I've had a long fascination with titanium frames since having an all-too-fleeting ride on a Bontrager Ti bike back in the day. So it was that nearly ten years later I decided to take the plunge and buy a titanium frame. I was given some money by my insurance company after some toe rag(s) walked away with my Intense Tracer and Giant TCR road bike from the basement of my flat here in Germany so I decided that I would like to have a custom frame.

After some extensive research I decided that I liked the look of Seven bikes and started proceeds of having myself fitted up for a Sola frame via my local bike shop, who had became Seven dealers at my request. I filled out the form, was measured up and later interviewed about what I wanted by Seven's frame fit technician who called me up from the States.

I told him that I wanted a frame that would be comfortable for riding 4-6 hour enduro races on, the type of event I mainly ride in Germany. The frame had to be comfortable, but also stiff at the bottom bracket area and have the ride feel that I loved on that old Bontrager frame. After some delay (caused mainly by the German distributors being a bit clueless) a box arrived at the shop and everyone eagerly crowded round as I unpacked the frame.

The welding work was really a work of art and everything looked so right, except that, as someone at the time commented, "It looks a bit big". As it turned out Seven had made me a very beautiful looking gate. The shop persuaded me to have the bike built up with the parts I had been assembling and try the bike, as at the time none of us could believe that a company with the reputation of Seven could make such a mistake. So the bike was built up, but after one ride it became clear that the frame was clearly made for someone a good head taller than me. I emailed Seven but they assured me that everything was how they intended it. I tried to live with the bike for a month or two but the total lack of standover was a real issue. So I started to put the wheels in motion via my LBS to try and get the problem sorted out. This is where the fun began.

The story has been documented in the forum here on BM. The German distributors weren't interested at all at first. They'd got their money and that was that as far as they were concerned - they just didn't even seem to understand what the problem was even after me sending the bike to them to have a look at it. There was a lot of to-ing and fro-ing and some heated words between shop and distributor which went on for a good six months. The shop tried contacting Seven directly which infuriated the distributors. It was beginning to degenerate into farce and all the time I had this bike that I couldn't really ride properly. Eventually one of the bosses at my LBS had managed to procure the email address of Seven owner Rob Vandermark and so as a last ditch effort I wrote to him directly. Two days later a reply came - result! The original fit technician wrote to me and agreed that I should have a bike that actually fitted me and that Seven would make me a new frame with no additional cost. All this took nearly a year to sort out but I was just relieved that something was finally going to happen.

The whole fitting process was done again and I was made to measure my inside leg length about thirty times in different ways as there was no way Seven wanted any more mistakes. Eight weeks later the new frame arrived and was built up. Finally it rode just how I had imagined it would. When I sat on it everything was just there in the right position. It had that characteristic titanium quality in the ride and was comfortable but also pin point accurate.

A top dollar frame needs top dollar parts and I spent a long time going through parts lists before I settled on what I wanted. The theme was bling.

• Fox Float RLT 100mm forks
• Hope Mono Mini 160mm disc brakes
• SRAM X0 shifters and rear mech
• XTR cranks and front mech
• XT cassette
• Chris King head set (gold)
• Easton EC90 bar and seat post
• SI SLR saddle (now a Specialized Toupe)
• Time Attac Ti pedals
• Race Face stem (the only part left of my old Intense)
• Chris King hubs with Mavic 819 rims
• Schwalbe Nobby Nic tubeless tires
• Elite bottle cages Ltd edition gold plated

It was all worth it in the end, but my advice to anyone wanting a custom frame is to be really sure exactly what you want and check the plans in detail before you let the manufacturers loose with your money...