Parlee Taos Review without the BS

Parlee Cycles Taos Review

“The all new Taos was inspired by the soul stirring landscape and endless riding options around Taos, New Mexico, at the foot of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. A place where trust in your connection to the bike is essential, to confidently transition from pavement to service road to mountain single track to winding canyon descents and back to the road again. Immersing you in the ancient power of the high desert sun.” – Parlee Cycles

“Gravel” has become more than just riding on dirt roads. More than a way to escape traffic and routine. It’s how we immerse ourselves in our environment, and the all-new Parlee Taos delivers an entirely new level of compliance that not only elevates its ride quality above anything else, it delivers Velcro-like traction to inspire supreme confidence on any terrain.

Parlee Cycles Taos Review Video

Alternative Video Link for those reading via email subscription

In this video, JOM of the Gravel Cyclist crew provides a real world, no BS review of the Parlee Cycles Taos.

Written Review: The Real-World Ride Experience (or see video above)

Parlee’s Taos is vastly different from its OG gravel bike, the Chebacco, with relaxed geometry, slack head angle, and that massively sloped top tube. It’s an aesthetic that won’t tickle everyone’s fancy, mine included. It’s also an electronic shifting only bike, most of that relates to the cockpit, more on that later.

There’s no denying the frame is unorthodox looking, it draws some parallels to Evil’s Chamois Hagar bike I reviewed a few years ago, although that bike was almost solely focused as a descending machine. Along with that, it certainly resembles a hardtail mountain bike, particularly if you were to slap on some flat handlebars and call it a day.

Concerning this frame’s monocoque construction featuring a blend of unidirectional carbon fiber, Parlee has left no stone unturned, no detail omitted. All of this frame’s European craftsmanship can be seen in the raw carbon, even down some odd little patchs on the top tube. There’s no paint anywhere, rather a transparent, waxed finish. Ideally this finish is meant to resist chips or scratches, but you’ll need to re-wax the frame from time to time to maintain its finish.

The Taos favors the current trend of almost MTB like geometry with a longer tube, and shorter stem. Definitely do your homework if you’re interested in a bike of this nature, by perusing that geometry chart closely, or consult a bike fitter.

It’s difficult to quantify traction qualities of the Taos, but it does deliver a comfortable ride, especially when you’re seated. This is despite the presence of that oversized seatpost at 31.6mm, because there’s so much hanging about and exposed; it’s likely helping a little with the comfort. No fault of Parlee, I really should have installed 700c x 43 – 45mm tires for the review, as I felt the connector tyres in 700c x 40mm let this bike down a little. Tire pressure is a huge factor on overall comfort, and the casings of these tyres feel a little stiff, meaning drop the pressure, almost to the point where you could bottom out the rear wheel if you’re not paying attention.

The front end of the bike is interesting. The relaxed nature of it lends the bike well to dodgy terrain at speed. While I didn’t descend any mountain passes hauling the arse, it is stable in that regard, and the slightly lower bottom bracket also helps the equation. Over rough, loose or bumpy terrain, perhaps even terrain where an MTB would be at home, the Taos shined. You certainly could cruise about the countryside all day, riding or racing, and come away feeling somewhat fresh.

However, the slacker front end feels slower to me when cornering, particularly when setting up for the corner, or, out of the saddle if you’re attempting to put the gas down. It almost seems a little lumbering, and this is even with narrow, non flared roadie compact drop type handlebars that I prefer. This isn’t how I like a bike to feel or ride, but that trait should be pretty obvious by the geometry numbers, and the fact Parlee didn’t build the Taos to emulate a fat tired roadie type gravel bike, designed for pure outright speed. By no means are my comments here a ding on the Taos, there’s no bike that can do everything perfectly.

The on-bike downtube storage is a nice feature, and arguably the best execution of all that I have seen thus far. Simple and easy to operate. I’m on the fence about this feature myself which features on many modern bikes, but that’s mostly because I swap between bikes, and simply port my handle little saddle bag by Buckit Belts from bike to bike. If I were on just one bike for a long time, I’d probably find it to be of greater use.

The Taos favors an integrated front end which looks great as I mentioned earlier, but they have drawbacks. Keep that in mind during your purchase decision. I’m more a fan of semi-integrated, meaning externalized housing around the front of the bike, and housings run inside the fork leg and frame, but nothing running through the stem or headset bearing.

Build options are going depend on budget, and the Taos is a major purchase, no matter how you slice it. The frameset which includes the frame, fork, handlebar, stem and seatpost, just over $US 5,500. Pricey. The cheapest Shimano build will set you back about $US 8300, while the cheapest SRAM build, around $US 7000. All of these builds are for electronic shifting. The Taos cannot be built with mechanical shifting. My review variant will cost you about $US 10,500, certainly not in everyone’s budget.

Wrapping up, I freely admit I’m not a fan of every longer top tube, shorter stem, slacker geometry type bike now on the market. Parlee’s take on this bike design is well executed, and with an aesthetic that you will like or not. It’s a bike I’m on the fence about, but that’s due to my riding style, and preferred type of gravel bike. If this Parlee doesn’t float your boat, they offer the Z-Zero XD (and Oure), a full custom rig made at Parlee HQ in Beverly, Massachusetts.

Learn more at ParleeCycles.com