If you’ve just built the best road bike ever, and you want to honor one of the best builders ever, why not decorate it with the very best parts, too?
That’s the idea behind the extremely limited 25th Anniversary Edition of the new Parlee Z-Zero GT. Only 25 will be made, each one full custom, and each one built with a carefully curated component mix from around the world.
The bike and build celebrate Parlee’s late founder, Bob Parlee, with a few touches especially noteworthy for their nods to his creativity and ethos.
The top tube’s striping mimics the lines of the headbadge, which comes from one of Bob’s doodles. He was known for scratching ideas and designs in notepads, and those inspired the brand’s headbadge on all of the bikes.
He was also known for emphasizing that folks should stop focusing on the minutiae of the spreadsheets and specs and just “ride the f**king bike“. So there’s a subtle reminder that we should all quit yammering about or overanalyzing the numbers and the layup and everything else and just ride a bike to see how it feels. And we can tell you from experience, Parlee’s bikes ride amazing.
A nod to his pre-bike days as a shipbuilder, gold leaf is used for the downtube logo and select other graphics, hearkening back to the tradition of gold lettering for ships’ names on the hull.
Check our launch coverage on the new Z-Zero GT for tech specs about the frame and fork. The focus here is on this special edition, and here’s the build list, followed by a few notes on it…
Z-Zero GT 25th Anniversary Components
Each bike comes with a custom painted-to-match Silca SuperPista floor pump and hex wrench set in a wooden box with Bob’s signature. The bike itself is build with:
- Frame & Fork: Parlee Z-Zero GT
- Drivetrain: Campagnolo Super Record Wireless 13sp
- Powermeter: SRM
- Wheels: Partington R-Series full-carbon
- Tires: Pirelli P-Zero Race TLR
- Bearings: Ceramicspeed headset and bottom bracket
- Bar/Stem: Black Inc
- Handlebar Tape: Busyman genuine kangaroo leather
- Seatpost: Parlee Cycles
- Hardware & Fasteners: Better Bolts / Parlee Cycles / Deda Elementi
- Saddle: Selle Italia SLR w/ custom Busyman kangaroo leather cover
- Saddlebag: Custom Busyman design from genuine kangaroo leather
- Custom Paint: Parlee Paint Lab w/ gold leaf inlays
It also comes with a custom set of Lake road cycling shoes with matching gold graphics and white-to-black fade.
Build Details
Bob always appreciated the craftsmanship and engineering of Campagnolo’s drivetrains, and this latest edition brings back their signature thumb lever. The bike gets the new 13-speed Super Record group, and Parlee was among the first to receive the new kits specifically for this bike. It’s equipped with an SRM powermeter spider.
Touch points are all wrapped and covered in genuine kangaroo leather from Busyman, who also designed a custom saddle bag in the same material. The seatpost is Parlee’s own. Other finishing touches include PVD coated titanium bolts and hardware from Dede Elementi, Better Bolts, and Parlee Cycles.
They chose handbuilt Partington wheels’ R-Series, which are full carbon fiber – hubs, spokes, and rims. They’re wrapped in Pirelli’s best road tires, made in their Italian factory near Milan, the same place they make hypercar tires for brand like McLaren.
Ceramicspeed provides the bottom bracket, and they use their headset with the SLT (Solid Lubricant Technology) for the fork. Speaking of the fork, if you want to see closeups and cutaways of how they make it, check out our factory tour post here.
The paint is a roughly 30-hour process to achieve this multi-hue, faded, and graphic’d design with gold leaf.
The Z-Zero GT 25th Anniversary Edition bike sells for $29,990, and only 25 will be made.
