I had a meeting with John Caletti the owner and builder behind Caletti Cycles in my garage. I gave John a deposit to start the process of building my next bike: a custom 29“ rigid belt drive single speed. The result will be very similar to his impressive Buckethead single speed that he built for himself last summer. This bike will be steel, rigid (no suspension) and only one gear but this is no retro bike. We will be using state of the art components like the belt drive, disc brakes and Chris King components. Why would I willing to pay good money for essentially a high end kids bike? I’m a technical rider and mountain biking technology has made it too easy to ride challenging terrain on my local trails. The only dimensions left to challenge me are bigger drops and more speed, speed, speed.
I love tearing around the trails on my full springers but I have to ride a lot faster in order to find the technical challenges I desire. I get similar challenges by getting on my single speed and riding these same trails but I tend to ride with more nuance at lower speeds. Recently, a bunch of my riding buddies have been getting 29ers and I really like the riding characteristics of the bigger wheels. Putting the big wheels on a single speed seems like a great idea.
John and I spent a few hours talking about the bike fit. We looked at several of my bikes and determined what properties I like or do not like. He put many of the bikes on a wind trainer while I rode and he measured various dimensions and angles. Bike fit is probably the best reason to get a custom bike. Many of the bike fames we buy are decent compromises between fit, cost and performance and we make up for short comings by adjusting the components. In a custom process the frame is designed around the rider and the property sized components are added to the bike as part of the design. John used to work at the Spokesman - which is the place to get a professional bike fit in Santa Cruz county so he understands the relationship between rider and bike dimensions.
It was really awesome process. John is very detail oriented and understands the relationships between bike dimensions and ride characteristics. I want a bike that can handle quickly, a great climber and can descend with confidence. This bike will be used mostly on the local single track so I want a bike that can carve turns and roll over roots and rock gardens with ease. Later that afternoon, John created a design based on the data he gathered.
The process is going to take a few months and I’m already feeling anxious about riding it.
John and I spent a few hours talking about the bike fit. We looked at several of my bikes and determined what properties I like or do not like. He put many of the bikes on a wind trainer while I rode and he measured various dimensions and angles. Bike fit is probably the best reason to get a custom bike. Many of the bike fames we buy are decent compromises between fit, cost and performance and we make up for short comings by adjusting the components. In a custom process the frame is designed around the rider and the property sized components are added to the bike as part of the design. John used to work at the Spokesman - which is the place to get a professional bike fit in Santa Cruz county so he understands the relationship between rider and bike dimensions.
It was really awesome process. John is very detail oriented and understands the relationships between bike dimensions and ride characteristics. I want a bike that can handle quickly, a great climber and can descend with confidence. This bike will be used mostly on the local single track so I want a bike that can carve turns and roll over roots and rock gardens with ease. Later that afternoon, John created a design based on the data he gathered.
The process is going to take a few months and I’m already feeling anxious about riding it.
