Seven Cycles

[swoop]

My favorite crit/circuit race bike. If I had the money, I'd have another one sitting around in metal flake tangerine orange and cue ball white with a seat mast built in. This is the 'stiffest' bike i've ever ridden, bar none.

[GrantM]

this one needs to be stiffer.
fits great, but it needs a little more 'al dente'

[swoop]

g.. what number on their scale is the drivetrain?

[davids]

Built in 1999, mine since 2003. This is circa 2004:



This is from the summer of '08:



Its handling is a little twitchy, and its drivetrain stiffness is a little gummy. But still a very good bike!

[BryanF]

This was mine until last week...sold on the SF to a good home. I had it built in '03'ish when I has having some back troubles. JB did the paint about a year and a half ago. Modern Me couldn't quite get the bars low enough. Awesome bike...Seven hit the mark...been replaced with a feisty pre-owned '07 Axiom Race that's a good 6cm shorter in all regards (thanks to Ebay/Live.com).

[swoop]

i wish i could trade this is and redo it. it was to recover from a back injury that's all healed... too much slope for my tastes. still rides lovely... and it brought me back into form.
it served its purpose perfectly but now i need to change some things...

[gt6267a]

this one needs to be stiffer.
fits great, but it needs a little more 'al dente'

i would love to try this bike. people always seem to rave about stiffness and more is always better, but is it? i always wonder if a softer bike wouldn't be more comfy without really giving up much other than some machissmo ... is there another way to describe what you dislike? er, what would you gain from increased stiffness?

note : i get that seven is able to make a hella stiff bike. no need to get into a discussion about what seven is able to manufacture. after riding bikes that are considered stiff like my serotta legend, i am curious to know what i might gain / lose by riding a noodle.

[swoop]

i always try and write the word 'stiffness' in quotes because there so many places on a bike to experience it or not.. and in so many varying degrees that it almost doesn't mean anything isolated from the rest of the bike.

its tricky.

[Saab2000]

My Merckx Majestic Ti is pretty stiff, but that is not necessarily a good thing. Or at least that bike is not very 'alive'. Anyway, Grant has enough kickass bikes to know what works and what doesn't. So I won't judge that Seven, which is at the very least a very good looking machine.

[BryanF]

Oddly enough, that red Seven that I posted was built with a "drivetrain stiffness" of 9/10...and the newer Axiom Race that I now own is the same (9/10). In reality, the two are actually very noticeably different under power. The Race model is certainly a more "efficient" bike and climbs like a billy-goat (save for the weak rider, of course). I'm not sure that it is a better riding bike though...it did lose a bit of the "alive" feeling of the red one. For most riding I think a little bit of wiggly personality is a good thing.

[cs124]

... For most riding I think a little bit of wiggly personality is a good thing.

Wiggly personality or not, that red bike is a looker.

[GrantM]

i would love to try this bike. people always seem to rave about stiffness and more is always better, but is it? i always wonder if a softer bike wouldn't be more comfy without really giving up much other than some machissmo ... is there another way to describe what you dislike? er, what would you gain from increased stiffness?

note : i get that seven is able to make a hella stiff bike. no need to get into a discussion about what seven is able to manufacture. after riding bikes that are considered stiff like my serotta legend, i am curious to know what i might gain / lose by riding a noodle.

i'm not a 'stiffer=better' guy. for me, it's just about road manners,
and that frame is so torsionally whippy in the front triangle,
it's very difficult to ride with 1 hand on the bars.
so what you 'lose' is the confidence that comes with a bike
where the rear wheel follows the front. that thing is all over the place.
it's very light. The frame weighed like 1080 grams. there's just not
enough material in the top tube, and the tubes are small by today's
standards. It's smooth on bad pavement, but it still hops around,
sort of rebounding from the bumps.

[uno-speedo]

Demo bike I had for a time.



A nice Elium in my friends shop.

[swoop]

tootall's franken-seven goes here:

[hampco]

i'm not a 'stiffer=better' guy. for me, it's just about road manners,
and that frame is so torsionally whippy in the front triangle,
it's very difficult to ride with 1 hand on the bars.
so what you 'lose' is the confidence that comes with a bike
where the rear wheel follows the front. that thing is all over the place.
it's very light. The frame weighed like 1080 grams. there's just not
enough material in the top tube, and the tubes are small by today's
standards. It's smooth on bad pavement, but it still hops around,
sort of rebounding from the bumps.

have you tried different fork/stem/bars? i assume you have, just a thought. look forks and ti stems aren't the stiffest imho.

[moran]

My steel/carbon Elium just before leaving the shop....

[RDP]

My favorite crit/circuit race bike. If I had the money, I'd have another one sitting around in metal flake tangerine orange and cue ball white with a seat mast built in. This is the 'stiffest' bike i've ever ridden, bar none.

Nice bike Swoop....some time ago was interested in getting a Seven. The one below is not mine but liked the minimalist frame. Read Robert Millar's review of the Axiom years ago with interest (and now your reviews). Maybe it's not too late.

[Too Tall]

Swoop made me do it ;)
This is a Seven track bike I had made thru our team deal. It is a 9 for drivetrain. In a prev. reply I said it looks like a$$ but boy howdy does it race well at T Town and no slouch for a long training ride. No kidding if there was going to be a problem it would be at the bottom of turn 3 going full bore in a flying 200...nada zip not a bit of flex, handles like a champ. Even the ugly wound up fork works great. Basically I hate/love this bike. I'm vain, bikes should look great and work. There is no reason for the tall head tube, it prevents me from ever using the bike dual purpose using clip on bars and it looks dumb...there I said it. This bike is GREAT, it works fantastically and I ride in the drops all day long....perfection.

I just got back from a wet winter ride and the sun was shining...sooooooo here yah go. Don't mind the blinky and bell...necessary for commuting yo.

*The wheels are super nice for clinchers. They came with the wife's 1957 Frejus track bike. Campy low flange track hubs built to MA40s, nice ride...for clinchers ;)

Note the reverse brake lever. I do this for a quick removal when I hit the track. Works great. Loosen one bolt and remove fr. brake and yer racing.

[swoop]

you are one seriously tall motherfucker aren't you? i mean, i always thought 'tootall' was an ironic nickname. the Eiffel Tower called, it wants its bottom third back.



*it looks much better than what imagined.

[Too Tall]

you are one seriously tall motherfucker aren't you? i mean, i always thought 'tootall' was an ironic nickname. the Eiffel Tower called, it wants its bottom third back.



*it looks much better than what imagined.

Only ironic in obvious relms like if I was really short ;) Nah, I'm Too Tall to ride bikes pal...I'm just fakin' it.