Parlee road bikes look nice, quite niche, but how do they compare to equivalent Trek, spesh or Cervelo. They are similar prices, but in terms of quality (now i know fit is a personal thing) how to they compare?. In terms of warranty issues, are they any good. One thing that attracts me to Trek or Spesh carbon road bikes is the no quibble warranty.

Are you sure you’re comparing the same thing? I’d have thought that equivalent cost would be Parlee frame = Spec/ Trek/ Cervelo built up bike.

I’ve had a Z5 for 4 years, I’ve done loads of riding on it and taken it to some brutal places. It’s still going strong and I love it and can’t for the life of me depart with it despite owning a Cervelo R5ca.

So I have both type of bikes you are looking into and I con honestly say I prefer my R5ca. Now then, when I bought the Z5 I bought it to make a build out of, took all the Red off my Orca and fitted it to the Z5, to this day it still has all that kit on and as I’ve said ive taken it over some very rough terrain. I did P-R 3 times, Flanders once but you must include all the hacking over the Dolomites too. I must have done ohhhh 25k on it and apart from some stuffs from cable rub and a scratch on the offside chain stay where I chucked it down one of the Doli decents it still looks bloody lovely. I chose a matt black one, matt graphics and it is such a subtle bike no one, unless they know what to look for, knows what it is. I like that. It’s a bit weighty compared to my R5ca now, only a couple of lbs, but that makes a differance. As for the ride it’s quite sublime, soft but when you dig hard it stiffens up, hard to explain.
I’ll not go on about the R5ca as I’m still in love with it and don’t want to share that 😆

Never needed a warranty, Condor have alway done the deep services I’ve needed and I continue to use them as I think they are one of the best places for anything sexy like a Parlee or Cerv to go too. Service costs? Who cares, I hand the bike over, they do the work, I collect and pay and ride home..

Does that help? Probably not 😆

Parlee road bikes look nice, quite niche, but how do they compare to equivalent Trek, spesh or Cervelo.

What level are you talking? Even their cheapest bikes are in the £3k/frame, £7k/bike 7-Series Madone, Spesh S-Works type price range. I think at that price you really need to try all the options and buy the one you like!

Parlee road bikes give me “man problems”. The equivalent Trek/Spesh etc do not.

hth

See, I really want to love Parlees aesthetically, but actually don’t think they look all that. I really hate the bump on the top tube that most have. To me it looks like the owners want to be all pro with a low front end, but their gut gets in the way, so they sneak an extra long head tube on 😕

Trek and Spesh (and Cervelo) meanwhile produce some great looking bikes IMO. Beauty/beholder and that. And they are niche, and I know that makes they more appealing to some.

To be fair to magazine reviews, Cyclist had £9k Parlee on test and were disappointed with it. Which would worry me if I actually had £9k to spend on a bike.

Windmill Wheels had some Neil Pryde frames and bikes the other month which were utterly beautiful

Yep, NP look great, their new BURAsl looks excellent, not a bad price either, although no Di2 built bike option!

I remember reading some people grumbling about Parlees on a forum somewhere, although I genuinely can’t remember the nature of the grumbling. I just remember thinking that for the sort of money they ought to be absolutely perfect. Doesn’t seem too uncommon though – a lot of the uber low volume builders can actually be a little shonky!

To add ^^ Prologue in Harrogate have an ESX (in matt black) in and a Z3 (in a deep mauve colour) now I’ve come to like the look of the ESX, when I first saw it I hated it but it’s grown on me quite some, I’d not buy it of course due to owning what I want, but you know what ? It has certain look about it that kinda grows. No idea of weight, it’s an aero so it’ll be heavier than my Z5, but if I was new to Parlee I’d go for a stock Z3 and kit it out with Deda/Red/M40c’s and keep it light.
I guess the ESX in the shop (as kitted out) would be £10k easily… The Z3 as kitted out above £6k. So you get the price comparisons, if you’ve got the $’s and want a bike that will last and expect not to replace it for +5 years then I think the Z3 is the way to go.

Of course owning something like this means only one of two scenarios, you either ride like a God or you’ve got money to chuck at something that hardly gets used.

I ride like a God of course 😆

Help?

Nah, course not 😆

I’d hope any road bike would last 5 years, and if you take care of it, do so in perfect condition. I’m not sure that’s a specific trait of Parlee, or indeed paying £10k!

i know a few road bike reviewers, one in particular really rates them (parlee), i would much rather have any custom carbon than a cervlo, the finish is a bit ropey for the money you are spending with a cervelo and TBH i think they are overpriced for something popped out of a mould in taiwan.
have you seen the translucent red over carbon finish on the parlee? looks amazing.