Seven Axiom S

Fat chance of me being in the UK any time within the next year.

There was an absolute beaut of a Axiom SL on ebay US at the start of the year in custom 7-11 colourway. Can't for the life of me now find it but there is something amazingly decadent about painting Ti - look at those early Serotta Legend Ti's.

Did you pay a grand for that pink paint?

Wait what

I’ve done it all. I’ve been looking at frames daily for months. And despite everything coming and going, nothing has been right. Some rim brake bargains of the century to be had, but just not for me.

I am still mourning not buying this when it popped up on ebay a few weeks ago. it was just the start of lockdown so I ummed and ahhed for a bit as I was worrying about the end of the world and when I decided to buy it it had already sold. I'll file this one next to the Moots @amey got as the frames I missed I'll most kick myself about. £599 ffs, and with the best cx fork ever made, and Avid Shortys too...fuck

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Seve-Mudhoney-S-Titanium-Cyclocross-Frameset-with-Easton-EC90X-Forks-/223984765905?ul_noapp=true&nma=true&si=XIng%252B5%252F3ABKj7QDSVU4ZnqyzgoU%253D&orig_cvip=true&nordt=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

Bugger!

I don't think this will look good.

Moots have managed alright, no?

I'm not a fan of the painted forks on Moots, however I agree they achieve a better match. I think it's because Moots do not come with a brushed finish but are a duller blasted finish, which is easier to match too.

Personally I don't think you can go wrong with a nice black fork and then possibly some bling Chris King parts to elevate it...The new Bourbon parts look great on the various Ti builds I've seen them used on.

Moots have managed alright, no?

I've never seen a Moots that tried to paint carbon forks to match a Ti frame as if the forks were the same material as the frame... the forks are usually left alone as carbon black or whatever their material is.

I stand very corrected.

And they do look good.

Yeah. That’s what I was talking about.

Anyway. We are done. Classic black text in white outline decals. Enve fork. 1 1/8th. Left black. Cane creek 40 headset. 105 R7000. R7000 laced to DT R460. Going to buy new finishing kit. Dunno what yet. Built around an in-line. Was gonna do set back but that resulted in a 75 degree seat tube and it didn’t look very symmetrical. Went for a slight slope in the top tube to give the illusion that it’s slightly longer than it is, given it’s quite a short and tall frame.

Numbers for saddle tip to bar are slightly off as we are using a noseless saddle.

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Queue T. rex comments.

Oh and here’s a photo of my fat ass on the fit bike in final fit mode. I’m probably a good 15kg’s over where I want to be right now but I won’t bore you with the ins and outs of why I’m so overweight 🙃

Anyway. Very comfortable. Very excited to get the frame.

The second photo is my old frame. This wasn’t a comfortable position. Night and day.

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Don’t worry, I have lost a stone and have at least another to go so you have my understanding.

Might it be worthwhile thinking about condition, core strength and flexibility before getting a final fit and bike design? Or has your fit not changed a great deal?

Fit hasn’t changed a great deal. I’ve been under the impression my ideal fit needed to be shorter and lower for a while and this confirmed that. He actually said my flexibility was pretty decent. Core strength could definitely be improved though without a doubt. Given the expected longevity of the frame, a more comfortable position is no bad thing IMO. This isn’t a race bike so I’m happy with the position.

Oh yeah! I got a third bottle cage boss on the underside of my down tube. I’m super excited about that.

pump peg?

No. I won’t be using a Silca from 1976.

FINE!

Tattico is what I use as well.

If you wanna paint the fork, don’t go down the ‘painted in similar colour to raw Ti’ option..... it will look weird after a few months. The tone/shade of the raw Ti finish on the frame will darken with use.... I had customer a while back who wanted the ‘titanium silver’ fork off his 6 month old Moots repainted bright Pink because of this exact problem.

Either leave fork unpainted, or choose a nice contrast colour. Personally I think raw Ti frames look great with fork and stem painted in a bold contrasting colour.

Oh, I forgot.

My ride quality preferences are circled here with the exception of drivetrain stiffness, which was an 8. The circled are the Seven defaults.

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Ah, gotcha. Thanks for the wisdom @hoops

I'm gonna leave it unpainted for now I think. I was thinking Ti seatpost with black stem + black fork to balance out the front and rear end. Not sure what that'd look like tho.

paint the frame matte black to match the fork...