In Berlin now. The bike is suppose to show up today. Show starts tomorrow--Saturday.
We wrapped up the documentation for the bike; packed it up--took a couple hours because of the internal wiring, the endless extraneous parts, and the large number of fairly fragile painted parts. Dan and Matt O. got everything in hand and in two boxes well in time for FedEx international to pick up. Should be at the hotel before I arrive.
Assuming the bike shows up tomorrow, I'll post final assembled images. See you then--or there? Here are the last of the pre-assemblage photos:
Here is the masking for the final Berlin two-tone decaling; it'll be red on red when it's completed. The "Berlin" twists on the tube, while the "Seven" is in it's standard location; this represents that Berlin is a bit twisted and that Seven never changes :) Actually, we did this so that the Berlin decal would be visible without being to brash or overbearing--it is a large decal, after all. We think it's a good balance of visibility and subtlety.
Speaking of subtlety, here is the top tube decal: black on black carbon. The decal actually doesn't show up as well in real life. Very subtle color shift. The top tube "Berlin" decal doubles as a top tube protector--keeping the carbon from getting scratched and damaged by lamp posts, parking meters, and the like. The idea is that Berlin is tough, and a protector. I know, heavy-handed. However, it's true and it works. The decal can take a beating and it is replaceable. After a season of hard urban riding, simply replace the decals and the top tube will look as good as new.
As yet another aside, a couple people asked, why the "Berlin" is all capitalized--particularly since Seven has all it's model names, for example, in all lower case? Yet another pun: Berlin is the capital of Berlin. And, we wanted the word "Berlin" to show up better when integrated with the "Seven" logotype.
Okay, one more Berlin reference for today: We used a two-tone "B" between the binders. It is the connector between the slots; it brings them together. I won't explain the Berlin reference here. I'm sure you get the idea.
Here is the partially assembled light. Still a lot of work to do but you get the idea. It worked really well. And, we found out that the whole assembly acts as a heated bar for winter riding. :) The light's heat sink is constrained in the titanium stem housing but heat is not a problem at all. We'll see if that's true on a decent of Zugspitze.
There are a few aspects of the bike that I'll wait to post until the show. I leave with a couple images from the handout we put together for the bike. It explains the bike in German--since my German language abilities couldn't be much worse. It also describes the Show Bike and Limited Edition version that we're offering. The show bike is a one-off; the LE is available and very ride-worthy.
Until tomorrow--Ride Far.
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