Tuesday location: Seven || 8:00 am – 9:10 pm
- Interview: Signature Cycles Just posted an interview with me regarding Seven Cycles. Flattered to have been asked to talk. Michelle did a great job of capturing the conversation.
- Interview: talked with Velonews‘ Emily Zinn today about Mo’s bike. Emily is working on an online piece. I’ll post as soon as I see it’s live.
- Prototyping: Mike and Mary bike design: Sending out final specs for sign-off today. We’re hoping to be cutting metal tomorrow. I’m champing at the bit to work on these.
- Prototyping: Taking the PRO 2 design and putting it into fat tire set up. This is an ESK project. Will start posting in about a week.
- Design: We’re – read Matt O. is – nearly done with the Coffee Table for Ride Studio Cafe. It’s going to be the heaviest table on the block. And most vintage.
Mo made me cookies! For helping build her latest Seven.
She made way too many of them – it’ll either take me two weeks to eat them all or I’ll gain more weight than usual. So, I ate as many as I could through the weekend and brought the rest in for the Seveneers – because really everyone at Seven helped bring Mo’s framesets to fruition.
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Tagged as:
Mo Bruno Roy
Signature Cycles is one of Seven Cycles’ top three retail partners. Consistently, every year. Signature is unique in the industry; Seven and I have learned a lot from our partnership and Signature sets the bar for many retailer benchmarks. They have two locations: Manhattan, NYC and Greenwich, CT. If you’re ever in either of those areas I strongly recommend visiting their studios.
Michelle C. interviewed me; I think she listened better than just about anyone that’s interviewed me before. We talked about a wide range of subjects; she whittled down all those words into a cogent and readable interview.
Here are some words from that conversation:
From sculpture to bike anarchy to material agnosticism to 100% commitment to custom […]
“Merlin was the innovator in titanium mountain bikes and it was an exciting time in the industry. I love working with my hands, problem solving in three dimensions, and exploring all kinds of engineering conundrums so it was very informative to learn in that environment. The work combined my love of sculpture and bikes.”
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Tagged as:
Rob Vandermark,
Signature Cycles
Monday location: Seven || 7:30 am – 7:40 pm
- Book Project: Met today with Mark Reilly from Enigma Bicycle today about a book on which he’s working. He traveled from the UK and Seven Cycles was his first visit. The book is about the twelve best bike builders in the world, or something like that. He was a really nice guy and had a lot of interesting stories about his 25-year framebuilding journey. He and I started framebuilding at the same time. But we have a lot more in common than just that.
- Bike Review: Lovely Bicycle wrote some very nice words – again – about her Seven bike. Velouria is the best! We’re so fortunate to count her among our customers and friends.
- Product development: We’re making progress on Matt Roy‘s rando proto project. Now that Mo is settled in on her MH PRO 2, we can get back into the rando world. Additionally, Matt fits my rando bike pretty well so it took some pressure of completing this new design for the 2012 season. However, we’ve got some early season ride projects lined up so we’re back on this proto.
December 3, 2012
in Press
Velouria of Lovely Bicycle! wrote an update about her Seven. She continues to be very positive about the bike. She’s the greatest.
Velouria’s one of a kind decals
Here are a few of her words:
[…] it has thrown me for a loop to realise that maybe, just maybe I am in a prolonged honeymoon phase with my Seven roadbike, which I’ve owned since Spring of this year. The symptoms are there: Everything about it feels “perfect.” […]
The fact that it’s welded and has a carbon fork somehow only accentuates its charm, even as I wax lyrical about lugs. And more disturbingly, I have lost interest in other bikes in its category. This last part is a problem! I would like, in theory to keep trying other roadbikes and comparing them, thereby learning more about the feel of different frame materials and different handling characteristics. But in practice, I don’t really want to ride bikes other than my own just yet. […]
It’s as if I haven’t had enough of it yet, even after 2,000 miles. […] I hope to get over this soon. Until then, you are unlikely to see much in the way of roadbike test-rides here.
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Tagged as:
Lovely Bicycle!
We had a great visit today from Mark Reilly of Enigma Bicycles. He came to Seven Cycles not for any reason that might seem intuitive. He visited because he’s working on a book about bicycle framebuilders. We’re fortunate to be included in the project; we’re one of only three framebuilders from the US that he’s including. Seven is flattered, particularly given that I’ve never met Mark before today. He chose Seven because of his perception of Seven’s place as a contemporary framebuilder.
I can’t say too much else about his project until it’s just about ready for print.
Mark Reilly photographing Skip
Mark’s been building frames for 25-years. He was really nice and frank. It was fun to talk with a framebuilder and commiserate about similar challenges. And in some ways were very different.
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December 3, 2012
in Press
Constance mentioned Tomorrow is Already Yesterday on her Not A Framebuilder Tumblr. I’m flattered that she mentions this journal.
Her comments are funny to me because she is so prolific – and provides continuously deep topics. All I can do is account for the day; she’s actually providing content that is both helpful and interesting to people.
Here are a few of the places her work lives:
Here’s what she writes:
Some time ago I discovered Rob Vandermark’s project blog. It goes back years and is maintained with surprising regularity. I am fascinated that someone as busy as he takes the time to jot down diary-style notes on a nearly everyday basis. I could never do a thing like that. Not because I am busier than Rob Vandermark, but because I don’t, and probably can’t keep track of things in that way. The day’s events blend and distort in my mind so quickly, that by the time I go to write them down they no longer reflect reality. I am aware of that just enough to feel weird about keeping a diary (never have), but not so aware as to be able to make anything interesting out of it.
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Tagged as:
Lovely Bicycle!
Sunday location: Studio || 7:50 pm – 5:30 pm
- Ride Project: Ride Studio Cafe is working fast and furious on six 2013 ride events already. Somehow they start in February? Get ready. I have to start training.
I think winter might be coming. Here are my reasons why.
‘Grip Mitten Fuzz.’ It’s a technical term for the way big mittens get eaten, bit by bit, by bike grips. It’s typically a winter malady. Here’s proof.
Spoke-sicles
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Saturday location: Studio || 7:25 am – 11:45 pm
- Event: Private party at the Studio this evening for Steve & Lauren. They were super nice; great event.
- Time Marker: I think winter sort of started today. Not to bad – it’s December – and not for too long.
