Tubeset Comparisons | Titanium

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

Seven's Titanium Tubeset Platforms

Titanium as a framebuilding material at Seven

A well-designed titanium frame is the best chassis for nearly any type of bike. The primary benefits of the 3-2.5 (three-two-and-a-half) titanium alloy that Seven builds with include:

Excellent surefootedness, control, and wheel traction because of titanium 3-2.5's modulus and fatigue life.
The most tunable ride characteristics of any material — from super stiff to super plush — are due to Seven's sourcing and material manipulation capabilities.
Smooth ride and excellent dampening characteristics due to titanium's strength, fatigue endurance, and elongation.
Impervious to weather conditions. Does not rust or corrode.
Exceedingly tough and strong. Our alloy's raw strength and ductility mean it's tougher than any other bike frame material.
Excels at long rides. The longer the ride, the more titanium shines. The material's shock absorption characteristics protect your body, so you'll have more energy and feel better at the end of the ride.
Good vibration-damping characteristics. Chip seal pavement is a good example of high-frequency vibration. When properly designed, a titanium frame can virtually eliminate this type of vibration.
Long-term durability: Lowest total cost of ownership in under five years, and then the value gets higher year after year.
Titanium makes the best travel bike because it won't get damaged during transit, and doesn't require paint.
Seven's complete titanium bikes start at about $6,800.

26 titanium tube sizes — *Here are 26 sizes of titanium alloy tubing. You tell us how you want to ride; we'll choose the ideal mix of tubing for your bike.*

Seven's titanium tubeset offerings

It's difficult to simplify Seven's titanium offerings because we do significant tuning with each tubeset type. Full details below.

Tubeset designation	S Tubeset		SL Tubeset		XX Tubeset
Tubeset type	Constant wall tubing. Seven has 24+ tube diameters and walls to choose from, providing the finest ride and performance of any straight gauge frame.		Butted tubeset: Machined for strength, durability, and lightweight.		Multi-butted tubeset: Most progressive lightweight tube butting processes available.
Why choose this tubeset?	Best value and toughness. Good for bikepacking, touring, and travel bikes. Can be our stiffest model. Understated aesthetic. Good for larger riders.		When in doubt, choose SL. Balanced. Most capable over the widest range of use. Most tuneable ride characteristics. The best harmony of all possible features. Seven's most popular tubeset choice.		Most advanced and lightest titanium frame possible. State-of-the-art feature set.
Considerations	Heaviest frame. Slightly smaller range of features and options.		None		Susceptible to denting. Most expensive titanium model. Stiffness should not be a priority. Not intended for touring or bikepacking.
Popular usage	Bikepacking, touring, travel, urban, maximum stiffness		Popular with all bike categories		All out performance, climbing, lighter riders
Not recommended for	Building the lightest bike possible		Not applicable		Dual suspension, bikepacking, touring, travel bikes, heavier riders, maximum stiffness
Frame weight, averages^[1]	Grams, typical	Pounds, typical	Grams, typical	Pounds, typical	Grams, typical	Pounds, typical
Average weight difference by tubeset	+100 to +210	+4 oz to +7 oz	Baseline		-170 to -250	-6 oz to -9 oz
Road	1,480 to 1,660	3 lbs, 4 oz to 3 lbs, 11 oz	1,380 to 1,570	3 lbs, 1 oz to 3 lbs, 7 oz	1,150 to 1,440	2 lbs, 9 oz to 3 lbs, 3 oz
Gravel & Cyclocross	1,510 to 1,810	3 lbs, 6 oz to 3 lbs, 13 oz	1,410 to 1,600	3 lbs, 2 oz to 3 lbs, 9 oz	1,180 to 1,470	2 lbs, 10 oz to 3 lbs, 4 oz
Bikepacking & Touring	1,620 to 1,880	3 lbs, 9 oz to 4 lbs, 2 oz	1,520 to 1,680	3 lbs, 6 oz to 3 lbs, 11 oz	N/A	N/A
Mountain, hardtail	1,580 to 1,870	3 lbs, 8 oz to 3 lbs, 15 oz	1,440 to 1,640	3 lbs, 3 oz to 3 lbs, 10 oz	1,230 to 1,520	2 lbs, 11 oz to 3 lbs, 6 oz
Mountain, dual suspension	N/A	N/A	2,720 to 3,060	6 lbs, 0 oz to 6 lbs, 12 oz	N/A	N/A
Frame price	$3,995		$4,895 // suspension $6,995		$5,795
Frame & fork	$4,580		$5,480		$6,380
Complete bike starts at about	$6,800		$7,600 // suspension $9,800		$8,400

Footnotes:

Frame weight: ^ We have more than 40 models and dozens of variants for each model. Therefore, these weights are estimated averages.

S Frames

Tough, Workhorse, Best Value

Optimized to take on anything you can do. Seven's S platform prioritizes durability and value. With this tubeset we build the toughest bikes of any material. Toughness means it resists dents, dings, and bad behavior by its rider (or others in your proximity). Ride the bike harder and harsher than any other bike you've owned. Seven's S frames are always ready for more.

Tubeset & Frame Kit Type

Seven's constant wall tubeset is our minimally manipulated offering. And yet, it still yields among the most sophisticated frames in the world. We have well over 20 tube sizes to work with.

Aesthetics Distinctions

S models feature an understated aesthetic. Our custom-made dropouts and seat top clamp are without logos for a clean, simple look. Each standard S model features a rear triangle with symmetric dropouts, chainstays, and seat stays. Head tubes are constant-diameter and add to the frame's understated appearance. The S models use our classic head tube badge — the one that started it all.

