On Saturday I crossed a silly little milestone.
Which is a wonderful time to reflect on the custom bike experience.
I was first measured and questioned for the bike the beginning of December 2020. They wanted to know my riding experience, what my current bikes were, intended purpose. After submitting all these tasty tidbits, we waited for a drawing. Due to some holiday in December, It took a little longer than anticipated for them to get that done. Once done, we had to clarify a couple details and wait another week for the final drawing to sign off on.
Custom graphics and being a weirdo who wanted a frame designed to only be a singlespeed caused lead time to be longer than quoted. This is something I wished there was greater transparency on. But all was good, I loved the bike I was riding; it would have been nice to have a quarantine project though.
Anyhoo...
I got the bike. A Seven Sola SL SS. The Velveteen Coney. It was built up with exactly the parts I wanted to put on it.
I"ve been and still am a fan of Shimano brakes. After building a number of road bikes with Campagnolo disc brakes, and loving the feel of them, I decided to go a different route and try Magura MT8s, which have been wonderful.
I thought a USA made drivetrain would compliment the USA made frame so I mated A White Industries M30 crank, chainring and bottom bracket with a Wolftooth stainless steel cog. Hear that? No? That's right, silent.
Does the carpet match the drapes? You betcha! WI headset
So how does it ride? Much like a bike. A very refined bike. Subtle. One of the questions asked and submitted was "which is more of a priority, weight or ride quality"?
Ride quality!
duh.
Never been a weight weenie, and consider it a very minor property to be concerned with. I want to get to the end of the ride, not have the lightest ride.
The standout feature of the bike is it's sexy ass that effortlessly leaves the ground following the arc with which I choose
That's it.
It's a stable, well handling bike that floats beneath me and holds a line when needed. It goes over logs better than any bike I've ridden...
and rides like a bike.
