with carbon bikes, the Axiom proves it’s possible to make a full-fat, Flat-out fast race machine from titanium, a material all too quickly dismissed as the choice for comfort and distance bikes designed to go longer but slower.

As with all Sevens, the build is fully custom, and UK distributor Sigma will design any build to suit your requirements.

What makes the Axiom special?

Rear dropout

Di2

Seven’s own titanium dropout is machined from solid billet, it’s larger (and thicker) than you would expect on a typical high-end race bike, but this is what keeps the back end anchored, all adding to the Axiom’s solid feel.

Di2 integration

Shimano’s Di2 flagship electronic shifting is the future and the Axiom has fully custom internal routing for the Di2’s cabling. It’s brilliantly executed, entering the frame on the down-tube and exiting at both the BB and chainstay.

Build quality

Di2

Tube welds are clean and uniform, and the braze-ons are perfect. The dropouts and head-tube have both also been machined to perfection, showing the high level of craftsmanship that’s gone into this beautiful frame.

Fork

The Seven’s carbon fork provides the perfect balance of vibration damping and sharp handling. It’s custom fnished to match the paintwork (Seven offers a range of 20 stock colours and a vast array of schemes).

Specifications

Name:	Axiom SL Di2 (11)
Built by:	Seven
Price:	$10,899.00
Weight (kg):	8
Frame Material:	Custom 3al/2.5v Ti, Di2 specific
Fork Model:	Seven carbon
Rear Derailleur Model:	Shimano Di2
Front Derailleur Model:	Shimano Di2
Shifters Model:	Shimano Di2
Rims Model:	Mavic Cosmic Carbone SL
Saddle Model:	Selle Italia Flite SL
Seatpost Model:	FSA K Force carbon
Stem Model:	FSA
Handlebar Model:	FSA Alu Wing Pro

More info on the Axiom SL

Assabet Technical School Visits Seven

Neil Mansfield is a friend of Seven and was a coworker of ours back in the day when several of us worked at Merlin. He has since become a favorite teacher to many kids at a technical high school in the suburbs west of Boston, where he teaches welding, metal fabrication and blacksmithing. Every year Neil takes a group of very excited students on a field trip to Seven. The kids are not only excited to be out of school, they genuinely seem to enjoy spending time with us in the shop. They ask lots of questions: everything from how much a frame costs to how to get a job at Seven when they graduate. The highlights every year are our welding demo and Skunk, our resident bicycle chopper gang leader.

Elle Decor – Celebrity Style: Shortlist: Glen D. Lowry 12 things MoMA’s director can’t live without (excerpt)

Written by Ingrid Abramovitch

Elium SL

With an apartment in New York’s Museum Tower, Glenn D. Lowry, director of the adjacent Museum of Modern Art, doesn’t literally live above the shop—but just about. “I have a 400-foot commute,” he says. “I love it.” If he burns few calories getting to work, he more than compensates with his spare-time pursuits: This former bike and ski racer still engages in both sports with vigor. Married since the age of 19 to his wife, Susan, a Montreal-born landscape architect, Lowry was enrolled as a pre-med student when he took a freshman course in Islamic and Indian art at Williams College. “The first slide went up, and I never looked back,” says Lowry, who became a scholar of Islamic art before assuming leadership of the Art Gallery of Ontario and then MoMA. “This is an utterly thrilling, enjoyable, engaging job,” he says of his role as head of one of the world’s most beloved art institutions. “It tests all of your skills, all of the time.”

1. Seven Cycles Road Bike (Elium SL)

A well-made bike is a thing of beauty—and less expensive than a midlife crisis.

More info on the Elium SL

Departures: Must-Have Bikes for 2011

By Glenn E. Bo

Halcyon

After a memorable winter that bestowed an unusually high amount of snow upon us here on the East Coast, country and city roads now beckon, and they have never looked more appealing. If you’ve spun the winter away on a stationary bike or are still hibernating in a gym, awaiting warmer weather, give yourself a nudge and head over to the nearest bike shop. Even if you’re content with your current ride but have yet to roll it out the door this season, a visit pays dividends, for there’s nothing like the smell of a bike shop in spring to motivate oneself to hit the road. A caveat: The scent is intoxicating and you may return home with a new bike, which is not necessarily a bad thing, especially if it’s one of the bikes featured here.

If you’ve ever longed to throw your legs across a custom bicycle, 2011 is the year to realize your dream. Custom-built frames, tailored to your body and riding style compete effectively on price with higher-end offerings from larger manufacturers, provided the components are selected wisely. Clothes are tailored, cars are optioned and living spaces are fashioned to suit one’s personality, so why overlook something as personal, functional and beautiful as a bike? There’s a new crop of builders creating stunning machines that won’t require riders to be on a waiting list for years.

No one bike does everything well (though some come close to being great all-around performers), so if you can have only one bike in your stable, be sure it’s designed around the type of riding you do most often. While we lust over the latest carbon and custom offerings just as the Tifosi do with the release of each new Ferrari, we know that staying focused yields a two-wheeled companion that will see the most use and deliver the most enjoyment over the long haul.

We were once told that “adults don’t take three-hour bike rides—only kids do.” But choose the right bike and three hours will seem like child’s play. Whether you’re new to road riding, an enthusiast looking to upgrade or a club rider seeking more performance, the bikes on this list merit attention and will perform admirably. It doesn’t hurt that they also have looks, performance and personality to boot. The only thing they lack is you.

Made-to-Measure: Seven Cycles Halcyon

Touring cyclists, take note: This could be the last bike you’ll buy. Seven only sells frames and, in tandem with your local dealer, you provide it with all the measurements and data it needs, in addition to completing its exhaustive questionnaire, to tailor a frame specifically for your body. When completed and shipped to your dealer, you choose the optimum components to complete the bike. Seven also utilizes manufacturing methods dedicated to minimizing environmental impact for a truly green ride. Specify cantilever brakes for assured stopping power—that is, if you ever want to stop.

More info on the Halcyon