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

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

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

Bicycling: Dream Bikes – Rides Like a Dream

Joe Lindsey

Axiom SL: Traditional Ti with Unmatched HeritageAxiom SL

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.

Best Bike: Verve by Seven, with S and S Machine Coupling

Wallpaper Magazineseven uncoupled

Naturally, in the circumstances, we were a little nervous. At Wallpaper* we are of the firm opinion that the Massachusetts custom builder, Seven Cycles, makes the best titanium-framed bicycles in the world. We think the understated Verve model is one of the most elegant mountain bikes in existence. We spent ages agonising over the Etruscan blue detailing we wanted for our award winner and then, having at length chosen the desired hue, we asked the manufacturers to do one more thing for us – to cut their precious bike in half. But they were absolutely delighted to do so.

In fact, Seven Cycles is one of the élite bike manufacturers that have helped support the launch of our favourite cycle accessory of the year: a beautifully engineered system, by S and S Machine, for joining two bike halves – separated for ease of transportation – back together again. It shouldn’t really work (at first, experts reckoned the frame would never be as good again once it had been sliced), but the process genuinely makes no difference to ride quality. Handy instructions on the S and S website (www.sandsmachine.com) mean that assembly and disassembly is easy for even the most mechanically challenged among us, while the carrying case that the bike fits into can be taken as hand luggage on airlines. We won’t ever be leaving home without it.