Cloud Nine Design

I had a great visit and conversation with John Caletti and Cloud Nine Design custom bikes at his very clean shop. Cloud Nine is Santa Cruz's newest independent frame builder and they make steel frames which include cyclocross, road, mountain and 29er frames. Cloud Nine bikes have been featured in the 24 hour race at Laguna Seca in June and at the Hand Made Bike show in Santa Jose earlier this spring. John and his wife Cory are active in the local cycling community and they recently became supporters of mbosc.

A couple of weeks ago I rode my friends 29" single speed at De Laveaga and I really enjoyed the experience. I've been very interested to try a 29 er for an extended time and the Calettis had offered to loan me Cory's 29 er for a couple of weeks. I paid a visit to Cloud Nine to pick up the bike. Buckethead (one of my favorite artists) was playing on the speakers and provided a great soundtrack to his small but very clean and organized shop. He is passionate about cycling and advocacy and he is meticulous in the detail at which he constructs the bikes. We had a great conversation about all things bike, Buckethead and the riding potential of the Coast Dairies properties. I'll be taking this bike for a spin this afternoon:


Santa Cruz is lucky to have a lot of great custom frame builders which include Rock Lobster, Hunter Cycles and Calfee Design (which has a bamboo and hemp mountain bike). If you are interested in a new hand build steel hardtail frame then consider supporting some of the crafts people who build frames in Santa Cruz county. These frames are race proven and tested in the wild and wooly local trails of Santa Cruz.