All performance with nothing extra.

Seven's S models excel at

Bikepacking and touring
Riders that are tough on equipment
Airline travel
Stiffness for larger or heavier riders

Models NOT available with the titanium S platform

Suspension models: We don't offer the S on our suspension bikes. Our suspension bikes use the SL platform.

Seven's S bikes are NOT optimized for

Lightest weight. While the lightest weight is never a great goal, our S line is not for the weight centric. Additionally, the weight difference between our S and XX models average about 280 grams (10 ounces). In the grand scheme of things, that's about 3% of the weight of a performance bike. More importantly, 280 grams is about 0.3% of the weight of the bike and rider together.

Rider Weight Range: Upper recommended performance limit of 280 lbs. Lower limit is about 115 lbs.

S-type head tube badge — *The S-Type head tube badge.*

SL Frames

Most Versatile, Can't Go Wrong, Balanced Characteristics

Optimized for a balance of all characteristics: Our most popular titanium model, the SL provides a compelling mix of light weight, durability, and performance.

You cannot go wrong with the SL. When in doubt, choose SL. If you're using your bike in multiple categories or types of riding, SL is the ideal.

We've been building this model for more than 20 years. And every year, we find ways to refine and improve the tubeset design, dropouts, and all the small parts. Check out our newest generation of SL platform.

Tubeset & Frame Kit Type

Seven's SL platform employs our proprietary butted tubeset. This unique butting process provides the strength of our S platform with some of the weight savings of our XX platform. Endlessly tuneable.

Aesthetics Distinctions

Our SL design has many of the features found on our XX designs. Some of the SL's visual design differences relative to Seven's other titanium offerings are all about versatility:

Chainstays can be our classic symmetric or our progressive asymmetric design.
Dropouts can be symmetric or asymmetric depending on the model and your preferences. SL dropouts have engraved Seven logos.
Distinct SL head tube badge.

Models NOT available with the titanium SL platform

None

Seven's SL bikes are NOT optimized for

There are no limitations to our SL platform. Any model, riding type, or use case is possible with our SL chassis.

Rider Weight Range: Upper recommended performance limit is 250 lbs. The lower range recommendation is about 100 lbs.

XX Frames

Lightest, Pure Performance, Cutting Edge

Optimized for single-purpose riding: For example, pure performance gravel riding, pure road performance, or pure XC mountain bike racing. Seven's XX is not optimized for multipurpose uses like combining bikepacking and gravel grinding or commuting and weekend road racing. XX is not a "both-and" bike; it's an "either-or" bike.

Our XX's singular focus enables optimized performance that is simply not possible when designing a multipurpose or all-purpose machine.

The XX provides the lightest frame in Seven's titanium series. We're fairly certain that our XX technology allows us to build the lightest performance titanium bike anywhere. While impossibly light, it's still a true performance bike — we can build it to any reasonable stiffness level you want.

The XX is the pinnacle of Seven's titanium technology. We've invested more than a quarter century of research and development in this tube butting technology and small parts (dropouts, brake mounts, etc.) refinement.

Tubeset & Frame Kit Type

Seven's XX platform employs our proprietary multi-butted tubeset. This unique butting process shaves every extra gram from each tub, which allows us to tune the ride more precisely than any other frame in any material.

Aesthetics Distinctions

XX models have a number of features not often found on our S and SL designs. Some of the XX's visual design differences relative to Seven's other titanium offerings include:

Oversized tubeset. We're shaving every gram; therefore we start with larger diameter tubes to create thinner walls.
Asymmetric chainstay to save weight without impinging on performance or tire clearance.
Asymmetric dropouts to shave ounces off the design while making the system stiffer.
Compact geometry (sloping top tube) to help shave every gram.
Unique XX head tube badge.

Models NOT available with the titanium XX platform

Suspension models: We don't offer XX upgrades on our suspension bikes. Our suspension bikes use the SL platform.
Bikepacking: The XX philosophy is at odds with true bikepacking. For bikepacking, we recommend our SL or S platforms.
Touring bikes: The XX philosophy is at odds with loaded touring. For touring, we recommend our SL or S platforms.
Any situation that requires a rack. Having the lightest titanium frame ever and then loading 30 pounds of cargo on it is not a good idea. Go with S or SL.

Seven's XX bikes are NOT optimized for

While we can and do design XX bikes for these functions, the platform is not ideal for:

Heavy-duty uses: Being really hard on your equipment and shaving every gram from your frame are not particularly compatible. If you're really tough on your equipment, you may be better served by our S or SL models.
One bike to do some of everything: Building a superlight frame that shaves every unnecessary gram requires focus and clarity. If you want a single bike that can handle a broad range of riding styles, look to our SL or S frames.

The XX Is Optimized For

The lightest performance titanium bike possible.
Climbing: Because this is Seven's lightest bike, it's a natural climber.
Performance over everything else. This is not a kitchen sink bike.
Can be better for lighter riders because we can easily tune the ride to be smoother and plusher. However, the XX can be designed very stiff, too, when needed.
Can be a smoother, more comfortable, shock-absorbing ride than our other titanium models because we tune the tubeset so specifically.
Cutting-edge titanium technology in every part of the frame.

Rider Weight Range: Upper recommended performance limit of 230 lbs. No lower limit recommendation.

What's in a name? XX is the Roman numeral for 20. We introduced the XX set of innovations in our 20th year. The XX builds on our groundbreaking SLX platform that first brought super-light complex tube butting method to the market.