Serotta Cycles at Penn’s Minnetonka Location
Steel – Titanium – Carbon
Custom Bicycle Frames
Many of you know my history with Seven Cycles when at Erik’s Bike Shop. Since leaving, I have worked hard to find a custom frame supplier that would build to my standards.
I believe that a custom bike should be beautiful, and entirely rider-specific. Master frame builders consider material selection (types of steel, titanium, carbon, scandium), tubing (diameter, thickness, length, butting (double, triple, location, degree, internal, external), tube junction (mitering, weld, epoxy, lugging), geometry (stage, race, tour, etc.), finish (paint, brushed, clear-coat), and quality (durability, alignment, longevity, tap/chase/face) to enhance/complete a rider’s individual characteristics. Paring the finished product with owner is nothing short of a yoga- or gestalt effect, impossible to describe in words.
Short of finding an answer, I decided, instead, to buy a super-cool fit bike. The Serotta International Bicycle Institute, 2010 Size Cycle, caught my eye, which required SICI training to purchase. Clearly an opportunity to get off my ass an into the most reputable bicycle fit organization in the world! Three days later I was in Saratoga Springs.
The schedule included an optional tour of the Serotta factory. I was not going to attend because Serotta is well represented by the Flanders Brothers Cycles, just a few miles away from my studio in Minnetonka. I explained this to Paraic, who gave me some shoulder-shrug-eye-roll-turn and walk away thing, that had me in trail like a stray dog.
Inside the factory, CNC machines make drop-outs and cable guides/stops from solid blocks of uniform grain titanium next to a massive tubing selection, mitering so percise I suspect a lugged frame would ride without epoxy, in house swaging and impeccible butting, paint-booths that would look at home in a medical facility, frame alignment guaranteed within .5mm, and a quality control procedures that extend 3.5 hours beyond what 99.9% of the population would consider perfection. Just a few of the remarkalbe features that make Ben Serotta’s frames the best money can buy.
Ben asked if I would be a dealer later that afternoon. I told him the truth – that I respect Scott, Andrew, and the Flanders team, and would only accept if Scott and Andrew were OK sharing the Minneapolis territory. He agreed to give them a call on Monday. We were approved a few days later. I called Andrew to confirm his agreement and promised that we would do our best to keep things on our side of town.
Nothing compares to a Custom Bike!
