U.S. Built Custom Bicycles in Titanium and Titanium-Carbon Mix
It's a good time to check your bike tracker. We have to be cautious, though, because we don't want to interrupt the intense focus of your welder. No mistakes are allowed!
Quick Summary: Your welder is working on your frame now, taking the individual tubes and parts and welding them into the artwork you will soon see.
IMPORTANT information at this step
Your frame is currently in the welding process, the most time-consuming part of the frame building process.
Seven's welders are among the most skilled artisans in the industry. Indeed, their work has been referred to as 'kinetic sculpture" for its meticulous, elegant look.
Oxygen, dirt, and grease are the prime enemies of welding. When any of these contaminants react with the weld, the metal can become brittle, weakening the weld dramatically. To prepare your frame for welding, we first remove, or purge, all of the airborne oxygen, nitrogen, and other gases from the weld area by forcing a positive flow of argon through the tubes. Then, we use a specially-modified TIG (tungsten inert gas) welding torch that immerses the welding area in argon gas. This combination of external and internal mechanisms allows us to bathe the frame in an inert gas, argon, and therefore maintain an oxygen-free environment during welding. To further prevent weld contamination, welders continue to wear cotton gloves throughout the process.
Maintaining an even flow of argon throughout the frame, we weld all of your frame's joints. To maintain proper alignment, the frame's joints are welded in a precise, staggered pattern. For example, we weld a portion of the right side of the head tube/top tube joint first, then follow it immediately by the left side, and continue to alternate section by section, until the entire frame is complete. This decreases the amount of post-weld alignment, or cold-setting, that the frame requires.
Because a straight frame is so important, we check your frame's alignment dozens of times throughout the process to ensure that each measurement falls within our specifications. Should a frame show any signs of misalignment during the welding process, we alter the weld sequence process or cold-set the weld to pull the frame back into perfect alignment.
Once your frame has been welded and its alignment is pristine, it's ready to have brake bosses, cable guides, rack mounts and other parts welded on. These parts are tacked and welded to the frame using a method similar to that used to tack the frame. Specially-made fixtures hold the parts in place to ensure proper placement and alignment. After another look at alignment, we weld the parts onto the frame.
Ready for its alignment to be scrutinized one last time in final machining, your frame is not far from completion.
The estimated ship date (ESD) we provide on your Bike Status Tracker homepage is our current best projection of when we'll ship your bike. We update the date if anything substantial changes with our build schedule. Typically, we'll alert your retailer if the ESD changes by more than a week.
Please understand that these times are estimates due to the nature of custom framebuilding, the model and features you chose, seasonality, and component availability.
| # | Step | Details | Estimated Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 11 | We're welding your frame | This is where your Seven transitions from a set of individual parts to a single welded frame. | ~3 days |
| # | Step | Details | Estimated Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 12a | We're finishing your frameset | Here we're confirming every detail, ensuring perfect alignment, applying the graphics, and running the last 100-plus inspection steps. | ~3 days |
| (12b) | Painted frameset? | If we're painting your frameset, this adds some time to the process. | ~3 weeks |
| 13 | Your Seven is ready to Ship! | Once we've received final payment we immediately ship your Seven to your retailer for final assembly. | N/A |
| 14 | Your Seven is in transit. | Domestic shipping transit time is usually a week at most. *International shipment transit can take about 3 to 6 weeks. |
~ 1 week* |
| 15 | Your retailer assembles your new Seven! | Schedule a time to meet your new riding companion. | ~ 2 weeks |
| 16 | You ride forever! | Big smiles. Big adventures. Big memories. | ∞ Forever |
Note: This information probably hasn't changed since your previous status report.
Once we've completed your frameset, it's passed all of our inspection steps, and we've received final payment from your retailer, we'll ship your frameset and parts kit to your retailer. At that point, in addition to the estimated ship date, the remaining time before you'll be riding your amazing custom one-of-a-kind Seven is usually between three to seven weeks and includes:
| Step | Details | Time |
|---|---|---|
| Shipping transit time, in the United States | This date varies by your location, shipping method, shipper accountability, and the retail hours of your retailer. | ~1 week |
| Shipping transit time, outside the U.S. | This timing varies similarly to US shipping but also requires time for customs, shipping consolidations, and transfer from Seven's distribution center to your local retailer. If you have questions about this, contact your retailer or distributor. | ~3 to 6 weeks |
| Final Bike assembly | This time frame depends on your retailer's existing bike build schedule and parts availability. Contact them to confirm when they can deliver your bike. | ~2 weeks |
Patience is required to professionally assemble a high-end custom bike: Building a one-of-a-kind bike from thirty-plus components is not a trivial task. Ensuring your bike is safe, durable, and properly fitted should not be rushed. Give your retailer and mechanic plenty of time to do it right. A few extra days during this step provides dividends of additional trouble-free hours of riding later.
Note: This information probably hasn't changed since your previous status report.
A parts kit is everything needed to assemble a bike other than the frame and usually the fork. This is also sometimes called a component package or a gruppo.
If you or your retailer are ordering a parts kit from Seven, we have nearly all of your 30-plus components ready to go, and we're fairly confident that the estimated ship date (ESD) we show on your bike status tracker landing page — where you logged in — is pretty accurate.
