Caloi Rio Cruiser

[RatRodDad]

Here's a shot of my Caloi Rio Cruiser. Caloi is a bike manufacturer in Argentina who opened a plant in Florida some years ago and I think this bike was probably built there. I never heard of that brand until I bought this one.

The bike was an Ebay purchase from an Ebay reseller in Indianapolis. The previous owner apparently installed new pedals on the bike and managed to cross thread both of them, so the resale shop had a tough time getting them off for shipping. My first purchase after gettng the bike was a new crank / gear set and I have that installed now.

I liked this particular bike because it had a Shimano Nexus 3 speed rear hub (Rat Rod recommended that) with a ratchet shifter, alloy wheels (so no rust), a nice looking cruiser style frame, and a comfortable seat.

 

[Vroom]

Looks great RRD,a good foundation for any
direction you take it. (psst psst psst) 8)

Vroom!

 

[Rat Rod]

Now if I can convince him to paint it flat black and install some white walls. :lol:

 

[Clothespin n]

Now if I can convince him to paint it flat black and install some white walls. :lol:

or just Remove all the stock stickers...change the Bars..and Pin stripe that awesome Bronze color with some Lime Green / White Traditional lines.Then add the WWW tires and yur done....
an old Brooks saddle would look great on it too...

either way it's got some cool lines..

 

[RatRodDad]

I guess my next "How To" thread will be on "how to remove stickers", haha.

I have to leave the one main sticker on it, though, so I can remember whether the brand is spelled Caloi - or a Calio - neither of which I can pronounce.

 

[RatRodDad]

Here's another shot of the cruiser ... I checked the handlebars under the foam to see what they looked like and I found that they are black - like the nuts and things on the neck. Interesting.

And here is my latest addition as of yesterday .. lots of gears on this one ... and front shocks too.

I found it listed as "local pickup only" by one of those Ebay resale shops here in Houston so only me and one other bidder bid on it.

They told me that the previous owner won it at a bike race a couple of years ago and never rode it and then decided to sell it, so now it's mine.

So I'm all ready to go climb some hills .... oh, wait a minute, there are no hills within 100 miles of Houston! Okay, so instead of that I will climb the banks of the creek that's near my house. That's almost a hill.

I got a real kick out of this .... I guess someone needs to define "America" for them. Oh well .....

 

[dumpster_diver]

Take that caloi?? and rat rod it! I got some Vintage NOS 26x1.75 Whitewalls for $20 in the classifieds! Will take $18!

 

[aka_locojoe]

Nice bike.
I too think a good start would be to strip the decals and the foam off the bars. Add a cool old seat. With it's current color and tires I think it has a "urban assault" look to it.

 

[RatRodDad]

Thanks to everyone for the suggestions.

I will probably remove the stickers as a start. Anyone know the best way to get them off? Heat? Goo be gone? Something else?

The foam on the handlebars will probably come off next. Since the handlebars appear to be black, I need to be careful removing the foam so that I don't scratch them and maybe end up with silver scratches showing from the metal underneath the black.

Whitewalls I will probably pass on. They may have been someone's 50's, but not mine. I think I only had one car in my whole life with whitewalls on it. Most times any tire that came as a whitewall or with white letters on it got mounted backwards and spray painted black on the inside so that none of the white would show. So even though whitewalls on bikes looks "retro", you probably won't see any on my bikes.

Thanks again for all of the ideas.

 

[dumpster_diver]

Is that you car as the avatar?

 

[RatRodDad]

I owned a 40 Chevy coupe and a 47 Dodge pickup until a couple of years ago. It got to where I never got them out of the garage and drove them much and I finally realized that I spent more time working on them than driving them, so I sold 'em. Here's some pics of those.

I guess I should change my avatar to one of mine rather than someone else's ride, but those old Ford sedans just seem to epitamize the "rat rod" image - especially the one I used since it was lacking any chrome, fancy wheels, etc.

So that's why I used it rather than one of my own cars.

 

[aka_locojoe]

Was going through some bike pics I've collected and found this.

 

[RatRodDad]

aka_locojoe, thanks for passing along the photo. The drag bike looks pretty cool - although I would have a hard time riding one that low.

I was looking at the stickers on my bike yesterday - trying to see what it might take to remove them, and I found one that said "Designed in USA / Manufactured in China". So I guess even an Argentinian company that built a plant in the US still outsourced their production to China - and not even back to Agentina. Go figure.

 

[Rat Rod]

Yeah, that is pretty funny.

I don't think there are hardly any bikes made outside of China anymore. An exception might be some of the hi-end American road and mountain bikes out there, but they usually sell in the $5000 range...usually professional grade bikes only sold at bike shops.

 

[PastorRat]

Yeah, that is pretty funny.

I don't think there are hardly any bikes made outside of China anymore. An exception might be some of the hi-end American road and mountain bikes out there, but they usually sell in the $5000 range...usually professional grade bikes only sold at bike shops.

My 2003 Cannondale was US built (frame and most of the components). This model ran from about $500 to a little over $1000 depending on it's configuration and extras. Mine was just over $900.

 

[PastorRat]

Hey Rad Rod, and Rat Rod's Dad, is today Junior's birthday? He's the only one with a "join date" listed in 1969, as in joined the human race? Came into the fullness of the Lawd's kingdom? If it is, let me wish you on behalf of all ratters everywhere, "Happy Ratty Birthday!"

 

[Rat Rod]

Ha Ha...actually, that is not my birthday, just a display of how I didn't have the date set up correctly when I started the forum. :lol:

 

[RatRodDad]

Okay, here's a look at my "semi-ratted" ride after today's changes.

No more stickers - and no more foam on the handlebars. Those skinny black handlebars look weird to me, but I'm sure I will get used to them.

Check it out ....

 

[Vroom]

It's getting there, but one improvement I would
make is ditchin' the reflectors. They scream "new bike".

Just my 1.70 can cents worth!

Vroom

 

[Rat Rod]

Wow...it does look a lot better without the decals!

I pulled the reflectors off of my bikes since I never ride them at night. I liked the cleaner look that it gave the bike. I'm assuming that reflectors are really only intended for night time use correct?

The bike is looking great! :lol: