Caletti Cycles

[johncaletti]

I enjoyed bikes as most kids do, but the bug bit harder with my first mountain bike in junior high. My buddy across the street and I spent our time in the local creeks and hills hiking around and looking for adventure, but with the mountain bike, it became so much more accessible. We'd ride out after school looking for new trails, trying to clean the hard sections, swimming in a lake tucked in the grassy foothills, and run away from the landowner on our mountain bikes. In college I had housemates that were into cycling as well, and there were lots of good trails around UC Santa Cruz, so I got even more into it, including getting a road bike. This opened up some more doors and I was riding new routes with new people and enjoyed more variety and time on the bike. I rode a bit with the cycling team and did a few races. After college I got a sales job at the Wheelsmith bike shop in Palo Alto, CA. It was a special shop - lots of history, lots of talent was there, I was very pleased to be working at such a special place. I learned a great deal there, especially in the area of fitting. I soon became the guy doing all the fittings of bikes, cleats, and was selling most of the custom bikes as a result. Custom bikes were capturing my imagination and fascination.

I moved back to Santa Cruz in 2000 and worked as a mechanic in some great shops there. I was really happy to be getting my hands dirty and doing the mechanical work, that's where my heart was. As time went on my thinking about custom bikes and builders grew into a notion that I wanted to do that, I wanted to build bikes.

My dad was an engineer, and at home was a constant tinkerer/builder/repairer. I had spent a lot of time with him working on cars, bikes, and other stuff. My favorite was having an excuse to use the lathe, the milling machine, or weld something. I have a creative side, I'm no artist, but had a great time creating things in metal, doing art projects of sorts. At the same time, my job was less stimulating than it used to be. So I had this thing brewing: creativity, love of custom bikes, interest and experience with bike fit, love of metalworking, mechanical aptitude and interest, and a bit of wanting to be my own boss, to be able to continually evolve what I was doing and how I was doing it. So, I got the idea about building bikes.

I contacted California framebuilder Jim Kish, who teaches some of the framebuilding courses at UBI. I was getting too excited to wait for the UBI course, as they were full for a while, so I asked Jim if he would teach me at his place. He agreed and I went to his shop and did some training, building my first frame there with his help and instruction. When I got back to Santa Cruz, I built my next couple frames at Rick Hunter's shop. I rented time on Rick's machines, and he was great with helping me out a bit. I also was fortunate to have Paul Sadoff of Rock Lobster here in town, who I went to from time to time with questions. I gradually got tooled up and built more frames, for myself, my wife, friends, and eventually started selling frame under the "Cloud Nine Design" name in about 2004. I was building part time at first, still working my mechanic job, but gradually phases that out and was building full time. I changed the company name to Caletti Cycles a few years ago.

Of course there have been many challenges, and there still are, but I suppose that's part of what keeps in interesting and engaging. I really love what I do, it suits me well. I ride and build road, mountain, and cyclocross bikes. Sometimes it's hard to wear so many hats, especially the hat of the bookkeeper... But I like that if there is something that isn't working well in the business it's my responsibility, I have the power to change it and make an improvement. I think the list of things I want to improve and change will always be there, there will always be another level to reach for, and only as I get to one step will I have the vantage point to see the next. That can feel a bit daunting sometimes, but it's also exciting. I think that staying engaged and honing my skills is what will keep me excited about my work until I'm too old to do it anymore.

[edoz]

Good write up and welcome aboard. I've always appreciated the clean look of your bikes. Can you share a favorite build and a least favorite or hardest lesson with the home veiwers?

[steve garro]

Thanks for signing up for SO, John. We have never met but allot of builers I highly respect speak very well of you. we'll have to take care of the never met part when I get out to SC-CA again some day, I gotta go see Rick & Paul again soon. - Garro.

