Just finished building this up. About to take it out and get very dirty after 2 days of rain.
My first single speed. My first 29er. Should be fun!
Seven Sola 29er single speed with Niner carbon forks.
Phil Wood Hubs, and bb.
White Industries chainset and freewheel.
Magura Marta SLs.
Stans 355's.
Just for fun, as the proud father I thought I would also post the latest family album! Hopefully no stray weeds, loose floorboards, valves not lined up with tire decals or other picture bloopers, although I did notice one of the cats' pink balls in 2 of the pictures. Sorry.
My Sola Hardtail. The wheels look so small now next to the new one!
My Duo Lux. Yep, only its owner could love it! Butt ugly, but rides like a dream.
My Tsunami cyclocross. Before anybody mentions it, they are tubulars, so no choice on the valve/decal alignment!
Actually the dropouts don't look so ugly in real life, but they are quite big I agree. Like so many of Seven's more unique concepts (like the Duo, cough, cough!), they are really nicely made, really nicely engineered, but maybe not the best looking. They do however do a brilliant job and are super strong and stiff.
I can admit to a bit of brand loyalty, but this goes beyond obsession
do you get them at trade? why do you like seven so much? not having a go, just curious.
I wish I did get them at trade, but sadly no. I understand your question though.
Firstly I love the ride of titanium, which does somewhat narrow the field somewhat. I used to break carbon, and steel is nice, but I like the concept of a bike for life. I am not exactly a standard size, being tall, but relatively short in the leg with a long torso and ape-like arms! So, custom makes sense, and whenever I have fancied a new genre of bike, I have never found anything better than a Seven in a custom made frame.
Lots of manufacturers probably make equally nice bikes in each category, but Seven have always looked after me and their customer service is 1st rate. Highly recommended.
That's OK to ask. I think the RRP is £330. I pre-ordered mine, and by the time it eventually arrived, it was £300 on the dot. Expensive? Hard to tell. On the one hand, it's almost twice the price of a White Brothers, or the old faithful RC31. On the other, a decent suspension fork seems to run to twice that price these days, and a decent carbon road fork is about £300ish, so its probably about right. It is really nicely made, well thought out and from an initial spin seems to ride really nice. LOADS of mud clearance too.
Of course I did expect the odd post like that speaker2animals. Given the bikes, you probably wouldn't want to see my bank statements though as there isn't much left! I work hard, live like a monk to afford them, save well and like nice bikes. Sorry if that offends you.
leave the guy alone, seven and titanium in the title were prob enough to tell you not to open it if you'd be offended, the rest of us like seeing lovely bikes, this is in fact a bike forum where many of us spend far too much, relative to our incomes, on bikes.
BTW do you deal with Seven direct or via Sigmasport.
They are my local LBS and are always telling me to stop faffing around and changing bikes every 12-18 months – and just buy a Seven. In truth it would make sense financially provided of course I didn't get bored of it.
GJP, I was in exactly the same position as you. Actually once you have ridden one, and although I know it is a cliche, it will be the last bike you buy (well, OK in my case 'of that type'!). In the long run, you only have to change a fairly expensive 'stock' bike twice to justify the cost, particularly if you swap all of the kit over.
Mine came from a couple of sources. I bought the first 4 in New Zealand when I was living there. These were done directly through Seven as they don't have a distributor in that part of the world. The last few were through Sigma Sport, as Seven won't deal direct where they do have a distributor. Sigma know their stuff. Mark Murphy used to be their expert, but he has moved on to work for Specialized. Lee has taken over as their Seven expert and is really helpful. It's a lot of cash but well worth it in the long run.
Not sure on the weight. It's light all right. I am guessing about 19lbs all up.
Certainly much lighter than my standard Sola with suspension forks and gears, although the Phil Wood and White Industries kit isn't actually especially light.
Airwolf, that's six posts and saddles. I guess I have a Fizik shaped bum!
Will, thanks for the comments. I guess being quite tall I do fit into the category of what 29ers were designed for. It looks better proportioned than my 26 inch wheel bikes given my size somehow. The ride is definitely different. Not as twitchy or chuckable, but heaps more stable. A completely different animal. Definitely not a replacement for a 26 inch bike, but something quite different.
After this lot, they are genuine 18ct Homebase plastic!
Yep, quite a slack seat angle. Somehow the saddle and the handlebars are in the right place relative to each other, but what happens in the middle is a bit of mystery.