Over at Giro, when they need bikes for their tradeshow booths, they simply look to the local builders in Santa Cruz. This year, when Eric Horton, the creative director at Giro wanted a new road bike for himself, along with a booth bike, he contacted John at Caletti Cycles.
The project was simple: make a pair of Columbus tubing, hydro disc brake, all-road, Di2 bikes that would tackle the surrounding hills and fire roads, all while matching the color palette of the Giro New Road line.
As many bicycles designed throughout history, Eric looked to classic sports cars for the paint-inspiration. His car of choice: the Singer Porsche.
See more below, as Eric explains these bikes in detail…
The following words are from Eric Horton, the creative director at Giro:
“I guess the project has been a year in the making. A lot of us at Giro ride with the local Steel Wul Cycle Club. We made a short film last year to highlight Jake Hess – founder/soul rider/all around cool guy.
I noticed my Cervelo R5 (awesome bike by the way…) looks a bit out of place next to Richter’s Black Cat and Jake’s Caletti. I get to ride with John Caletti regularly as he is a sponsor and member of Steel Wul. He knows me and my riding style and so he reached out to suggest making an “inspired by Giro New Road” Adventure road bike. We made 2. The grey one is a more standard geometry 55cm that we can use for Giro photo shoots, eye candy at the Eurobike booth and likely someday a nice surprise gift for a lucky medium sized individual.”
“The Orange one is my personal dream machine, built to my exact specs. I’ve been riding a really sweet Giant TCX cross bike and also my R5 and with the Caletti Adventure road bike we tried to find the balance of the best attributes of both. Fast and nimble and yet sturdy and confidence inspiring. My weekend rides these days are almost always an equal mixture of pavement and dirt so tire selection is key.”
“We kind of let the tire size drive the design. I’ve been using the Challenge Strada Biancha 30c open tubulars and they are so sweet and plush. I’m running them at about 60PSI. We went all in on the components with Shimano DI2 and hydraulic disc brakes and the Chris King/Enve wheels look stunning. I’ve really enjoyed the process of working with John on every last detail.”
“As for the paint jobs, We wanted color schemes that complemented the New Road clothing line. The Grey color is directly from our Giro color palette and the dusty Orange also fits in nicely. As you know, almost every designer has a love for vintage cars and I have been geeked out on these “Singer Porsches” for a couple of years. Basically they are a custom shop in LA who are making the perfect vintage Porsches.”
“Classic body and details with fully modern motors, brakes, suspension etc. Just like the bikes! Classic Columbus steel frames with the latest tech components. I love the tonal stripes on the rocker panels of the Porsches and that’s what inspired the graphics on the down tube of the Caletti bikes.”
“Thanks for listening and come see the orange bike at the Giro booth at Interbike. It will be proudly displayed. Upon return from Vegas it will be promptly headed for the back roads of the Santa Cruz mountains.”
Finally, see photos of the complete bikes:
