As you may recall, C-Bear is a ceramic bearing company that makes bearings for hubs, but their main business is creating solutions for bottom brackets. They’re distributed in the US by Sprocket Scientist, owned by Ard Kessels.
Kessel was going to get a bike built by Alchemy and mentioned it to some friends at Signature Cycles, who work closely with Parlee. They jumped on the idea, too, giving birth to the idea of a Road Bike Build Off!
Each brand will work with a bike shop to do a build, and each will be built to be ridden, not just displayed. Both will use Dura-Ace 9000 and ENVE wheels, C-Bear bottom brackets and wheel bearings in DT Swiss hubs. Other than that, the shop and builder is free to do what they want with paint, spec, build and features. The only other stipulation is that the frame be PFBB30. This allows C-Bear to showcase their bottom bracket systems by adapting the bigger BB standard to Shimano’s 24mm spindle.
Kessels will be getting the Alchemy, and the owner of C-Bear will get the Parlee. Signature Cycles will be building up the Parlee, and Alchemy will work with Nie Brothers Cycles, the shop housed in their new Denver, CO, digs.
The end result should be two amazing bikes to be shown at Interbike, and YOU get to vote for the best build! And if you vote, you’ll be entered to win a C-Bear bottom bracket system of your choice – courtesy of Bikerumor.com and Sprocket Scientist!
Stay tuned for more details, PR after the break…
FROM THE PRESS RELEASE: In this competition Parlee Cycles and Alchemy Bicycles will go head to head to build the bicycle of our dreams. Both bicycles are built according to the wishes of specific riders and represent the cycling goals of each individual. Alchemy will build a bicycle for Alpine use, based on their Helios frame: a machine that is light enough for long climbs, but with the stability and brakes for fast and furious downhills. Parlee will design a light gran fondo bike based on their new Z-Zero platform.
We’ll be documenting the builds here as they come together, and they’ll have updates on their Facebook page.
