today, I picked up my long awaited seven. i placed the order back in mid-July and have been anticipating this day ever since. i took it for a short spin and can already tell, this bike and i are going to be good friends.
earlier this year, i was unfortunately the victim of bike theft -- both my CX bike and rain bike were stolen. after i got over the shock (and feeling of my personal space being violated), and losing hope that my bikes would be found and returned, i started looking for replacement bikes and one option that caught my attention was seven's CXR. designed in partnership with my local shop, cascade bicycle studio, what caught my attention about this bike was the promise that the CXR could replace 2 if not more bikes in one's stable. designed as a cross bike first, the CXR also featured fender eyelets making it easy to transition to a rain bike. i know, there are other CX bikes on the market that also feature fender mounts, so i'll admit that this could have been easily just marketing speak. however, having had an old cx bike that accepted fender mounts i can tell you that while it was functional as a rain bike, i felt like i was trading off something in order to ride as anything but a cx bike. i don't feel the same with CXR. granted, with limited miles, i'll need to spend more time on it, but i can already tell, the CXR feels much more balanced on multiple types of terrain and the ride quality hasn't been sacrificed for one duty or another; it feels like a bike that will accept being redlined with ease, as well as hours on cruise control over the winter base mile season. i'm eager to get in some more miles so i can report back on whether the CXR's claims hold up.
but i digress. going back to one of the main selling points, in our household, space is a premium and one less bike is a huge selling point. especially when your household is growing (i'm amazed at how much baby stuff we have).
another factor in my decision to go the CXR route was the fact that i could have some control over the specs. i don't have the cash flow to go full custom but choosing paint and build specs is definitely a happy middle ground when you have an expert fitter like Zac (he was Seven's lead fitter in a past life). while you can more or less have control over the build if you go stock, you don't get to choose paint. personal expression is important to me, so being able to choose the color scheme tilted me in favor of the CXR. so how did i end up with the scheme below? my favorite colors are white and grey and on the bike, my trademark is pink...so why not combine all three into one bike?
in terms of build specs, i went with SRAM force (a workhorse of a group), chris king headset and bottom bracket, and a custom built wheelset (hed belgium tubular rim married to chris king hubs). lastly, i'm relying on dugast small birds for traction. these tires should be great tires for most of seattle's CX season (unless it decides to be a wet season) as they are the first tire with a dual tread compound, which combined w/ the varying sized "knobs" should make them quick on the hard stuff but grippy enough for grassy corners.
so there you have it. my new bike!