Factor CEO Rob Gitelis on the Brand's Unique Approach
We caught up with the CEO of Factor Bikes, Rob Gitelis, to find out about the brand's singular pursuit of performance, and why every ride should be an experience.
January 11, 2025
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INTERVIEW
How We Made It: Parlee Designer Tom Rodi on the Brand’s New Ouray All-Road Bike
With two decades at Parlee under his wheels, designer Tom Rodi talks production, the Ouray and why its stock bikes are more Parlee than ever.
"As crazy as it sounds, the Ouray project was started before COVID," explains long-time Parlee designer Tom Rodi of the brand's recently released all-road bike. "Not to say that we worked on it that whole time, but we'd been exploring other paths of producing bikes. We debuted the Altum product family in 2014 and, in the wider world, saw this hybridization between road and gravel. Given that we'd launched our first gravel bike on the custom side in 2013 and the Chebacco on the production front two years later, by 2019, we felt we had something unique to offer."
Today finds a chipper Tom at his desk at Parlee’s HQ in Beverly, MA. We’ve connected to talk about the brand’s new Ouray all-road bike, which hits the mixed-terrain with an intriguing Portuguese connection and an eye-catching Nude finish, also known as Waxed.
As you may be aware, Parlee makes its custom bikes in-house under one roof. On the stock bike side, it used to outsource production to Taiwan and mainland China, but as Tom says, that came with a lot of friction. “We’re a small boutique company, and we had a lot of frustrations with the process. We always found a way to make the product we wanted, but the process took its toll.” So, for its new stock bikes, Parlee pivoted to Portugal and an advanced composites facility that could deliver the quality Parlee sought and the process it always wanted.
“Before the move to Portugal, we did a pretty exhaustive study to see if we could make the Ouray and Taos here at Parlee HQ, but it wasn’t possible,” says Tom. Why not? “We’ve been making custom carbon fiber bikes in the States for 25 years. Our custom bikes, like the Z-Zero, for example, are, by nature, customized to the rider and infinitely variable. We create each tube separately and put them together to form a whole. A stock bike is not made like that,” Tom explains. “A stock bike is made, ideally, in a one-piece monocoque. That requires a certain physicality and size and a specialist team with experience solely doing that.” When Tom tells me a steel mould can weigh up to 500kg and that just for the main triangle, I see his point. “You’re not moving that with two people and a cart!” he laughs.
Portugal afforded Parlee a closer working relationship and the chance to make a stock Parlee as a one-piece, rather than the two pieces – main triangle and rear stays – of the past. “That was very important to us,” says Tom, “because we could avoid bonding the rear stays to the frame. It’s more mechanically efficient and lighter because there are fewer joints, and it unlocks a very clean aesthetic, demonstrated by Ouray and Tao’s ‘Nude’ carbon finish. We couldn’t have achieved that had the frame been made in two pieces.”
Tom mentions that Parlee’s startling Nude or ‘Waxed’ finish actually predates the Ouray and Taos, where it was the sole preserve of its custom shop and bikes like the Z-Zero, not stock machines. “It’s unique, for sure!” he beams. “We told our partners that the Parlee Nude finish was the grail for us, and they were understandably nervous about attempting it because they’d never done it before, so we had to show them the ropes. Ultimately, it required a few changes to their process, but they were willing to try it, so we pressed on.”
Having seen the finish on the Ouray and Taos here at Regroup, we can understand why Parlee was keen to bring it to its new stock bikes. It’s gorgeous, an ever-shifting ‘finish’ with real character and nuance, despite the fact that there really is no finish to speak of.
What did he think when he saw the first fruits of the new partnership? “Parlee-esque,” he says without a pause. “The product and the process to get there reminded me of Parlee at its best.” Can he be more specific? “It was the obvious care,” he replies. “With composites, if you have a well-thought-out layup, do the prep, do the work and don’t rush, you can get a good product. If you speed ahead, you get imperfections. Get enough of those, and you will have a compromised frame.”
"Obviously, our stock bikes are very different to our custom machines, and if you put them next to each other, the differences would be clear. But we felt from the off that our Portuguese bikes evoked the same Parlee magic the Z-Zero and others transmit to the rider and the road."
TOM RODI
After all this production talk, I’m keen to learn how the Ouray rides. How would Tom explain it? “Many people perceive it to be a very comfortable bike,” he begins. “And of course it is, but it’s not the whole story. What we tell people is that Ouray is our interpretation of a modern road bike, that it rolls with a sprinkling of our gravel experience, of what made a gravel bike a gravel bike five years ago, giving up very little in terms of weight, efficiency or performance to provide wider tire clearance than the road bikes of the past and a slightly more relaxed geometry.”
I tell Tom about a recent Ouray review by Cycling Weekly that mentions Ouray’s geometry and the trend towards comfort that it signals. He’s quick to correct that perception. “As cyclists, we’re all so irrational. Scratch that, as humans!” he laughs. “We perceive things visually and think that that perception is accurate. With bikes, we might see some very thin seat stays and assume they’re fragile when they’re probably stronger than they need to be. Or a set of wheels, decals and a front fork that look fast but which might prove to be anything but. In terms of the Ouray, we wanted what I would consider a modern silhouette. When you’re making an all-road bike, which seems like a generality but is a very specific type of bike, there are many things we want to bring, which Ouray exhibits: low weight, responsiveness, performance, comfort of course, and a frame capable of mixed terrain. At the same time, we wanted to keep the classic round seat tube, the exterior seat clamp that speaks to our love of classic road bikes and the timelessness they represent.”
It comes to mind that the Ouray and Taos, despite being made in Portugal and in many ways, a world away from a custom tube-to-tube Parlee, evoke the same spirit of what made Parlee’s name all those years ago and the high-performance bikes that delivered speed and sensation in equal measure. “It’s so funny you say that,” muses Tom. “Obviously, our stock bikes are very different to our custom machines, and if you put them next to each other, the differences would be obvious. But we felt from the off that our Portuguese bikes evoked the same Parlee magic the Z-Zero and others transmit to the rider and the road.” It would be ironic if a stock bike became a poster child for a bike brand’s custom program, but given everything we’ve learned about the Ouray, that looks to be the case for Parlee.
Talking to Tom, I’m struck, not for the first time, by what you might call the long and short of the last twenty years. Tom’s been at Parlee for over two decades, accruing experience and knowledge, designing bikes, seeing trends and industry shifts, and suffering the passing of the brand’s founder and his friend, Bob Parlee, in 2023. However, twenty years for Tom and twenty-five for Parlee as a brand is only a long time in relative terms. To Tom and Parlee, it’s the blink of an eye and a deep well of experience, skill and knowledge drawn and redrawn by thousands of hours of design, development, a bunch of failure and the hearts and hands of a singular group of amazing people that function like a family unit.
Given Tom’s evident pep and passion and the wider team he credits with continuing Bob’s legacy and the positive press reviews of the Ouray and its sibling, Taos, you get the feeling that Parlee, despite its celebrated history, is embarking on one of the most creative and exciting phases of its story so far. And it’s just getting started.
FEATURED PRODUCT
PARLEE OURAY
A lively all-road bike built with Parlee's legendary ride feel, optimized for roads that don't stay smooth, all-day epics, exhilarating climbs and immense descents.
