Last year I set about replacing my well-traveled Kona Sutra. Having decided to sell off our extra vehicles (we went from 2 cars and a motorcycle down to a single car), M and figured that we should celebrate with new bicycles.
The search.
![Meet Rue](https://kmwoley.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/WP_20130913_002-Copy-1024x576.jpg)
There was much I loved about my current bike, so I had a good place to start from. The geometry was mostly-right for my body, but not quite-right enough (few sore body parts and numb hands told me that that there were things to fix). I put together a quick list of must-haves in my new ride…
- Perfect fit from the start – I want to love spending hours in the saddle without consequence to my body.
- Zippy, more aggressive yet confident and stable – my older bike was a beastly thing which serves well for touring, but not as well for daily driving. My goal was good enough for loaded touring, great for light touring, awesome for the commute/fun weekend ride.
- Durable – at the end of the day, I don’t want to have to worry about what will go wrong when I’m out and about.
I looked and test drove at a lot of bikes (the newer Kona Sutras, the Long Haul / Disc Truckers, Salsa Vaya’s, etc.) and soon figured out that it was worth the wait and cost to have a custom frame built. Living in Seattle, there were some great options at my disposal having both Davidson (http://davidsonbicycles.com/) and R+E/Rodriguez (http://www.rodbikes.com/) in my back yard. I spent some time talking to the folks at R+E and just didn’t get a good vibe from them. In my search, I started to hear about Seven Cycles (http://sevencycles.com/home.php) and my curiosity got piqued. When I called Zach at Cascade Bicycle Studio in Fremont (http://cascadebicyclestudio.com/) I immediately got a good feeling when I let him know what I was looking for. Walking into the shop and meeting with Zach and Terry for the first time convinced me that I had made the right choice by choosing Seven and CBS.
Custom all the things!
The Seven process for building out a frame is pretty slick. They knew how to ask the right questions to get at what type of frame would be perfect for my riding. Starting from the bike that I was riding, we talked about what I wanted to be different and what I didn’t want to change. They took my body measurements, measurements from the bike I’m currently riding, and the data about the details I wanted (right down to how I wanted my cables routed and where did I want my water bottles) and created a plan. They build in a few steps to double-check that they get things right (like the folks at the Seven Cycles calling to confirm details with you before they build) which is good – because we caught a couple pretty major issues before they made it to production. I made their lives more complicated by planning to build out the bike myself instead of having CBS build it for me. I think this caused us all more trouble than if I had just had them source the parts and build out the bike myself, but I really wanted to do the build myself to learn how to do it & also save a few bucks on the parts. In the end, I ended up basing my build off of the Seven Mudhoney/Expat basic titanium frame and adding my own flair.
Parting it out.
I’ve never built a bike before. I’ve never bought all the parts for a bike before. It was an adventure that covered Amazon, Nashbar, EBay, Universal Cycles, and Greggs Cycles. I won’t bore you with the process… here’s what I ended up with for the initial build.
![Parts Pile](https://kmwoley.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/WP_20130914_001-Copy-1024x576.jpg)
Part Type | Selected Component |
Frame | Seven Cycles Expat Ti |
Cables | Jagwire Hyper Brake, Derailluer Kits |
Rear Rack | Used from Kona Sutra |
Bar Tape | Planet Bike |
Brakes/Rotors | Avid BB7-S Road 160mm |
Crankset | Shimano Ultegra 6703 |
Derailleur Front | Shimano Ultegra FD-6703 Front Derailleur Triple |
Derailleur Rear | Shimano SGS 772 Shadow Rear Derailleur |
Shifters | Microshift Barend 10 speed |
Bottom Bracket | Shimano Ultegra |
Fork | CoMotion Carbon Touring |
Handlebars | Salsa Cowbell 2 (46cm) |
Headset | Chris King (Sotto Voce Navy) |
Wheel Hubs/Rims | Mavics (reused from Kona Sutra) |
Brake Levers | TRP RRL |
Cassette | Shimano DX 11-34T 10 speed |
Chain | Shimano DX 10-speed |
Stem | Salsa |
Tires | Schwalbe Marathons (700c-28mm) |
Pedals | Shimano PD-A540 (platform on one side, clipless on the other) |
Saddle | Well-worn Brooks B-17 |
Seatpost | Thompson |
Putting it all together.
