Anyone ride a Seven?

[hermitclub]

I've been thinking about getting a second bike. Currently ride a Specialized Sequoia Comp and love it for the long weekend rides. However, I started doing pre-work early morning rides with a very fast rider and have a hard time keeping up. I've been reading about Seven Cycles and was interested in any feedback from Seven owners. I love the idea of going custom, but it's a big investment.

Thanks!

[7rider]

Hi there!
Yup....there are a few Seven riders here. I have 2 Sevens, actually. And my DH has one.
I got a stock (noncustom) Seven Axiom in 2000 and loved it! It was one of those bikes that the LBS let me ride, and I immediately knew I had to have it! (yeah...hard sell...the LBS is good for that!). The bike rides like silk on the road. Extremely comfortable, very stable. I often say the bike has ESP - it knows exactly what I want to do and it does it all very well. It is very much a "point and shoot" bike.
After 7 very happy years with it, I finally decided to get a custom Seven ID8. Part of the reasoning behind that was a herniated disc in my neck that mades riding uncomfortable. As you know, it was a big investment and I hope that this is the bike I "grow old" with. The ID8 is also very comfortable, yet to show how truly customizable the bikes are, it looks, rides, and performs very differently vs. my Axiom. I wanted a bike that was a bit stiffer, and this delivered. I wanted a bike that I could ride comfortably for long rides and again, it delivered. I just completed a brutal, hilly, century with no pain at all (other than, um, legs and utter exhaustion from completing brutal, hilly century!).
My DH rode Kleins for years. He loves the stiff, snappy ride of them. When his died and he needed a replacement, he rode the LBS owner's Odonata (the precursor to the ID8) and he, too, knew he had to have one. All of the benefits of his Klein (instant acceleration, speed, spot-on steering, stiffness, power for the hills) and none of the drawbacks (mainly, so stiff that it beats you up to exhaustion at the end of a ride).
Neither of us are sized such that we just don't fit stock bikes. Both of us have ridden stock bikes very happily for years. We're also not racers, but as with you, we do fast group rides. We're not bike snobs (at least, I'd like to think we're not!). And we're not wealthy. We just love to ride bikes and having a properly fitted custom bike that does exactly what we want it to do certainly makes it a whole lot easier to love what you ride!
Do a search on this forum for "Seven" - you'll find several threads from folks (including me) who discuss the build process and impressions of their Seven.
You'll find, I think, that all impressions are favorable! If you can wrap your head around the price tag, and are willing to commit to it, a custom Seven is a fantastic thing.

[Velobambina]

I have a Seven Alaris and I love it. One of the guys at the LBS "designed" it as a demo model for females (wasn't test ridden much, though). As luck would have it, the bike fit me perfectly and was on sale. This one is my very favorite bike.

My next bike will be a custom Seven. I've started saving but with the gruppo that I want on it (campy chorus), it'll be awhile before I have enough put aside to buy it.

[hermitclub]

Thank you both for your input. Sounds like I really need to test ride a Seven. The closest retailer is about 1 1/2 hours away. Looks like I'll have to call ahead to make sure they have the right size for me to ride. That would be a long drive to not be able to take one for a spin.

Besides not being able to keep up with my speedy weekday morning partner, I find that I have some pain between my shoulder blades on my current bike, even after much tweaking with stem, saddle, etc, etc. I was hoping that a custom ride would take care of that issue.

I did a search on 'seven' but it comes up empty. Perhaps the posts were too old and deleted from the discussion forum.

[Thorn]

Search hint: "Seven" is a number and an excluded word for search. Try searching for a model (e.g., "Axiom"). Unfortunately ID8 doesn't search, either.

[[I also once couldn't figure out why the boards never mentioned Seven...the ultimate in bike lust bike]]

[7rider]

Thanks, Thorn. I just did a search and also came up empty...causing me to scratch my head and wonder.

Here are a few links:
My ID8 discussion: http://forums.teamestrogen.com/showthread.php?t=17897
When I decided to buy one: http://forums.teamestrogen.com/showthread.php?t=16706
Velobambina's Seven discussion: http://forums.teamestrogen.com/showthread.php?t=17047
And BikerZ's Alaris discussion: http://forums.teamestrogen.com/showthread.php?t=16017

Good luck with the hunt. They're awesome bikes.

[SadieKate]

Hermit, Sevens are gorgeous bikes. My husband has a steel/carbon Elium that he is absolutely thrilled with but remember that the thrill wou;dn't be there without a perfect fit. From feedback from Seven owners and dealers, the fit is best accomplished by a pro fitter who feeds the numbers to Seven but doesn't take Seven's returned numbers as gospel as they tend to set up a bike for a long and low position no matter what. This may be what you like but only you and your fitter know this and your fitter can actually see you in the position.

Also, it may be worth looking at Serotta. They are a direct competitor of Seven and been in the business far longer. You can get stock or custom. I'm just mentioning this because our LBS which sells a ton of Sevens is considering them. Seven has had a huge turnover of staff in the last year and has its challenges. We experienced it ourselves even a year ago. Bubba still ended up with a gorgeous bike but no where near the timeline promised and the position perfect due to the fitter not Seven.

Bottom line is that I think you'd enjoy either bike, just do your research.