MountainBike

Seven Cycles IMX: a Titan in Titanium

I am grateful to the aerospace industry for so many things: Airbus, NASA, SkyMall magazine ...

But I am especially grateful to the aerospace industry for its use of titanium, the space-age metal that used in airplane construction. Simultaneously unbreakable, indefatigable, corrosion-proof and ultralight, titanium is also totally dope.

Equally dope is Seven Cycles of Watertown, Massachusetts, which has been making bicycle frames from titanium since 1997.

With summer around the bend, I've got a jones for the IMX, Seven's flagship titanium/carbon mountain bike. The frame alone is $3,395. Steep, yes. But think of it like the two-wheeled equivalent of a tailor-made suit.

That $3,395 includes custom sizing, yes, but it also includes dialed-in custom handling and ride characteristics (do you want Cadillac comfortable? Formula-1fast?). Decal choice is also part of the deal, as is making sure the frame is compatible with the exact components you choose.

In other words, the aerospace-quality bike frame you get is an honest-to-god one-of-a-kind.

Can you say that for a Boeing 747? I didn't think so.

Tags: 747, bikes, boeing, cadillac, custom, massachusetts, mountain bike, MountainBike, nascar, seven, seven cycles, SevenCycles, titanium, watertown

Slingshot's Travel-Friendly Mountain Bike

by Anne Metz (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Cars & Autos

With recent posts about Bike Friday and Co-Motion's Espresso Co-Pilot on the brain, I thought I'd take a gander over at Michigan's Slingshot Bicycles to see what they've got going in terms of travel-friendly bikes.

Slingshot has been by making waves in the bike industry for a while now. As its name might imply, Slingshot uses taut cable in all the right places.

In terms of travel bikes, Slingshot offers the Fold-Tech mountain bike. The result is not only a mountain bike that folds down to fit in a suitcase, thus saving you the airlines' unconscionable bike fees (why is it that golf clubs -- which weigh a lot more than bikes, by the way -- don't seem to cause their owners $80 worth of grief each way?), but also a ride that will definitely turn heads.

Tags: bike friday, BikeFriday, co-motion, foldable bike, FoldableBike, michigan, mountain bike, MountainBike, slingshot, travel bike, TravelBike