Commuter Bike: Cafe Racer - Part IV

This is part IV in an ongoing series about Seven Cycles' custom commuter bikes.

Finally, got my Seven Cycles Parcours commuter bike rolling—I’ve named it the Café Racer.  I took it on its maiden voyage this morning.  Very nice, and very much a café racer.  I love café racer motorcycles and you will see that this bike has a look similar to motorcycles of that era; hence, the name.

We’re still finishing some details of the bike so I’m not posting full bike photos yet.  I will in a few days.  In the meantime, here are some detail shots of the bike, highlighting some of the ways in which it is different from any other Seven we’ve built.  And, all of these features are available on any Seven!

::  Fenders & Fork

The fenders are the first part that everyone notices.  Seven’s Parcours Titanium commuter bike comes with painted fenders and fork included.  I wanted fenders and fork—and bike style—paint that allude to the café racer era.  Of course, we can paint them anyway you want. 

Katie did a great job on the paint.  Fenders are difficult to paint because they are so flexible.  And, of course, I wanted a paint scheme that was difficult because making long straight pinstripes on a flexible surface ain’t easy.

You might notice the font of the number 7 looks familiar.  It’s the 7 from our logo.

::  Tires & Wheels

Don’t worry about the 29 x 2.1” mountain tires; they are awfully big for a commuter, but I wanted to start with these—the biggest tires I could ever imagine running on this bike.  And, I already know I will be switching to 700 x 40c in the next week or so.  As I mentioned before, I designed my café racer to work with any size wheel:  from 29” x 2.35” mountain tires down to 26” x 1” slicks, and everything in between.  Granted, I won’t be using those extremes too often, but I have the ‘tough’ job of doing R&D so it’s helpful to have a bike that handles all wheel and tire combinations.

::  Decals

We are offering sand blasted ‘decals’ as an option on Seven’s commuter bikes.  So there is actually no decal at all.  They are durable and, of course, won’t scratch.  Sand blasting is not perfect however; the blasting will get scuffed up and marred over time.   Eventually, the frame will need to be re-blasted or require real decals.  But, the real cool part of the blasted decals is that it makes the branding of the bike a bit more subtle, yet the bike still shows up as a Seven.  We are offering blasted decals in two versions—both of which I included on my café racer:

• Simple blast
• Blast with a colored outline

::  Tiberius Bars

I have these initially set with drop—again, very café racerish.  Once the snow starts falling I will flip them for rise—this will get my weight distribution more on the rear wheel for better traction in snow.  I’m also using some Brooks grips and XTR levers—way overkill.  On the front of the bars I have bar end lights installed.

::  BB30

Set up and working.  Yep.

::  Kick Stand

Another café racer allusion.  Sure, it’s a bit heavy and I haven’t had a kick stand since I was about 10-years old, but this type of stand works really well and helps protect the fenders from getting banged up—as would happen if I were to lean it against a sign post, for example.

I will post full bike shots soon so you can see the café racer-ishness of the entire bike.  I’ll also post details about:

• Light mounts—front and rear
  
• Rear rack
  
• Front rack
  
• Chain guard

I am looking forward to my commute tomorrow, even though it’s supposed to rain.

Comments

[Yoshi]

Congratulations!! I like your new bike. "Cafe racer?" Good!! I like mortercycle a lot too! If I make the same bike with the same concept, I will put a horizontal top tube on it.

[Rob Vandermark]

Thanks for the comments. I'm glad you like the bike. Let's get started building your version. Of course, you are so skilled, you won't need my help :) but let me know if I can. Maybe a custom rear rack or a chain guard?