Concept to race in one week: Mo Bruno Roy’s custom Seven Mudhoney PRO 2

Custom frame-builder Seven Cycles had a brand new custom titanium lugged carbon frame for Bob's Red Mill rider Mo Bruno Roy for her to take for its virgin ride at this weekend's NBX Gran Prix of Cyclocross. She had been riding a prototype of the mixed-materials Mudhoney this season, and the company implemented her suggestions into the next round of prototype, which went from concept to being raced in a week. "I was pretty amazed to have Rob V. show up with it Friday at 8:30PM and have Matt prep it to be ready for me to race at 1:30 Saturday," Bruno Roy told VeloNews. "I've ridden it two times so far - by racing last weekend at NBX - and immediately it feels perfect. It is the first time I will race a bike without toe overlap and I'm excited to see how it may change my riding style for the better." Bruno Roy's husband, pro mechanic and ultra-endurance cyclist Matt Roy claimed that the overarching goal was to make the bike more thoroughbred and incorporate a few of Bruno Roy's critiques into the new frame. The main issues Seven addressed were adjusting the fit based on Bruno Roy's altered riding position so that her weight stayed centered correctly, mud clearance in the chainstay and seatstay and eliminating toe overlap. Photo: Meg McMahon

Stef Adams arcs the current for the virgin weld on Mo Bruno Roy's custom Mudhoney. Like many at Seven, welder Adams comes from a background in metal sculpture. Photo: Rob Vandermark | VeloNews.com

The Seven team had one week to bring the custom build from the drawing board to the finished product. Like Bruno Roy's previous Mudhoney prototype, her revised custom build has titanium lugs and primarily carbon tubing. Photo: Rob Vandermark | VeloNews.com

The titanium head tube is cut out and bonded to a carbon head tube. Photo: Rob Vandermark | VeloNews.com

Nearly all Seven Cycles builds are custom, so to ensure accuracy, each is placed on a solid granite surface plate and checked for alignment precision five times before completion. Photo: Rob Vandermark | VeloNews.com

Bottom bracket threads are machined in. Seven Cycles does all machining in-house to ensure control in the process. After the final alignment, the frame is sent to Matt O’Keefe for final machining. O'Keefe says his favorite part of working at Seven is "the challenge of doing more with less." Photo: Rob Vandermark | VeloNews.com

The most dramatic changes to the design were in the chain stay and seat stay. Bruno Roy's original prototype had mud clearance issues in the rear, which is an especially pressing problem when Bruno Roy races in Europe, where prolific mud makes clearance issues paramount. Photo: Rob Vandermark | VeloNews.com

No opportunity for subtle detail is overlooked on the Pro 2. Photo: Rob Vandermark | VeloNews.com

With a hard and fast deadline for Saturday's race, this was the bike's state of completion at 11:28 on Wednesday night. Photo: Matt O'Keefe | VeloNews.com

The new Mudhoney is lighter than Bruno Roy's previous one, with thinner lugs that are "more aggressively machined" according to Roy. The chain stays are the only completely titanium tubes on the bike. Photo: Matt O'Keefe | VeloNews.com

Imprinted with the serial number and ready to bond. Photo: Rob Vandermark | VeloNews.com

With all welding and machining complete, the lugs are ready to bond. Photo: Rob Vandermark | VeloNews.com

Seven Cycles founder and president Rob Vandermark believes that this bike has pushed titanium-lugged carbon frames to the "end game for mixed-bikes capabilities. You can't push it much farther," he told VeloNews. Seven's bikes with mixed materials, which Vandermark refers to as 622 bikes, have evolved from primarily titanium bikes to essentially carbon bikes. The end result leaves barely any titanium left to cut down. Photo: Rob Vandermark | VeloNews.com

At this stage, the titanium and carbon gets joined. Photo: Rob Vandermark | VeloNews.com

With the final bonding in place, the frame is ready for finishing and decals. Photo: Rob Vandermark | VeloNews.com

Thursday night at 11:29, this was the state of completion. Photo: Matt O'Keefe | VeloNews.com

The frame gets passed to Seth LaPointe for finishing. Photo: Rob Vandermark | VeloNews.com

With the deadline fast approaching, Seth LaPointe is no less detail-oriented. Photo: Rob Vandermark | VeloNews.com

This particular touch is Roy's favorite detail on the bike. Photo: Rob Vandermark | VeloNews.com

Staci Sommers has the King looking over her for the decal stage. "I love the artistic freedom that the decal designers get to have," said Bruno-Roy. "This bike is one-of-a-kind, hand-crafted artisanship with some really thoughtful personal touches like the three stars on the top tube, for the three masters national championships I won and the 'Mo' on the seat tube. It's somehow aesthetically sharp while remaining understated and classically Seven." Photo: Rob Vandermark | VeloNews.com

Jordan Low helped with the decal design work. Matt Roy explained that the duress Bruno-Roy can put one of her bikes under in a single day can include up to ten power washes, so the decals get put through the ringer. Photo: Rob Vandermark | VeloNews.com

The careful work of decals. Again, every step of the process is done in-house, especially finishing. Vandermark says it's critical to their work, especially when working under the gun, to have ultimate control, because it can get cumbersome to communicate custom demands for paint jobs with an outside sub-contractor. Photo: Rob Vandermark | VeloNews.com

Staci Sommers puts the finishing touches on. Vandermark considered this frame's design more artistic than their standard bikes. Despite his background in sculpture, Vandermark tries to remain fairly conservative in the design aspects, and says he tries to make sure they aren't about artistry, but are about precision. He is clear that they are tools that are meant to be raced and not art to be hung on a wall. According to him, excellent craft is more about accuracy, while art is about expressing what's in your heart, and accuracy can inhibit art. But while he praises function over form, this bike speaks to both. Photo: Rob Vandermark | VeloNews.com

The raw carbon shows through the extensive decal job. Photo: Rob Vandermark | VeloNews.com

Bruno-Roy's head tube badge, ready to mount on the carbon head tube. Photo: Rob Vandermark | VeloNews.com

Once the badge is in place, the frame is ready for Roy to assemble. Photo: Rob Vandermark | VeloNews.com

The final step is complete by Friday at 6PM, and gets sent to Roy for assembly. Photo: Matt O'Keefe | VeloNews.com

The finished frame. Photo: Matt O'Keefe | VeloNews.com

"It takes an amazing combination of circumstances to get bike out of box and have it feel like old friend right away," Roy told VeloNews. He praised Seven for showing their commitment to Bruno Roy through the expedited process. The first time she rode it was the day of the race, where she finished 8th. "Now, to get it dirty in Belgium," says Bruno Roy. Photo: Matt O'Keefe | VeloNews.com