Met with Natasha Boltukhova today to review her photo-set from the Green Mountain Double Century in June of 2012. Amazing photography; completely different from her 2011 GMDC photo-shoot. I can’t wait to post some of her images on Seven Cycles’ site and in the 2013 brochure.
Here’s a portrait Natalia took from 2011. It’s Dave Wilcox thinking. He may be wondering why he signed up for an 19-hour ride in the rain. This is one of the only photos of him not smiling – a rare occurrence.
Tuesday Location: Seven | Studio || 7:50 am – 8:15 pm
- Graphic Design: Poster of Mary and Mike arrived! Getting them ready for signing by the dynamic duo.
- Product Development: The Pressfit 30 bottom bracket system is back on the Seven Cycles development list. It keeps going away and coming back. This time I believe it’s here to stay. We’re looking at material requirements, CNC programming shenanigans, and long-term durability studies. Thinking about doing a fatigue test.
Were adding yet another bottom bracket system to Seven’s offerings. Up until now we’ve only offered:
- 68mm English Thread Bottom Bracket: Classic standard for many years
- Eccentric Bottom Bracket: Primarily for single-speed bikes and tandems
- BB30 68mm Bottom Bracket
But, golly, that’s not enough options so SRAM is offering a Pressfit 30 alternative to BB30. The Pressfit system solves some of the issues of the BB30. But then again, so does a standard English threaded shell.
Project timeline in reverse:
February 14 | The first two Pressfit 30 bikes are going through Seven’s production system right now. Someone asked, “What’s the big deal, it’s pretty much a BB30 system, right?” Sort of. It only requires:
- A different starter tube size
- An entirely different shell design and size
- New fixture adapters for machining, tacking, welding, finishing, and paint
- A new cutter diameter for adjoining tubes
- A new CNC program for post-weld reaming, facing, and counter-boring
- An new go-no-go gauge for the final ream size, along with a new set of standards for tolerances
- Some new testing standards
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Finally, a good use for some of the books I’ve read.
It’s probably a bit confusing what’s going on here. Seven Cycles’ mountain bike posters arrived today. Mary McConneloug and Mike Broderick – featured on the poster – will be visiting on Thursday to sign this limited run of 100 posters. The printer rolled them up for shipping and now we’ve got to flatten them out for easy signing.
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Monday Location: Seven || 7:40 am – 9:35 pm
The right tool for the job, at Seven Cycles | Photo: Rob Vandermark
- Press: Resilient Communities just published an article about Seven Cycles on their site. They focused on Seven’s manufacturing philosophy and customer focus.
- Project: Fatigue Test carbon finish: Woo hoo. It’s happening. I can hear the tester running. Expecting first numerical results tomorrow afternoon – sooner if something bad happens. Bad is okay; we still learn a lot on every test we run. Bryan H. is running it like a DJ.
Last week a couple journalist from Resilient Communities visited Seven Cycles to talk about our strategy and philosophy of manufacturing locally and selling globally.
People are often surprised to learn that Seven sells about 35% of our bikes outside of North America. We’re proud of this and I believe it makes us a stronger company. We also manufacture every frame in house – whether that’s carbon, titanium, or steel.
Resilient Communities found Seven interesting for a number of reason, some of which they share in the article, including:
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Mike brought just one of his Sevens to the National Championship Finals for the weekend of July 7: Seven IMX SLX 29er tipping the scales at 21 lbs. He did the bike, Seven Cycles, and all his sponsors proud in a really challenging mountain bike finals. He raced in three events in two days!
- Cross-Country he placed 17th
- Short Track he placed 19th
- Super D he placed 12th
Awesome job Michael!
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One of my favorite bikes is back in the Ride Studio Cafe fold: The Seven Cycles Cafe Racer single speed travel bike.
Here are some articles about the bike:
City Travel List:
- London, England
- Minneapolis, MN
- Friedrichshafen, Germany
- Stuttgart, Germany
- Boston, MA
Only 130 cities to go.
The coolest part of the bike is the Seven Tiberius handlebar. Super narrow – for urban riding – and at just the right ergonomic angle for comfortable riding.
The S&S BTC couplers make traveling simple. Because the bike is a grease and oil-less single speed – no gears – the breakdown and assembly couldn’t be much easier.
We designed the drivetrain for the Gates CenterTrack Carbon Drive. Looks great; rides smooth.
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Sunday Location: Seven | Studio || 6:25 am – 6:30 pm
- Time Marker: Matt Roy crushed the Saratoga 12 hours on Satuday. He set a new record. Expected from Matt and still unbelievable. Details to follow.
- Time Marker: I finished my first Ride Studio Cafe ride this morning. First one in more than 2-years. I even got a touch of a sunburn but not nearly what I expected. A great ride. Thanks to David Nanian for making it so. Although I did get a bit lost.
I rode with the Ride Studio Cafe crew this morning – for the first time. Not sure I’m going to do that again because my GPS tracking unit told me we took a very circuitous route. Actually, it was my fault; somehow I took a wrong turn and ended up in southwestern Russia – near the Trans-Siberian railway. Fortunately, my orienteering skills got me back to the group ride before they returned to the Studio.
The 5,000 mile Pacific water crossing was a bit of a drag; I would have taken the Bering Strait but I heard it’s under construction. Here’s the actual route I took – as shown by Garmin.
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