[johncaletti]

Thanks Eric!
A favorite: I had a great time with a recent road bike build. It was the road bike I had at NAHBS this year, white with red. The customer is a great guy, great positive energy and enthusiasm, who came to me by way of my aunt and uncle. They had met and in conversation let him know about me. He looked me up and ordered a frame. It was fun working with him, the oversized tubes and angles and such were something I would have selected for myself, so it was easy for me to connect to his design on a personal/riding level. Fabrication was smooth, spot on, rewarding, and we jointly came up with a really nice powdercoat scheme. I wanted a more modern take on the classic panel look, so went with angled panels whose outlines connect as if in a giant overlayed triangle. There are pics on my website on the road page.
Least favorite, hard one: Hmm.... There have been some that have things like curved top tubes, internal brake line, belt drive, or special fender mounting needs that take a bit more time or are something I'm less practiced at, but I don't really dislike that, those things just require a bit more time and a little different mind set, which can be a good thing. I guess the lesson is in how do I evaluate the labor time involved in the special additions so that I can feel like I'm meeting a good hourly wage getting them done. I guess my tendency could be to underestimate, so I have to be aware of that. It's easier to estimate a little high and then if it's faster than expected reduce the price back down, than to have a low estimate that I'll stick to when something takes a long time.

[johncaletti]

Hi Steve,
Thanks for the good words Steve, I appreciate that, and appreciate those who have shared a favorable impression with you. This "industry" is great - there is a ton of creativity, craftsmanship, enthusiasm, and love for the sport and the craft, but one of the greatest things is the camaraderie. Being pretty new in the game, I'm very grateful for the builders who have been friendly, answered questions, given advice, etc. along the way. Just yesterday I was at an event in San Francisco that Sean Walling and his friend Anthony M. put on at Anthony's restaurant, Una Pizza Napoletana. There were a bunch of Nor Cal builders there showing a bike, music, food, and great people - lots of fun.
So, yes Steve, for sure it will be great to meet you, thanks for saying hi.

[lex]

Hi John.

Cool Story, Looks like you've trained under some pretty talented folks. Do you or have you ever trained or helped any one that was interested with fabrication.
I was wondering because i sometimes do and Im interested in differing teaching technics.
What were a couple of the cooler things you learned or didn't get to learn from them?

Keep rockin it. Your stuff is great!
Lex

[johncaletti]

Hi Lex,
I have not trained anyone myself.
In most cases, it's hard to specify, it all blends together somewhat. I think a big part is just seeing how an individual approaches the building process, the tooling they use, the tooling they've made, the style they have. This applies to the business side of things as well. When I see how someone works, I may or may not incorporate some of the things they do, but it always makes me think, hopefully in a new way, evaluating and learning. I think in recent time the builder I've learned a lot from has been Carl Strong. I got to visit his shop and I've spoken with him quite a bit the last few years. I approach seatstay mitering a bit differently than I used to based on seeing how Carl does it. A really big one, was how well he runs his business. I learned about margin and overhead from Carl, and made some positive changes to the way I was doing things, and am better able to evaluate what I'm doing. Carl's really pro and is an amazing balance of fabrication skills, experience, business smarts, and being great with his customers, so I take inspiration from him for sure.

[lex]

You hit the nail on the head about carl. This site is a great resource too. The depth of knowledge here goes down further than a summer time dike in a Ron Jeramy flick. Whatever that means. I hope I don't get in trouble for that one. Any way, thanks for taking the time to chat. I gotta go my kids are singing for me.
Later,
Lex

[darren crisp]

I approach seatstay mitering a bit differently than I used to based on seeing how Carl does it.

Hi John, It was great seeing you and Cory at NAHBS. There's never enough time to catch up. You're work looks great and your enthusiasm is evident not only in the passion for framebuilding but also your connection with the public. Not only did I notice an evident leap of quality from previous shows, but also your creativity and interpretation has expanded as well; something that will serve you well to keep work exciting.

I'd be interested to know what you've changed after your visit with Carl and if it was based on quality, speed, or a mixture of both.

What are some other aspects of your business that you'd like to improve the most?

Keep pushing and doing great work. I wish you continued success.

best,
darren

[johncaletti]

Thanks so much Darren. It was great to see you at NAHBS, and yes, much too brief.
It's great to have a job that combines several things I'm passionate about, it certainly captures my imagination and keeps me excited and engaged.

