skip to content
Current Lead Times: Simple-Custom Framesets: 1 week. Full Custom Bikes: 7 weeks.

U.S. Built Custom Bicycles in Titanium and Titanium-Carbon Mix

Tag: Cross Bikes

This Time of Year

We’re riding home with our lights on now, the sun’s narrow slant on the horizon hinting at colder days to come. Our New England autumns tend to be wet, so suddenly tires are getting wider and fenders are appearing. It’s a good thing. We enjoy this riding just as much as our summer spins. The woods are a different proposition in the dark.

Cyclocross season is on, Seveneers leaving early for mid-week races, coming in on Mondays with tall tales of the weekend’s exploits. To hear us tell it, we could easily finish 2 to 10 places higher in every race, but for that one guy who crashed in front of us, or the spectator who leaned too far over the course tape. Some, of course, are just hecklers. You don’t heckle a friend while they’re building a bike, but during a race?

Our customers are dreaming up winter commuters, or better still, they’re riding a different hemisphere than we are, tuning up for a road season we can hardly imagine, stuck in the bubble of our own climate.

Back on the shop floor, the heavy, summer air has slipped out the back door. The mornings are cool and quiet, and the late afternoon light is beautiful streaming through our tall, frosted windows. We are building as many bikes now as we did all summer, and that is good, too.

Stephen’s Mudhoney SL – A Love Letter

Stephen's Mudhoney SL lying in the autumn leaves

This is Stephen’s Mudhoney SL, built with our friends at Sigma Sport in Surrey, UK. We might tell you more about the bike, but Stephen has done that for us. There is no better email to get from a rider than one like this.

Stephen says:

Hello Seven,

I promised myself a Seven for my 60th to keep me fit into my dotage. I needed a performance bike; one suited to my advancing years but capable of going anywhere. It’d have to be versatile, comfortable, tough, low maintenance and reliable. Thus, the Mudhoney SL stood out and, with the expert guidance of Mick Silles at Sigma Sport of Kingston Upon Thames in UK, my bespoke Seven took shape.

Getting the specification just right took several months, but throughout, Mick was the very best adviser. He listened carefully and accurately translated desires into needs (both frame and components). Mostly this was happening at a distance, because though I’m a Brit, I live in Vienna, Austria. I visited Sigma just three times, first to spec’ the bike, then for very thorough fittings and finally to take delivery. In between there were lots of emails!  You surely know it already, but in Mick you have an excellent UK representative, advocate and enthusiast.

So now I’ve been riding the bike for a couple of weeks since delivery. With true good fortune, this Austrian October has been unseasonably warm and sunny – in fact, perfect cycling weather. I’ve taken advantage of that and taken off into the Wienerwald at every opportunity. On road and trail the bike is a revelation!

In climbs I’ve become instantly fitter (or just maybe, the Seven frame transmits way more energy to the road). The bike is comfortable and assured. I get no pins and needles in my hands, nor tired shoulders. Everything just falls to hand and I’m perfectly positioned to ride for hours on end. I corner confidently, everything feels taut and I know exactly what’s going on where tyres hit road.  Nothing creaks or flexes, even when I’m pedaling out of the saddle.

Stephen's Mudhoney SL

Then there’s the aesthetics. I wanted an understated look. No paint, no discs, no suspension, no accessories. Avid Shorty canti’s, Chris King ‘Sotto Voce’ components, ENVE CX forks …. everything bare titanium or plain black. It looks fantastic but rides even better!  Incidentally, for the record, I’m now a convert and consequent zealot for Shimano’s amazing Ui2 gearset – beautifully integrated into the Mudhoney frame, battery and all.

In summary, I got the bike I desired and, thanks to Sigma Sport’s good advice and the skills of the Seven Team (especially Lauren Trout and Stef Adams – oh God, those welds) I ended up with every machine I needed for fitness, sport and fun. I’m in love!

I’m so impressed with the craftsmanship, the attention to detail (like the inspired chain hanger and the rear canti’ cable post) and above all, with the way you’ve served your motto – I got my one bike and mine alone.

I’m motivated alright – next spring I’ll try the Grossglockner ….

Thank you for making me a very happy customer.

Stephen

Mike T’s Mudhoney

Mike T's Mudhoney

This Swimming Pool Blue, steel Mudhoney belongs to our good friend Mike from Richardson Bike Mart.  He told us he seems to get a new cyclocross bike every year, but they’re never quite right, so he decided to go custom and get both the fit and finish he’s been missing. Mike wanted a threaded adjuster on the down tube to tension the front derailleur and full length housing to the rear derailleur to keep the mud out. We shipped this to him a few weeks ago, and he wasted no time before getting dirty.

Mike says:

Please send along my sincere thanks and gratitude for the team at Seven Cycles that helped with my Mudhoney.  I rode it on Tuesday in the rain and raced it Wednesday night in a little mud.  I am confident to say this is the best handling bike I have ever ridden.  The steering performance and handling could not be better.  The drive train is ‘race stiff’, just like I wanted.  Did some standing efforts to get my 210 lbs up the short steep climbs last night and I did not feel I missed a beat with the steel frame.  I love it.