This is a complex step because we curate each of the more than 30 components for your unique bike. We have many of the components in inventory, some parts we most likely special ordered for your bike, too. If we expect any delays due to ongoing industry wide supply chain problems or incorrect information from our suppliers, we will update your ESD tracker immediately and we will email your retailer an alert right away. You will hear from your retailer if there is a component that might impact the estimated delivery date. Fortunately, in nearly every case, we can recommend an alternative component that is available sooner.
Note: This information hasn't changed since your previous status report.
The custom bike-building process is complex. So, when we provide an estimated date for any step along the journey for your unique bike, it is not a promise or guarantee, even though that date is statistically likely to be accurate.
We work with thousands of components from dozens of suppliers. It is impossible to have 100% certainty that every part from every supplier will arrive at the precise time provided to us. If this happens for one of your bike parts, we will let you know the situation and possibly recommend an alternative component. Whether we are sourcing the part or your retailer is, be patient and understand that the bike industry supply chain is completely broken.
Seven's handmade custom framebuilding process is equal parts craft, engineering, and art. The artistic portion of the process cannot be rushed or automated. Additionally, the very nature of the literally limitless number of options we offer means that precise timelines are impossible and reckless to make. We'd much rather not make foolhardy statements, but we understand you want to know when you can expect to be riding your custom-designed-unique-never-before-built-and-never-to-be-duplicated-one-of-a-kind-rolling-artwork. We remember how anxious we were when we had our first Seven on order! Always remember that our lead time and shipping date estimates are estimates.
If our estimated ship date is off, whether because of supplier challenges or a miscalculation about the time required to design or build your unique frameset, please remember that two years from now, when you're riding in places and ways you never thought possible — on the best bike you've ever owned — that a few weeks or even months of delay will be meaningless in the time horizon of your Forever Seven bike.
We ask you to be patient and understanding as we work two shifts and seven days a week to meet your expectations of quality, performance, and time frames.
You can find more information about our lead time here.
If you have any questions, please contact your retailer first. It is important that they are in the loop. If they cannot answer your questions, email us.
If you'd like a permanent record of this information, we suggest you copy and paste this page's text into a document of your own and for your records. While we keep all of your information — dates, descriptions, changes in the estimated time frame — in our records for your bike, this public page changes over time based on real-time information.
In other words, the information presented here is accurate for your specific bike at this moment only.
If you come back to this page in a few months, the information and dates shown will be have changed and no longer be relevant to your bike. The information you're viewing when your bike is at this step in the process is the only time this page's information is accurate for you.
You've probably already reviewed these steps as your Seven went through each milestone. We keep the past steps recorded here for your easy reference.
You and your Seven are on an incredible journey, and you're getting close to your first riding adventure on your Seven!
| # | Step | Details | Estimated Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | We received your order! | We've entered all the information into our database, design program, and spreadsheets. We emailed you to set up a phone interview. | 48 hours |
| 2 | We're designing your first draft proposal | We do this before your interview because it helps us plan and ask the right questions during our conversation. | ~1 week |
| 3 | Interview with you | We talk with you about your design ideas, how you'll use your Seven, and lots more. | ~20 minutes |
| 4 | We finalize your bike design | Your Seven designer takes the information from our interview to finalize your design. We send the PDF design pack to your retailer. | ~1 week |
| 5 | Your retailer reviews Seven's design proposal with you | Set a time to meet with your retailer to confirm the fit, options, and parts kit specifications, and then return the signed Confirmation Form for Seven to begin the building process. Your retailer session may include a bike fitting. If you're happy with the design, you and your retailer sign off for Seven to begin the build process.
If you'd like changes, your retailer provides them to your Seven designer. |
~1 to 2 weeks |
| 6 | We incorporate your updates | We make amendments and changes until you are happy with the design. We usually get it perfect on the first round, but if you've thought of additions or updates, we always incorporate them. | ~1 week |
| 7 | We're printing the blueprint packet for your framebuilder | Once you've signed off on your design, your framebuilder starts working right away. Your frameset is in our build queue while we assemble all the elements your builder needs including the tubeset and small part. We're also pulling together all of the bike components you've ordered. | ~2 days |
| 8 | We're pulling together your bike components | As soon as we receive your signed go ahead to build your bike, we collect the components you've chosen and order any parts we don't have in stock.
Most of the parts we specify are available within reasonable time frames — ready to ship when your frame is ready. However, there can be exceptions to this. If there is a component that may take longer than your frame build, we will let you know and work with you on the best solution. |
~3-6 weeks (when your frame is ready) |
| 9 | We're machining your Frame Kit | We've started cutting metal for your bike! Your Frame Kit is all of the parts that go into your frame including tubing, dropouts, and the small weldments we'll need. | ~3 days |
| 10a | We're building your frameset! | Seven is machining your frame kit into what you would recognize as a bicycle frame. Coping the tube angles, modifying the dropouts, and making it all fit perfectly into our frame jig in preparation for our weld team. Our parts kit team is still working on sourcing and organizing the final components you've ordered. | ~3 days |
| (10b) | Suspension frameset? | If we're building a suspension frameset for you, we make all the parts in house so this adds some time to the process. | ~3 weeks |