25Seven

Rapha Continental with Seven

Recently, Rapha invited Seven Cycles to be part of the Rapha Continental team.  Rapha just posted their 2009 East Coast rider information on their site.  They posted pictures of Seven's Continental bike, an interview with me, and some photos of our shop.  It makes for interesting viewing.

Jeremy Dunn—soon to be expat of the Boston area—connected us with Rapha for this project.  Jeremy also connected us with Continental rider Steve Francisco.

Here are some of the puzzle pieces—and some links:

Special Edition: Lights Out

A couple months ago Zac Daab of Cascade Bicycle Studio--one of Seven Cycles' retailers--requested a special paint scheme for a project on which he was developing.  He is a serious cyclocross racer and was working with Seattle's season opener--Star Crossed--and wanted to come up with a special bike for that event.

The race occurs after dark each year and Zac had a great tie in idea:  design a glow in the dark bike.  We had previously done glow in the dark bikes only a few times over the past decade, so we were excited to work on this with Zac.  GITD paint is tricky to do well and durably.

See it GITD after the jump...

Bicycles Represent

Not long ago, the second issue of Embrocation hit the newsstands.  If you can get your hands on one, do it.  Competitive Cyclist is an online source for the magazine.

In issue number two Jen Park, a very good friend of mine and Seven’s, wrote a piece.  She talked about all the bikes she's had in her life.  She writes, “Each bicycle represents a certain period in my life.”  I’m sure a lot of people can relate.

Bikes. Wow.

This evening on my way home from work I saw a young girl riding her bike in the rain.  She wore a red rain coat and red rain boots.  I'm sure she didn't care about those items; it was her bike, and maybe the rain, that was making her smile.  She was having a blast.  It reminded me of how awesome bikes are and how lucky I am to work in the bike industry.

I learned this lesson long after I got into bike manufacturing.  I first got into cycling because of my brother, and then I was quickly drawn to the competitive aspects of cycling:  racing.  I certainly didn't have the connection that the girl in red seemed to have.  Don't get me wrong; it's not like I disliked bikes.  I just loved other facets of cycling more:  designing, engineering, manufacturing processes, racing, and making stuff with my hands. 

Tiberius Handlebar

We got our new custom titanium handlebar into production today.  We originally designed it for our commuter bike line but we already have interest for mountain bike and tandem applications, too.

 

It's, by far, the most customizable handlebar available.  We customize it in 5 different ways:

What Ever Happened To the Word ‘Custom’?

Over the past decade I’ve noticed a shift in the meaning and use of the adjective ‘custom’.  It used to mean something along the lines of:

Custom
Adjective
Date:  13^th century
a :  made or performed according to personal order
b :  built to individual specifications
c :  to alter, plan, or build according to individual specifications or needs

It still means that at Seven Cycles.  We seem to be in the minority on that meaning.  Nowadays that is apparently a much too narrow meaning.  Now it pretty much means something like:

Custom

Adjective

Date:  early 21^st century
a :  just slightly different from everything else
b :  not quite a commodity, but almost
c :  indistinguishable from stock or standard
Synonyms:  stock, standard, off-the-peg

Seriously.  Here’s a few examples—names have been redacted—of how the meaning of custom has eroded.  ‘Custom’ is now often used in these contexts:

What Bikes Do You Own?

It’s a very common question for people in the bike industry.  My answer, on the other hand, is not so common; “I only own one.”  It’s not what people expect, and those that ask me are almost always visibly disappointed.  All the other bikes I ride are just loaners—test bikes, prototypes, demo bikes, and the like. 

I’ve learned to not become attached to bikes—and most material goods.  I’m just not a particularly materially oriented person.  I don’t own much; I have a lot of books and CDs and that’s about it.  Oh yeah, and too much electronic junk.

So, why do I bother owning even one bike?  It’s a pretty cool bike and it reminds me of a very formative time in my life. 

Rob, get to the point already and just answer the question.  What bike is it?

Yoshi's New Seven

I heard rumor that Yoshi, one of Seven Cycles’ welders, had just finished a pair of special Sevens for him and his wife.  I knew his bike would be in our commuter rack because Yoshi rides to work every single day regardless of the weather; he even rides in when he works weekends.

 

His bike is a commuter with 26” wheels, disk brakes, and drop bars.  It’s simple, clean, and built for pure commuting.  His wife’s bike is equally handsome.

Yoshi’s destiny with Seven has been interesting.  Before coming to Seven he was a frame builder in Japan.  

From Athens to Beijing

I’ve had the honor of participating in the design and fabrication of frames for some of the most revered bike racers in history—Lance Armstrong, Eddy Merckx, Greg LeMond, and John Tomac are a few of my favorites.  Each of these people was special to work with for various reasons and each of them has left a lasting impact on me and the way I think about cycling and the bike industry.

Seven Cycles’ current most famous racer is Mary McConneloug.  We currently have a lot of other great racers on Sevens—including Mary’s Husband:  Mike Broderick.  I’ll talk about other Seven racers another day. 

Mary just got home from competing in the 2008 Beijing Olympics.  We were fortunate that she left her Seven race bike at our shop for a few days.

Olympic Double