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Too many seat stay options made easy

Seven offers dozens of seat stay designs and tubing options. It can get overwhelming. Typically, Seven will make a seat stay recommendation based on the kind of riding you do, your physical characteristics, and a dozen other factors. So, you can leave the design decisions to us. However, if you want to look under the hood, here are most of the options we offer.


Why multiple bends?

Seat stay bends add vertical compliance, traction, and improved tracking to your bike. It may look subtle, but anyone that's ridden and experienced the benefit will tell you it's real and worthwhile. We offer three distinct multi-bend seat stay designs with optimal performance for whatever your riding needs, preferred terrain, and body type.


Recent trend: Dropped or lowered seat stay designs

The current rage in the industry is dropped or lowered seat stays. The stays meet the seat tube well below the top tube intersection. This trend comes around every decade or so and then fades away.

Seven doesn't offer this type of stay. The engineering reasons are complicated. In short, we build bikes for a lifetime. When seat stays don't intersect at the top tube, the design either prematurely fails due to its cantilevered effect on the seat tube, or the design adds a lot of seat tube reinforcement weight — so the system is heavier than a classic rear triangle.

Some people claim that dropped seat stays are more aerodynamic. This is completely inaccurate. The dirtiest air on the entire bike is right behind your knees in the seat tube cluster area, so moving the stays down a few centimeters does nothing to reduce drag.


Forever Innovating

Seven's founding design team introduced S-bend seat stays to modern bikes in 1989 — initially on titanium mountain bikes more than thirty years ago. Seven then introduced the first S-bend seat stays to the road bike industry more than 20 years ago. Since then, S-bend style stays have made their way to most bikes. Fortunately, we never stopped pushing seat stay technology forward, whether that's with engineered shapes, dropout interfaces, more diameter options than any other builder, or lots of tube butting profiles. Seven has engineered the seat stay to its logical conclusion. But, don't worry, we're always working on the next generation of progress.

Seat stay styles and shapes

Seven offers multiple seat stay designs, partly for aesthetics, partly for performance, and partly for weight savings.

Seat stay type Inline S-Bend
Seat Stays
Moto
Seat Stays
Awesommetric Moto
Seat Stays
Awesommetric Bantamweight Moto
Seat Stays
FlowState
Seat Stays
Straight Carbon
Seat Stays
Choose this style when You want a classic design aesthetic and a very smooth ride. You want a progressive design and an extremely smooth ride. You want a light & durable titanium frame and the smoothest performance ride possible. You want the lightest titanium frame possible and the smoothest ride ever. You want to maximize frame smoothness and rear wheel traction. You're getting one of Seven's carbon frames.
Available with these models Default option on every titanium frame except for a few Awesommetric models. Not available with carbon seat stays. Available on any full titanium custom frame. Not available with carbon seat stays. Available on SL and XX models. Not available with carbon seat stays.

Available only on select XX models. Standard on:
  • Hightail mountain
  • Highline fat bike

Not available with carbon seat stays.

Available on some gravel models, some mountain hardtails, and some road models. Not available on XX or carbon seat stay frames.

Every carbon seat stay model, including the 622 line and most PRO level frames. Straight stays are not available on any of our titanium frames.
Benefits Classic styling. Provides a smoother ride than just about any non-Seven titanium bike. Maximum vertical compliance. The smoothest ride possible without impacting drivetrain stiffness. Optimal wheel tracking and traction. No-cost option. Progressive style. The best balance of everything: Extremely light, durable, and smooth riding. The lightest titanium seat stay system ever designed. Even higher plushness level than our Moto stays. Smoothness and control are the priorities. The lightest seat stays possible in carbon. Seven's carbon seat stays are CNC filament wound. Therefore, they have to be straight — no bends. CNC filament winding provides the most consistent lightest tube possible. No voids or flaws.
Considerations None. Upcharges apply. Available on only a few models. Less dent resistant. Upcharges may apply. The seat tube system and bottom bracket truss tubing along with a special butted seat tube are relatively heavy. This added weight is required in order to ensure that the frame will last a lifetime of hard riding. Available on carbon frames only.
Namesake "Inline" because, while they have S-bends, they do look straight — or inline — from the side of the bike. "Moto" because of MotoGP motorcycle racing. Our seat stay design does what MotoGP bikes do: Provide maximum traction and tracking at high speeds. "Awesommetric" comes from our Asymmetric chainstay and dropout design. Awesommetric takes the idea to its logical endpoint. And it's awesome. "Bantamweight" comes from the boxing term for the lightest class but still extremely tough. The rear wheel flows over the terrain better than any other hardtail bike. Because they are straight.

Seat stay diameter and fine-tuning the ride

We have four diameters of seat stays. Then, depending on the model, we may butt the seat stays to make them thinner, lighter, maybe plusher. The possible combinations run into the thousands.

Tube Classification Bantamweight Classic Oversized Extreme Oversized
Tube diameter 13 mm diameter
1/2"
16 mm diameter
5/8"
19 mm diameter
3/4"
22 mm diameter
7/8"
Ideal for The plushest ride ever. Light riders. Finesse riders. The majority of our bikes. Balanced, durable, smooth. Loaded touring bikes. Heavier riders. Rarely ideal. Some tandems. Some Clydesdale riders.
Benefits Super light. The best possible tire traction. The plushest ride ever. Balanced. Light, smooth, durable. Some designs are good for light touring, too. Very stiff and stout. Handles heavy loaded touring and bikepacking really well. The stiffest ride ever.
Considerations Specialty stays. Only available on some Hightail XX and Highline XX models. Not great for riders that are tough on equipment. Expect dents and dings. None. Not recommended for lighter riders; too harsh. Way too stiff and harsh for nearly every rider.

Inline S-Bend Seat Stays

inline s bend seat stays away view
inline s bend seat stays side view

Moto Seat Stays

moto seat stays away view
moto seat stays side view

Moto Awesommetric Seat Stays

moto awesommetric seat stays away view
moto awesommetric seat stays side view

Straight Carbon Seat Stays

straight carbon seat stays away view
straight carbon seat stays side view