Location Wednesday: Studio | Seven | Studio || 7:55 am – 8:35 pm
No reason to use the garbage can when the whole world is a trash can. | Shenzhen, China 2007 | Photo: Rob Vandermark
- Product Design: ISP: Production is in full swing. The last step is to finalize documentation on the individual pieces and assemblies. Interestingly there are only four unique pieces to our Integrated Seat Post design. Six pieces in all. It’s good to have this project wrapped up.
Location Tuesday: Seven || 6:50 am – 8:35 pm
- Business: Started officially working on Seven Cycles’ 5-year plan for 2013. It’s hard to believe that 2012 is already more than halfway through. I’m excited about working our latest 5-yr plan. So much happening in the industry right now and I think it’s going to get a lot more interesting in the next few years. And the economy – domestic and international – continues to be very unprecedented.
- Product Design: CFG Bikes: Spent some time on this again today. They continue to be patient. A project to release this fall. I think I’ve got all the design elements wrapped up. Now working on documentation.
On my desk – Red 2012 – Lucky me
Location Monday: Seven || 7:45 am – 7:40 pm
- Project: Carbon frame fatigue test: Seven Cycles carbon frame passed the first test! This is good; now onto the next frame. We want to ensure duplication of results before we field beta testing. This result is a very good sign though.
- Product Development: Seven Cycles Integrated Seat Post 2.0: We – read Skip – have done a lost of testing of too many variables. The results are not quite what either of us expected. However, the results make our job a bit easier. We’ve finalized the 2.0 design and it’ll go into production early next week. Two more tests and then we’ll be ready for prime-time. Stef is going to start on production drawings tomorrow. The design is lighter, simpler, and much tighter tolerance than our original design. fB.
Location Sunday: Studio || 7:35 am – 7:40 pm
Time Marker: A short day today. Too tired. Whine. The Studio rocked today.
Uncertainty is not the same as doubt. – Paraphrased from Bill Nye
Location Saturday: Studio || 7:25 am – 8:10 pm
Interview: Spent a few minutes working on the interview questions for the bicycle materials article.- Project: Super Rando: Looked into the wiring harness situation a bit more. Internal wiring; battery charger; ease of set up.
Sleep arrives like a tidal wave.
Location Friday: Seven || 8:00 am – 9:35 pm
- Interview: Received a list of questions for the cycling magazine interview. I’ve started working on it. It’s going to be about 5 pages by the time I’m done. Deadline is Monday and I won’t have time to work on it this weekend.
- Business Thinking: Talked with one of Seven Cycles’ best retailers today. We discussed the challenge of employee hiring step function tipping point. We reviewed the calculation I’ve used for years that helps determine when it makes most sense to add help to the team. It’s particularly challenging for him because adding to his team increases it by 1/3. That’s a big and risky jump. It turns out in his case that the challenge isn’t whether he can afford to hire but when to hire and how to best leverage the employee’s time and focus. We ran the numbers on what it takes to pay for an employee. Mechanic vs. sales person, etc. It’s an exciting time for him; and an interesting time – as the popular curse goes.
Thursday Location: Seven || 7:55 am – 5:35 pm – then ride with Mary & Mike – then home to lick my wounds
- Product Development: Working on an integrated ANT sensor for Seven Cycles. I’m sure we’ll get it ready just in time for someone to change the standard. Regardless, I want one in my next bike.
- Project: Making progress on our carbon finish system fatigue testing. No failure yet; that’s a good sign. It means the first round passed.
- Project: Titanium Testing. I started on setting parameters for Seven Cycles’ next titanium testing. We’re looking at a number of test parameters: surface finish on the ID and OD, concentricity, and – most important – contractile strain ratio.
Some mountain bikers at Seven Cycles got to ride with Mary McConneloug and Mike Broderick on Thursday evening. Seven has been sponsoring them for many years but we rarely get to ride with them. Mike and Mary were heading through the Boston area for a couple hours – just enough time for a quick ride. This roll was a bit of reconnaissance for a bigger adventure that the Ride Studio Cafe is hosting later this year. Get ready; it’s going to be a lot of fun.
Sunset with Mary, Mike, and Seven; looking toward the next section of singletrack | Photo: Rob Vandermark
Matt O’Keefe has some better photos of the ride.
Thanks to Mary, Mike, Matt O., Mike S., Nick M., Joe W., Jim A., Dan V., and Karl B. (hiding)
We’ve running yet another fatigue test series on titanium. This one will be the longest and most diverse so far – at least in the sense of running everything as an ongoing test. We test titanium every few years. We’re running another test series because there’s a lot going on in the titanium market right now – most of it bad:
- There are only two sources left in the US. For many years there were three sources; this doesn’t seem like much of a difference but it mattered. Seven works with both mills. Material quality from both companies is very good.
- The aerospace industry wreaks havoc on supply stability; lead-times can bounce from about 6-months to two-years. That’s no way to run a business – or be run by it.
- More and more builders are using Asian titanium and, to a lesser extent, European material sources. Nearly all builders are sourcing from Asia.
Test Parameters – Overview
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Wednesday Location: Seven | Studio || 8:10 am – 8:10 pm
Riding From the Rain | Photo: Natalia Boltukhova
- Project: Got the first glimpse of Natasha Boltukhova’s photo set from the Green Mountain Double Century. Many amazing photographs; completely different from her 2011 work. She’s also working on a video for that race; I can’t wait to see it.
- Press Interview: Working with Seven Cycles on a piece with a writer for a new magazine that’s hitting in September. Interesting magazine idea and a great article concept. Nothing radical, just good reporting. I’ll post some of it soon.
