Thanks for posting the pictures. Our Seven Ti frame is now at the LBS with a few components still being put together. I hope to have our first ride on it next week. Our coupler position is the same. Here's hoping it all goes together well.

Nice, I am currently shopping for a Seven tandem as well. Do you have to use the Seven carrying cases or do you think other standard bike cases (or any other storage cases with foam padding) would do the trick? Is the quality of the S&S coupler better than the quality of the S&S couple found on a Co-motion bike?

Great looking bike, and I like the build spec. Thanks for posting the details. We looked at Seven earlier this year. We ended up buying an un-coupled Calfee, and the ride is fantastic. When we spoke with the folks from Seven they seemed very good to work with. There is still something special about working with the builder, and getting all the right parts on the bike.

Many good miles to you.

I can answer one of your questions, S&S couplers are the same, they come from the same place. For more information about the company click here.

You purchased an un-coupled Calfee...

...but traveled to Italy in June with a coupled tandem.

You have a Calfee for home, and a coupled tandem for travel? How did the trip go, btw? Did you find some good routes?

Our Calfee is brand new and we really like it. We have a 2002 Co-motion co-pilot (speedster with couplers), and that's the bike we took to Italy. I recall paying about C$1.59 per US dollar when we bought the Co-motion. We have never regretted that investment. With the Canadian dollar near par, the Calfee was actually a very good deal.

For our ride in Italy we took the train from the Rome airport to Orbetello, which is really easy to figure out. From there we rode up into the Tuscan hills. The lonely planet "Cycling Italy" is a good reference. We rode many of the Tuscany chapter routes. The highlights were the rides up into the medeival towns on the Hill Town trek, the city of Sienna, and the ride around Elba. As memories go, the hill town of Pitigliano stands alone as a great one. We found the Tuscan scenery to be among the most beautiful we have ridden through, the food was very nice, and the hills were very tough. Traffic is very good for cyclists, but the roads are not as well signed as they are in France. The only real caution I have is that there doesn't seem to be much English spoken where we were, but the people were very understanding and they help you find a way to communicate.

Tuscany is a great place to ride, and I'd recommend it. I know there are lots of guided tours there, but it's easy to find your way around on your own.
Best regards
Joe

The cases are from S&S. They are hard-sided, well made, provide excellent protection for the bike, and are priced accordingly.

I was a bit surprised to see my original post resurface from many moons ago, so here's a quick postscript... Since taking delivery of the Seven in spring 2012, we have +6k miles in the saddles, and can thankfully say our fondness for it has only grown. The bike has been rock solid. Only thing I wish I had done differently was to not forget to add fender eyelets to the fork. Doh!