My wife and I had a wonderful stay at The 2 Bikes... The house/apartment is situated up on a hill with a fabulous view to Santa Teresa, Lapa, Gloria, the habour and the bay - and on warm days the refreshing wind on the hillside helps life look more beautiful...
The apartment is original and very charming - we felt at home immediately.
Also Marcelo (and his wife) is a perfect host: He speaks english and french fluently - quite rare for a carioca, he knows EVERYTHING about Rio de Janeiro, it's history, architecture and present life, and he is very generous with sharing of this knowledge.
We went to Rio to work on a report about the city for a magazine, and we could not have chosen a better host: Marcelo spent a lot of his sparetime driving us around the city, giving us lots of useful information and becoming "in sync" with the ambience of the city.
Thank you Marcelo, we will come back another time - perhaps even for a little vacation one day!
Why should anybody choose a hotel downtown, when they can be a part of Marcelo's paradise up on the hillside?