Parlee Bikes · Gravel
Parlee Taos Gravel Bike
Off-road is a mindset, an escape. And the Taos is the perfect bike for getting after every adventure.
A bike capable of winning today's blazingly fast 100-mile gravel races and crushing all-day epics alike
Parlee developed the Taos with the awareness that ‘gravel’ is how we immerse ourselves in our environment, not necessarily a specific terrain. It’s an interesting take on a riding style still defining itself in real-time. However, when you try out a Taos, you’ll quickly realize that Parlee’s reframing has helped them hit upon something genuinely new because the Taos is a supple sensation. Parlee uses the word ‘compliant’, but supple seems to sum up the beyond-smooth sensation the Taos imparts over even the roughest backcountry trails.
Specifications
- Frameset
- Parlee Taos, one-piece carbon monocoque, UDH
- Made
- By hand in Portugal, assembled in the US
- Fork
- Full carbon, flip-chip axle 45/51 mm
- Frame weight
- 980 g on average
- Storage
- Inside the down tube
- Bottom bracket
- T47 internal
- Sizes
- Six, each with its own layup and geometry
From the ReviewThe Cybertruck Parlee: A Taos Built for the Desert and a Dose of Humor
About the Parlee Taos
The smooth ride of Taos comes from the amalgamation of Parlee's unique carbon fiber expertise and a progressive, groundbreaking design. It's a combination that eliminates chatter and vibration, freeing you to focus on your surroundings, not your bike.
Parlee uses the word 'compliant', but supple seems to sum up the beyond-smooth sensation the Taos imparts over even the roughest backcountry trails.
A true clean-sheet design, Taos hit the hills with the benefit of Bob Parlee's 25 years of masterful custom carbon fiber expertise and the brand's legendary ride quality. However, the Taos owes more than a passing nod to the popularity of the Parlee Chebacco, whose DNA Parlee cherry-picked and filtered through a modern cyclist's perspective to create a bike capable of winning today's blazingly fast 100-mile gravel races and crushing all-day epics alike.
Compliance adds comfort, but Traction adds speed and confidence.
Parlee
The Finer Details
Strength In Numbers
With an average frame weight of 980g, the Taos barely tips the scales. Yet it's no lightweight. The Taos is built for the rigours of off-road, with reinforced carbon layups in high-impact areas and rubberized protection over the chainstay and beneath the downtube. All that strength for very little weight is only possible thanks to the new layup process Parlee engineered for the Taos and Ouray.
Eu Know It's Good
The Parlee Taos is handmade in the European Union, with a new precision layup process that Parlee is justifiably proud of creating. Like the brand's new Ouray road bike, each piece of the Taos' UD carbon fiber ply is meticulously placed to create a frame that requires no cosmetic layers, filler, bonding agents, or paint. That's a tall order. In reality, it's an arduous process, which is why almost no one else does it. However, it results in a perfect finish straight out of the mold. So confident is Parlee in the fidelity of its process that it offers Taos with a nude waxed finish - the ultimate expression of precision carbon fibre manufacturing.
Get A Grip
Parlee explains, "Compliance adds comfort, but Traction adds speed and confidence." And the latter is where Parlee made great leaps, courtesy of the Taos' monocoque design and masterfully crafted carbon layup that delivers an entirely new level of traction in a gravel bike, without gimmicks, micro-suspension, or proprietary parts. Uniquely for a 'stock' frame, all six frame sizes of the Taos have their own custom layup and geometry, so you can expect the same amazing ride no matter what size bike you're on.
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About the brand
Parlee Bikes
When Parlee emerged in 1999, it set in motion a wave of innovation that still resonates across the wider industry. From the first frame, Parlee bikes won accolades from anyone lucky enough to ride one of the brand's custom composite wonders. They thought they were riding a good bike. They came back with goosebumps.
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