Now occupying their top selling spot, the Parlee Chebacco went from launch in 2015 to their most popular model. Originally designed as a do-anything all road bike, the Chebacco has now morphed into a full fledged gravel race bike.
Version 2 of the bike made the switch to flat mount brakes and fixed 12mm thru axles (versus the original’s swappable QR or thru axle adapters), but kept the original’s 40mm tire clearance and overall design the same.
Now, the third generation Parlee Chebacco XD ups tire clearance to 700×45 and adds a lot more bottle and accessory mounting points to the frame. Here’s the details…
Parlee Chebacco XD frame details
More adventurous riders might be scoffing at the increase to “only” 45mm wide tires, but there’s a good reason for it. Parlee says that while single chainring 1x drivetrains are selling well for them, most of their complete bike sales are still shipping with double chainring 2x groups.
And with the growth of proper 2x “gravel” drivetrains like Shimano GRX and SRAM Force AXS Wide, they anticipate those sales to remain strong. So, the chainstay yoke and shaping was modified to add as much tire clearance as they could without sacrificing front derailleur compatibility.
For those who like the speed-vs-weight-vs-traction sweet spot of something like a 40mm or 42mm, the extra room simply provides more mud clearance. Or you can run 650B x 47mm tires…and fenders will fit (thanks to hidden bolt-on mounting points) with either wheel and tire size.
For storage, the new Chebacco XD (finally) adds a top tube “bento box” mount, plus an additional bottle cage mount on the underside of the downtube.
They also added mounts on the fork legs, too. Geometry carries over unchanged, and includes two different headset top caps for standard or tall front ends. Frame weights range from 870g to 980g (claimed), fork is 390g.
Complete bikes start at $3,499 with Shimano GRX 600/800 mechanical groups, and GRX 815 Di2 for $5,299. Three colors will be offered as stock – Gloss Cranberry, Gloss Quicksand, and Matte Gray.
They’ll also have customizable LE builds with multiple 1x and 2x drivetrains, including SRAM AXS options, ENVE carbon wheels, and Parlee’s carbon handlebar, stem, seatpost and bottle cages. Prices start at $6,299 and go up. There’s even a flat bar build option.
Custom paint in their in-house Parlee Paint Lab are available for an upcharge, and they say they’re increasing capacity this year to be able to offer quicker turnaround times for custom finishes.