I think the main thing that changed after visiting Carl and Strong Frames, is the way I think about and evaluate it all. Now its more automatic that I evaluate the pros and cons of how I'm doing things. I'll consider time and costs, efficiency into what I'm doing. Going out there the goal was mostly to learn how to improve my efficiency in fabrication and reduce my build time a bit. I got to see Carl's process, and of course it's very refined. My process was not that different than what he was doing, some of our tooling is different which means a bit of a different way to do something, and there are a few things I do that I decided to stick with, even though they are a little slower because that's the tooling I like/have and that's what fits for me and the way I think of it. So there weren't any major changes in my fabrication, but there was a refinement, and afterwards I have a greater awareness of how much time I'm spending on different operations and I'll look for how to improve on what I'm doing in terms of time, or quality or precision.
The bigger change was in the way I run my business. I'm learning all that as I go along and doing the best I can, but the accounting stuff has been my weak link. I have been using QuickBooks for a while, but not very well. I had this idea that I would sort of catch up financially, but that wasn't happening. Basically, I didn't know enough and didn't know what to look for. I had too low annual production given my overhead costs. I had sales that my parts margin was too low, I've stopped that, and now if I have some special case, I know it's a special case and the impact it will have. I saw how much time I was spending with customers on custom finishes, so I had to change that arrangement around. I now have 10 color options, and a small upcharge for custom colors, I'm working on a few "stock" options for specialty finishes, like panels and such that I can have a ready design and price for to make it easier for the customer to choose and less time consuming. I still have lots of special requests and custom finishes, but I now have enough margin in there to cover the added time involved with working on that stuff. The way I go about options for finishes is a work in progress.
So, for your question of "what aspects of the business do I want to improve the most?" I'd say the office side of things. I'm pretty happy with my fabrication time, the results are good, design is going well, customers have been really happy with the designs, tubing selections, etc. I'm good with communication, so overall I think the customers are well taken care of. My improvements are focused more on making my office time smooth, productive, efficient, and ultimately I'd like to be in front of the computer less and at the bench more. But that's all of us I suppose. :)

[e-RICHIE]

john -
welcome aboard atmo.
sorry if i missed it, but - do you work alone?
if so, is that the goal, or do you think about having assistants or collaborating with others?

[e-RICHIE]

john -
welcome aboard atmo.
sorry if i missed it, but - do you work alone?
if so, is that the goal, or do you think about having assistants or collaborating with others?

[johncaletti]

Thanks e-Richie,
Yes, it's just me. My dog Kaboo hangs out, but mostly just naps, chases the broom and greets visitors.
I think she's about as many employees as I'd like. Well, down the line I could see having a part time bookkeeper, and maybe have a mechanic friend assemble completes and pack for shipping as needed.
So, it will always be me, one man shop setup.
The idea of a collaborative project is very intriguing. Like I was saying in prior posts up the page, I enjoy seeing how other builders approach things, as I'm excited about it all, I learn and expand my thinking. I think it would be fun to work with another builder on a project, I imagine we'd have a good time and each come away with some new ideas and tricks, and it would be cool to see what unique bike would result.
That being said, it's only an idea way back there on the back burner simmering slowly.

[Rody]

Hey John,

Welcome, it's nice to see your story, perspective, and personality show through in your post.

As you are a relatively fresh face to the scene, I'm interested in knowing your thoughts on a question that many new builders should be asking themselves before committing to this as a career;

What do you feel you bring to the table that makes you unique, and as a result, will enable you to carve out a consistent customer base?

and as a follow up, is there an aspect to your personality/fabrication/business that you want to be known for from said customers?

cheers,

rody

[johncaletti]

Thanks for the question Rody.

"What do you feel you bring to the table that makes you unique, and as a result, will enable you to carve out a consistent customer base? "
-I think I have a good mixed background coming in - with some metal work experience, bike fit experience, and bike mechanic experience which provides a good base to work from.
- It seems that my own cycling is a base for what I produce. I ride on the road every week, usually on the dirt as well. I race cross a bit in the fall, I ride my road bike on dirt sometimes, basically I mix it up. It seems that I am producing almost even numbers of road, cross and mountain bikes, but maybe a bit more in the cross or adventure road category. I think doing it all provides good insight into designing bikes that span the gaps and it helps me connect with a lot of different customers, or the mtb rider who wants to get a cross or road bike, or the roadie who wants a cyclocross bike.
- I have a great concern for the environment and the future. My values guide how I conduct my business, and often I find that it's an area where I connect with my customers.
- I often get comments that my bikes look "clean." I like this, that's what I go for. So I think my design sense comes across in my work and there are people who connect with the bikes based on that.

[GoGators]

John......Have a buddy riding a cross bike of yours and loves it. Love the simplicity of your bikes. Definitely on my short list.

[johncaletti]

Fantastic! Glad to hear he's enjoying it.