You’ll have to pardon all the Parlee posts…just got Parlee on the brain here since our factory visit last Tuesday. The tour was awesome. Parlee has a great facility up in Beverly, MA, right on the commuter rail and walking distance to all sorts of cool shops and restaurants. The factory is spacious and full of natural light, it seems like a nice place to work for sure.
What is most striking about Parlee’s process is that it is so D.I.Y. — they make their own molds, form their own tubes, and even make their own carbon-fiber cable stops. This “from the ground up” approach allows Parlee nearly complete control over almost every aspect of the frame building process. Truly impressive. We’ll get more into that in a couple future posts — a video factory tour followed by a full write up with interviews with Parlee staff and the man himself: Bob Parlee.
For now we give you this: some high quality photos of the Parlee Z5 Limited with its “Matte Ghost” finish. You see the Parlee logos? They are there, just very subtle and unassuming. This finish looks great “in bicycle.” (Seems weird to say “in person” when talking about a bike.) The Z5 shares many of the qualities of the Z1 and the Z4. Its main frame section is molded in one contiguous piece, and with the use of Parlee’s “Flex-Fit” technology, they are able to produce the Z5 in 12 stock sizes, whereas many other carbon frame manufacturers offer just 3-5.
According to Parlee’s Twitter, these frames are available now.
More photos after the break.
Visit Parlee Cycles website for more information.
