Seven Axiom SLX, 4-season and all-road

He has the lungs of an athlete and the physique of a chef.

Who's that?

I have pretty good lungs tbh.

In 2014 maybe.

Lungs are at the same capability as then, it's just that I'm fat and unfit now.

I was going for Care Bear Stare.

David is going to be the forum guinea pig for this DA PM. I fully support this.

Hooray.

Though srsly... if there are any issues, I expect top notch Shimano warranty and servicing... but it's kinda irrelevant as buying it as part of a bike from Cyclefit means they'll put in any spare should I wish it.

It's not like I need a power meter, but having played with one it's definitely a hell of a progression from just relying on HR and cadence for some training things.

I'll never push it, I'm not a serious climber or TT rider... but I am a data nerd, and this functionality it not super critical for me, just desirable and helpful when I am working towards specific goals.

BUT THEN HOW WILL YOU KNOW HOW MANY WATTS YOU ARE PUTTING DOWN?

Very few is the honest answer. But hey, if you can add toys like this... why not! Same for most of the DA Di2 stuff when the Ultegra Di2 is good enough.

Fuck it all. Go for the new DA. Had a good fondle of it today and it's frikking delicious.
Pictures don't do it much justice. Looks super sleek and feels amazing.

Oh I am.

It's the only way to make this bike truly ridiculous.

.

I thought you were doing that with the pink paint?

It's a tasteful colour.

The only ridiculousness in this venture is the cost. But that's what you get when you lose a beloved bike to a hit and run... a huge emotional reaction and if spending insurance money heals that and helps get me back to where I want to be, then it's worth it.

Nearly all of my rides last year were on the Serotta, from Dunwich length jaunts to daily commutes. I'm building a bike I can love as much as I loved that one.

I like pink, so the colour isn't an issue for me.

I'd not hesitate to recommend the Pioneer, if you lived in the US of A, it seems very hard to actually buy one in the UK, or get any support for one once you have purchased it.

Arriving soon:

• Enve stem - 110mm
  
  • http://enve.com/products/road-stem/
    
• Enve seatpost - 400mm 2 bolt 27.2mm, 0mm offset
  
  • http://enve.com/products/seatpost/
    
• Enve wheels - SES 4.5C AR disc wheels, Chris King 12/142, Shimano 11 speed, thru-axle
  
  • http://enve.com/products/ses-4-5-ar/
    
    

In production:

• Seven frame - Axiom SLX, thru-axle, 44mm headset, with mudguards and rack mounts
  
  • https://www.sevencycles.com/bikes/bike-detail.php?model=axiom-slx
    
• Enve forks - Gravel Road Fork
  
  • http://enve.com/products/gravel-road-fork/
    
    

The fork isn't "in production" so much as it is just being sorted by Seven so that the paint shop receive both the frame and fork at the same time and they get perfectly matching paint. I'm interested in this as paint takes differently on different materials and the quality of the paint shop will show in whether the luminance of the paint on the different materials is equal. It should be at this price point, but we'll see.

Starting to think about tires, the Schwalbe S-One look pretty neat for a tubeless thing: https://www.schwalbe.com/gb/road-reader/schwalbe-s-one.html . May well go this way, I have a tendency to take detours over inappropriate surfaces and these look like a good blend of great on-road and pretty good for minor off-road.

This is going to be good.

For tyres, tubeless is awesome. I'd have a think about exactly where you're going to be riding it most though, if it's tarmac then I'd get something slick like the Schwalbe Pro One or IRC Formula Pro.

Also... got a five page PDF going over the finishing options, and "no decals except down tube SEVEN and head tube 7" seems to have been translated as "put a USA flag at the bottom of the seat tube and a tubing decal on the bottom of the down tube" etc.

Have had to give explicit instructions on exactly what decals where.

Have boiled it down to:

• SEVEN in black, no outline, on the down tube
  
• 7 (numeric) in black, no outline, over-sized to be proportionate to the increased size of the head tube, on the head tube
  
  

With an additional caveat of:

• If the forks come with an Enve decal already affixed in a non-removable way, and the paint leaves an outline of this (no matter how much a trace outline it is), then add a black, no outline, Enve decal over the pink paint to exactly hide the trace of the decal under the paint.
  
  

The colour for the frame and forks is Pantone 2037. Which is a kinda dirty light pink.

My LBS just put 9100 on a ti/carbon Seven. They are incredibly well made frames. Does the geometry allow you to slam the stem? If not those enve stems look very goofy

I'd have a think about exactly where you're going to be riding it most though

Mostly tarmac, but I do like the Thames river path and that's more rocky and muddy in places rather than something like the dry gravel of the South Downs Way.

I'm willing to give up a little of the road performance to make it a more durable all-rounder... at least enough to not fear adventurous detours.

What is your LBS?

And the stem is the right one for me. I'm sure it will look a little goofy, given the head tube size... but meh, hard to reconcile that little bit of the aesthetic and everything else works well enough.

I'm going for Pro bars http://www.pro-bikegear.com/global/en-gb/road/handlebars/PRO_HA_VIBECARBON but their stem is just the very definition of fugly.

As I've opted for Enve for wheels, fork and seatpost I couldn't think of any great reason not to go with the stem. The Enve stem looks pretty good, but the Seven frame I think is a little more angular than the curves of the stem so this is one thing that I've basically said... who cares, it's a stem, just make it black to match all of the other components and not have anything too fugly about it. It's just a stem.

Ben Thomson Cycleworx, in Southfields. Great shop, lots of rare stock

Wow, that shop looks incredible and I never knew it was there.

Yeah it really is. They have everything Soma, Yokozuna and Wolfwooth, as well as all the standard bike shop stuff. Even have some Suzue disco track hubs on display

Ben is a good friend of mine. Has been doing stuff on my bikes forever.

Sorry, but WTF at this:

"If the forks come with an Enve decal already affixed in a non-removable way, and the paint leaves an outline of this (no matter how much a trace outline it is), then add a black, no outline, Enve decal over the pink paint to exactly hide the trace of the decal under the paint"

Having painted many, many sets of enve forks, and a plethora of other brands, this makes absolutely no sense to me.