Text by Shinya Tanaka / Photo by Ryota Kemmochi
Five Key Elements of Custom Bikes According to SEVEN CYCLES
Perhaps the decision to start building a custom bike is an attempt to return to those days—at two, five, or ten years old—when we first straddled a bicycle, feeling that sense of freedom and the joy that set us in motion.
The five elements listed below will surely guide us back to that state of initial impulse, strip away even our fears, and allow us to immerse ourselves in creating a new "self."
We hope you enjoy the read.
Element 1 / Fit and Comfort
Let’s start by considering the upper half of the bicycle: saddle position, reach to the handlebars, number of hand positions, and the fore-aft adjustment of the saddle rails. All these elements are crucial and represent the ultimate factors that determine comfort in various ways. While some argue that geometry, length, and height are the true essence of custom bike building, for Seven Cycles, these numbers are merely the starting point.
Element 2 / Handling and Performance
Next, let’s look at the lower half of the bicycle: bottom bracket height, wheelbase, fork rake, and trail. When you are on the bike—descending winding roads like a Tomahawk missile, charging up steep inclines, or weaving through a peloton—these values determine how the rider feels. By describing these intuitive riding situations—what you physically feel while on the bike and how you actually want to ride—we can further refine the geometry and tube sets to provide a specific, tailored design. This is the element that goes beyond just "fitting," allowing you to concentrate more on the ride itself.
Element 3 / Tubing and Materials
When we delve deep into what you want from your bike, Seven starts at the material level, recommending a tube set that aligns with your riding goals, comfort, and performance needs. The various materials they have developed (titanium, carbon, steel, etc.) are already highly refined, but the choice of tubes from that wide array, combined with advanced techniques like butting, allows us to tailor the metal pipes themselves to the individual, resulting in a more precise and ideal ride.
Element 4 / Features and Options
As the range of options grows, compromises vanish from your mind. You can consider the necessity of fenders or disc brakes and contemplate every detail of the bike based on your years of riding experience. Furthermore, we can accommodate an infinite spectrum of colors and special paint formulations. Whether it's mixed front and rear wheel sizes, front and rear racks, decal placement and size, or the choice of components and parts—everything is packed into these "options," and incorporating them all is possible.
Element 5 / The Future
Right now, as you design a bike for yourself, Seven imagines how that bike might evolve over time. Perhaps you are passionate about racing today, but might want to go touring later on, or perhaps you will move to another land and gradually begin to explore unfamiliar gravel roads. Seven anticipates the necessity of such changes and, whenever possible, seeks to build that adaptability into the design.
Without ideas and the desire to go somewhere, a bicycle wouldn't exist in the first place.
Yet there is nothing as challenging as starting to think up an idea. But we refine the idea in our heads again and again, repeatedly picturing the final destination. It is the final form of the object, the scenery at the goal we once dreamed of reaching.
And we think about that process.
The frame design is created.
The tubes are cut.
The welding torch shines dazzlingly.
The back and forth of the Scotch-Brite.
Through ideas, creativity, and thoughtful consideration, the best result is achieved. And the core of the idea lies in knowing what is necessary and where you want to go next.
The entirety of a bicycle is contained within the roads you will travel and the knowledge required to ride.
Will it be fast?
Will the ride be comfortable?
How about these wheels?
How about those handlebars?
What is your idea?
And when shall we begin building it together?
To be continued next FEATURE…