The Hand Finish

Frame Refinish-after

You can get your custom Seven painted just about any way you want.  Still, for our bare Titanium bikes, we prefer one finish and only one finish, and people wonder why.

Just to describe what we do, so you have some context: First we take the best US-milled 3-2.5 Titanium tubing available, and we cut, butt, miter and cope it to look like a bike frame.  Then we load it into a frame jig and weld it together, checking alignment 17 times throughout the process.  Finally we face and thread the bottom bracket, before passing the complete frame to our finishers.

That’s when the fun starts.

The finishers take the frame and wheel it out with a buffer.  The first pass eliminates discoloration around the welds.  Then they go at it by hand with some Scotchbrite, before adding decals, head badge and any other accessories on the build sheet. Each bike takes roughly two hours to finish.  It takes a certain amount of patience and strong forearms.

The result is a clean, lustrous look. We like that it exposes every last piece of craft we’ve put into the frame.  You can see the quality of the tubing, the quality of the welds. It lays bare our process.

The reason it’s the only finish we offer is that it’s the only one that will hold up over the lifetime of the bike. If you scratch it, you can Scotchbrite it out and return it to new. Beat it up over time, we can fix it.  There is no point in the future of one of our frames that we can’t restore its original shine.  This is not true of any other Titanium finish we’ve seen or experimented with.

As with everything we do at Seven, “by hand” just seems to yield the best result.

30.9mm Ti Seat Post

We recently made 30.9mm titanium seat posts available for order.  The first production post went to a customer in Belgium who is 6’8″. Doing these larger diameter posts requires that we make a thinner sleeve for the seat tube.  Every Seven seat tube gets a sleeve, either carbon or ultra-thin aluminum, to keep the keep the post from binding, except, of course, for the integrated seat posts (ISPs) we do for our carbon SLX bikes.

The 30.9mm standard, and indeed the 31.8mm standard, represents a leap forward in the stiffness that can be built into a customer’s bicycle.  While we are making 30.9mm posts available for sale, it is important to note that these will only really benefit larger riders.  Part of the charm of titanium is that it retains a suppleness that makes it comfortable to ride all day.  Over-stiffening eliminates many of the benefits of building in Ti in the first place.

We will also be producing a titanium seat post at the 31.8 standard, though not for use with Seven frames, and again, we would only recommend these for larger riders as they are the stiffest, heaviest posts we make.

As with many of the additions we make to our product line, the 30.9mm seat post is a result of customer requests.  Larger riders want the benefits of riding a custom, Ti bike, but they are concerned that standard tubing, even with thicker tube walls, won’t produce the long-lasting ride feel they’re looking for.  We hope that offering this new, wider post will help them find exactly what they’re looking for.

See the chart for more information about seat posts available from Seven, as well as a comparison of the various standards.  And click here to order.

Seven Seat Posts

* Integrated Seat Post

CenterTrack in action on the Sola SL

Just as the cold temps of late fall and the ever darkening dawn have crept up on us over the last few months we finally put a – somewhat – reliable group together for early morning mountain bike rides on the local wooded trails.  It’s usually a small group, 3 or 4 of us, with one or two no-shows on any given day.  Lately we’ve had about enough light for about 60 minutes of trail time before it’s time to head home for a toe thawing shower and then off to work.  It’s always a good idea, if you want to keep on riding through the onset of the dark and cold time, to incorporate a new source of inspiration into your cycling arsenal.  This past spring I was able to stoke my own enthusiasm by building up a custom Sola SL 650b single speed.  Neil drew up the design and incorporated the future compatibility of a belt drive system.  We knew that Gates had its new CenterTrack in the works, so I figured I’d run a chain for the time being and set up the strap once the new system was available.  This bike is a purpose-built shredder designed for the rocky, twisty rolling hills of metro-west Boston’s various town forests and preservation lands.  I opted for fat, tubeless tires and 120mm of travel up front to make bouncing through the rocky terrain as much fun as possible.

Nine months after my Sola’s maiden chain-driven voyage, I finally stepped up and got my hands on the CenterTrack parts.  Gates recommended that I use a 46:28 setup with a 115 belt. It’s close, but a bit lower than my 32:18 chain configuration.  Thanks to Neil’s design precision, and the Eccentric BB on my Sola SL, I’ll be able to run a 26t sprocket with the same belt, and will have a nearly identical match to my chain drive ratio.

Now that I have a few good belt-driven rides behind me, I struggle to find the words to describe why I feel that this is a very worthwhile upgrade.  The feel at the pedals is very direct, there is less resistance than in a chain system, and it just runs quiet and smooth.  The best part about it, though, is that even though the daylight hours are shrinking more each day, and every morning seems to be forecasted a degree or two cooler, I can’t wait to down a hot cup of coffee and head out on the next ride.  At some point, and this will happen soon, someone will interrupt my otherwise peaceful ride through the woods, looking to talk for too long about my belt drive, and as a result I’ll have to cut my ride short or show up late to work.  Other than those possibilities, I foresee no down side.  I can’t wait to test it out on ice and in snow, and through whatever else Mother Nature has to offer in the next few months.    See you on the trails!

-Joe W.

Seven now offers the BB30 oversized bottom bracket option. This new international standard is available as an option on all of Seven’s current titanium and steel frame models.

What is BB30?

BB30 is the term for a new open standard of oversized bottom bracket shell that uses a 30mm spindle and direct-fit, pressed-in bearings.

Why would someone consider BB30?

The design eliminates the use of external cups that are threaded into the BB shell to hold the bearings, reducing both overall bike weight and the q-factor of the pedals. The larger bottom bracket shell also accommodates a 30mm spindle, instead of the more common 24mm spindle. This translates into increased drivetrain stiffness.

Is the BB30 68mm option compatible with my current 68mm English threaded bottom bracket?

No, this new standard requires the use of a completely different bottom bracket from our standard offering, so there are no parts that are compatible with both standards.

How much does the BB30 68mm option cost?

The additional charge for this option is $295.

New Seamless Design Blends Aesthetics with Rigidity and Reduces Weight

Seven’s Integrated Seat Post is a new option designed to eliminate the need for a conventional seat post. Since 2006 we have offered the Diamas with an integrated seat post. We now offer a titanium and carbon ISP option on the Elium SLX, Elium SL, Mudhoney SLX, IMX SL and IMX 29 SL for a total of two road models, one cyclocross model, and two mountain bike models.

Lighter

Because there is no need for excess seat post tube to be inserted into the frame, the ISP option is lighter weight than our frame and carbon post separately.

Stiffer

By using a titanium and carbon extension of the seat tube, we create a larger diameter post section that improves stiffness and lends a greater sense of connectedness to the ride feel of the bike.

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New Option Available at No Charge!

Seven now offers the perfect option for riders that plan to use disc brakes with their new bike, but also want to incorporate racks and panniers.

Our new design positions the disc brake inside the frame, which allows you to select almost any type of rear rack. Riders now have more equipment choices and fewer compatibility issues. Whether your bike is designed for commuting, touring, or off-road expeditions, the Low Mount Disc Tab offers versatility and convenience at no additional cost.

This option is available on any Seven model that accepts disc brakes.

Optional on many Seven models, S&S Bicycle Torque Couplings™ (BTC) allow you to separate your Seven into halves (or thirds for a tandem), which pack easily and neatly into a case that travels as standard luggage aboard a plane. The couplings add just a few ounces to the frame weight and have no effect on the frame’s handling or performance.

In order to safely transport your S&S BTC Seven, we also offer the following recommended accessories for an additional charge: