Seven Cycles – Page 46 – U.S. Built Custom Bicycles in Titanium and Titanium-Carbon Mix

Introducing Treeline

It is tempting to say we have a fat bike. Riders have been asking us for one for a few seasons now. But, what we have instead is Treeline, not just a fat bike but an all-season mountain bike with the ability to run super wide tires like most fat bikes, but also the adaptability to be a 27.5+ war horse or a long haul bikepacking rig.

Treeline can be a flat bar bike or a drop bar bike. It can run suspended or rigid. It can take racks. It can be built fully thru-axle or with QR front and rear. In short, Treeline is a fat bike worthy of being a Seven, capable of fulfilling all your winter dreams without being a just a one-season luxury.

The Treeline S is built with our Integrity™ straight-gauge tubing, ultra durable. The Treeline SL, built for long-distance comfort, features our Argen™ double-butted tubing.

Consistency, King

Design, Build, Deliver, Improve. It’s easy when you write it down like that. It’s another entirely to do the work, every day, year after year. We have had the fortune to work with a lot of young frame builders, many of whom have gone on to start their own companies, and one of the things we try to get across is that consistency is what’s important.

The longer you deliver, the more you improve, the more people trust you to deliver and improve. As we round on 19 years doing what we do, these things occur to us more and more.

Is the bike a metaphor for everything? It’s good to be fast, but it’s better to keep pedaling, to stay on the bike year-round, to push through fatigue and doubt to finish a long ride, to have the effort of what you’re doing turn into the enjoyment of what you’re doing.

Building bikes is like that, too.

Secretly, in the Night, Summer Fell

On September 23rd we passed the autumnal equinox, that magic moment when the Earth’s equator passes the center of the sun and night and day are of roughly equal length, depending on where you’re standing. A hot, humid end to the summer helped the fall sneak in under our noses.

But then cyclocross season started.

The races leading up to Holy Week (the twin weekends of GP Gloucester and the KMC Cyclocross Festival in Providence) were mainly dusty affairs as riders rode fast over dry fields, trying to remember how to dis- and remount their bikes. Perfect conditions at Gloucester more or less guaranteed that this weekend, in Providence, will be racked by torrential rain, the cheerful gift of Tropical Storm Joaquin.

What does it all mean for a New England bike builder?

First of all, it means we are busy, that we have been busy, to let summer slip into fall without really noticing. Sure, there has been in uptick in ‘cross bikes, in mountain bikes and in the ubiquitous Evergreen, as folks begin to put road season to rest, but it’s funny the way, when you build bikes for specific riders, the various categories blur together and the larger trends in what you’re doing escape you.

The late season warmth has left most of the leaves on the trees and the trails clear. As always, the time to ride is now. This is the lesson of every season, everywhere.

Carl’s Twin Mudhoneys

It’s cyclocross season. You can tell because all your CX racing friends are suddenly frantic about getting their bike(s) prepped and spending weekday mornings riding around public parks in slow circles, climbing off and jumping back on. Our friend Carl is readier than most, or at least his bikes (our Mudhoney SLX) are, based on this picture he sent us last week, just in time for New England’s “Holy Week” of CX races, including the GPs of Gloucester and Providence.

Ride fast everybody!

Fran’s Ti Axiom (16yrs later)

People send us pictures of their bikes. This is common. Usually it’s a month or two after they’ve picked it up from their shop. They’ve ridden it a bit, and they write in to tell us they love it. It’s nice.

Fran has taken a slightly unconventional approach to this sort of note, as you’ll see below. We actually delivered his Ti Axiom in 1999.

Hello,

I’ve been meaning to write this for some time… years really.

My bike was built in the 2000/2001 time frame. I remember speaking to someone on the phone back when I ordered the bike and the comment I made was that I’m looking for the best all around bike that I’ll never need to replace. You guys delivered!

A bad knee is what got me on a bike and I hadn’t been riding long when I got my Seven. I was in my late 30’s when I took delivery. As an adult I had been on 2 steel and 1 aluminum frames prior to the Seven. I still remember taking it out on the road the first time and thinking OMG how is this possible… it’s just a bike! What a beast!

I used to ride a lot in those days. Whether taking a leisurely ride, a testosterone ride, climbing, a century(or more) or whatever the bike has always been a pleasure to pedal. I’d take it to my LBS and people would just stare. My wife would get sick of hearing me talk about the bike.

I’m now 53. Last time I had need to bring the bike to the LBS people still stared though more to comment on the “old technology”. After many surgeries the knee has interfered, or I’ve allowed it to interfere, with many things including riding. I recently had a sunny weekend at the Cape and had the presence of mind to dust off the bike and take it with me. First ride in a very long while and all I could think was OMG how is this possible&hellp’ it’s just a bike! It’s still a beast!

So again… thanks… you delivered.

Sincerely,
Fran
Axiom s/n 5509I17 (still referred to by my wife as “The Mistress”)