Yesterday, I went to the Caletti Cycles open house in Santa Cruz. My wife and I had a nice little day trip. A few east bay stops on the way down and a sunset drive back up the coast to San Francisco and Marin.
We enjoyed a quick ride in the trail network by UCSC where I got a run down one of my favorite trails in the area, Dead Camper to Hillbilly. I’ve been riding flat pedals on mtb for the past few weeks and it was interesting to see how the Santa Cruz terrain felt combined with a hardtail on the wrong trails. I’m an SPD guy so I end up thinking about keeping my feet on the pedals in the rough more than the features that I should really be focused on.
Riding at UCSC is funny. It’s like mountain bike cosplay. Everyone there is so decked out and pro styled. Coil shocks and full face helmets for soft loam trails. Money is no object on these trails. Carbon fiber rims for beginner riders. It’s a very different scene than Marin where billionaires ride clapped out 26ers and singletrack far away from anyone.
Anyway, it was a nice little event. I overheard someone refer to it as “pre-otter”. That made me laugh. Aside from the tents of huckstering, John Caletti had his workshop open for folks to hang out in and talk frames. I got to spend a few minutes talking with him about the shop and what he’s doing. He was pretty busy as his shop was the star of the show.
John’s shop is in a live work looking plaza. It’s a modern space and very posh. The bathroom had a nice shower and washer dryer. Office to the side, patio in the back, and lounge upstairs. I am very, very jealous. Obviously, John was going to have a cleaned up shop for the event but it was clear that he is a very organized and detail focused guy. The little details and the order of things were impressive.
In the plaza, there was a Stinner Frameworks bike that had a very interesting finish. I’m still thinking about exactly what it was. Maybe someone can enlighten me.