Once I got everything in hand, the build out actually went better than I thought it would. I have to give a lot of credit to the Park Tool Blog’s “New Bike Assembly” instructions. In particular, this video series in “Calvin’s Corner” on How to Build a Bike was a one of the best guides for me (as someone familiar with bike mechanics, but not with the details of a new assembly).
I started with the cockpit… I was nervous about wrapping the handlebar tape, having never done it, but it turned out pretty easy to do.
![Cockpit Assembly - brakes and shiftrs in place.](https://kmwoley.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/WP_20130914_003-Copy-1024x576.jpg)
![Cockpit Assembly - all wrapped up, nowhere to go (yet)](https://kmwoley.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/WP_20130914_005-Copy-1024x576.jpg)
There were things I had to hack, like “How to install a star fangled nut into a bike stem without the right tools” – turns out that bolting the star nut to a 11/16″ socket, and using a rubber mallet to tap it in (very, very carefully) can get the job done in a pinch. Of course, I’d recommend using the right tool for the job just in case.
![Makeshift star nut installation - All the tools you need.](https://kmwoley.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/WP_20130914_010-Copy-1024x576.jpg)
![Makeshift Installation](https://kmwoley.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/WP_20130914_007-Copy-1024x576.jpg)
![Makeshift star nut installation - tap tap tap it in very carefully.](https://kmwoley.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/WP_20130914_008-Copy-576x1024.jpg)
The rest of the build went pretty smoothly… one step at a time…
![Handlebars installed!](https://kmwoley.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/WP_20130914_009-Copy-1024x576.jpg)
![Brakes installed - my only problem with my Seven is how they place the rear brake. It's a challenge to get to the bolt and actually screw it in.](https://kmwoley.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/WP_20130914_017-Copy-576x1024.jpg)
![Brakes installed - a different angle on the hard-to-reach bolt for the rear caliper.](https://kmwoley.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/WP_20130914_018-Copy-576x1024.jpg)
![It can roll and stop, now it just needs to be able to go.](https://kmwoley.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/WP_20130914_020-Copy-1024x576.jpg)
![Ready to roll!](https://kmwoley.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/WP_20130915_001-Copy-1024x576.jpg)
![All newborn babes need to be weighed - 11.9kg (26.2lbs) with heavy tires/tubes and a leather Brooks saddle.](https://kmwoley.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/WP_20130915_002-Copy-1024x576.jpg)
Mistakes were made.
I only made two major mistakes. Thankfully one of them was not cutting the steering tube on the fork to the right length! The first mistake was that I wasn’t paying attention when cutting some of the shifting housing and accidentally cut the shifting cable while trimming off the end of the housing! That was a pretty cheap mistake to fix. The second mistake I made was more critical – I originally had the wrong chain from Shimano and it didn’t shift/work well with my cassette. I road on it for a while until it broke (prematurely) – thankfully it didn’t leave me stranded somewhere out in the middle nowhere!
So, how’s the ride?
![Rue on Puget Sound](https://kmwoley.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/WP_20130924_004-Copy-1024x576.jpg)
Love it. Rue rides better than her predecessor, is smoother, and just feels right. It’s been 7 months of riding, including one international lightly-loaded bike tour, and I’m still a big fan.
I’m happy I made the transition from steel to titanium – the comfort of the ride has improved and it certainly gave the feeling I was looking for. But, most importantly, CBS/Seven Cycles did a great job fitting the frame to my body which makes it even better than I expected.
Didn’t know you were doing this….nice job…looks like you put a tremendous amount of time and labor into this project. Glad you are pleased with the results. I am sure you got a lot of satisfaction from the finished project. That is the way I feel after completing a project(most of mine have been powered 4 wheel items)
Gonna do the same for M??
I also have a Seven Expat S — took delivery Feb 1, 2014. It's wonderful. If you're interested, I have several photos here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/dan_gomboc/sets/721…
At the end of May I'm planning my first tour with it….350 miles on rails-to-trails. Not exactly cross country, but I can't wait!
Enjoy your Seven!
Hey Kevin,
Your Seven Expat is beautiful! What fenders did you use on it?
Cheers!
Keith
Thanks! I'm using SKS Raceblades. I got them because I thought I'd take them on and off, but turns out I just leave them on most of the year. Link: http://smile.amazon.com/Raceblade-Bicycle-Fender-…