I had the pleasure of riding this Z4 last week and there's a lot to be said about it. It's definitely the breed of a race bike, it handles very quickly with razor precision. And it climbs well, handles well, descends well. It does everything exceptionally well. The complete bike including pedals and bottle cages with essentially a last generation Campagnolo Chorus build (with Record brakes, and hubs) came in at a very respectable 16lbs14oz or 7.64kg on the digital Park scale. The more often quoted bike mass doesn't include those things needed to make it function like a bike like pedals and cages and so I weighed it that way too. In that configuration it dropped to 16lbs2oz or 7.32kg. But hey, it's only Chorus and the wheels are fully eyeleted alloy clinchers and the bar, stem and seatpost are aluminum. It's a solid bike that you could ride for a long time without any concerns about how delicate some of the parts might be.
I didn't ride it very far, a quick run out to UBC and back to the store was all it took, but in that short distance I managed to run it up a couple of hills, descend a nice little curvy fast bit of road, sprint away from a couple of traffic lights, and dodge a few pedestrians sneaking out from between parked cars. I'm a big guy and I didn't at any time feel the frame was unhappy under me. It handled the sprints away from lights expertly and without noticeable flex or derailleur rub, the inevitable choppy bits of urban road were smoothed nicely by the top shelf carbon fiber employed in the frame. The dolt who stepped out from between the parked cars should be quite happy that the bike goes where you point it. Yes, it's a very nice bike.
Some comments about the build, all Parlee frames are shipped with Edge Composites forks which have been garnering favourable press. Edge Composites and Velonews at Sea Otter both have details on the company and what they are up to. The fork looks great but in the interest of full disclosure I have to say that it was a bit of a pain to install. The steerer tube on the fork was slightly oversized and there was a seam running down the side of it from the mold and I had to file and sand away this seam to get the conical washer of the headset to sit inside the upper bearing. It's a small thing and easily remedied but I wouldn't want Joe Home Mechanic buying one of these forks and taking it home and trying to install it himself if this is normal for this fork. That being said, the fork rode quite nicely and seemed expertly matched to the frame's geometry. The fork that comes on the Z4 and all the other models of Parlee is Edge's 2.0 model that weighs a slight 340 grams claimed (my digital scale put it as 344 grams, but that was before filing off the seam so maybe it got lighter?)
Another unique accessory that comes with each and every Parlee is an incredibly light and elegant carbon front derailleur clamp adaptor. The clamp weighs a mere 7 grams and comes with a 4 gram bolt for a combined weight of 11 grams. Compare this to a Campagnolo adapter and bolt that weighs 31 grams. Yeah, it's only 20 grams but hey, if you could reduce the weight of everything on your bike by 65% you'd be pretty happy. The clamp is quite solid once installed and I didn't notice any issues with flex or shifting efficiency as the front derailleur derailed but it was a little finicky to install. Again, Joe Home Mechanic might not enjoy installing it but with a careful hand and an understanding of "tight enough" you'd have no problem putting this on your bike.
So yeah, there it is, a Parlee Z4. It's not a cheap bike but, man, is it ever an incredible ride. Everyone should have one of these.
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The bike was delivered yesterday, so I checked the saddle position, put on a computer and went for a ride. I had done a TT on Sunday and found both yesterday and today that I need more recovery. However, I now have 160 km on the bike and feel pretty comfortable in assessing its performance.
I bought a Parlee Z1 from Craig last year and loved everything about it (except that the retro look of the standard Parlee panel paint job wouldn’t be my first choice). It has a really plush ride but also gives you the feeling that you’re not wasting any effort. Bikes come and go from my garage with great regularity but I think the Z1 will be like the C40 I kept for 11 years, the steel De Rosa I’ve had since 1997 and the Cramerotti cross bike I’ve had since 2001 – as Craig calls it, a keeper. I ride something like 14-15,000 km per year, almost all on the road.
I decided that I wanted a Z4 that I could fit with lower standard gearing to use on long, climb heavy rides (too lazy to change wheels) and that was cheaper than my Z1 so that I could ride it on days when there was a chance of rain. It’s a little over a pound heavier than the Z1 because of the cheaper parts. The frame itself is actually lighter than my Z1 which has the extra wrap.
First the visual impressions. The finish of the frame is really good. The carbon looks a lot like the carbon Parlee uses on most of its bikes. The only lug is at the seat tube/down tube/seatstay junction, with the other joins being hidden. There is an interesting faint line a little back from the head tube junction that looks like a complicated carbon overlay. I like the look, although the wishbone portion of the seatstay lug would, in my opinion, look better if it were round.
I used the same Campy Nucleon wheels I’ve been using all winter. They may be on their last legs and have cheap tires but provide the best comparison with the Colnago C50 and Cramerotti Quattro that I’ve been riding since October. Monday’s route had a few small hills and a couple of stretches of poor roads. Today, I went south of town into much hillier terrain where there are also long sections of chip seal. It was very windy both days (20-40 km/hr gusts from the south while I was out today) which reduced my motivation at times. It’s tough 40 km into a ride to look down and note that you’re doing 21.4 km/hr and that the speed indicator says that’s faster than your average so far.
I’ve done a lot of riding in Europe over the last 15 years. Some time ago, I realized that Italians made such good bikes because their roads had poor surfaces, so good ride quality is essential, there are lots of hills so their bikes need to climb well and there are lots of high speed switchback descents so good handling is also a prerequisite to success. So, my comments will follow that theme.
Ride: Craig emphasizes that this is a racing bike. That made me worried. I thought I might be getting something with the characteristics of a Soloist Carbon, a great race machine but not something I’d ride more than the once I did ride one, or even my C50, which has a decent ride but tends to be a little skittish in the back end on bumpy roads. The Z4 certainly isn’t as plush as my Z1. It lets you know that the road is bumpy. On the other hand, it feels well planted and never seems affected by the bumps. In fact, on a road in town with large cracks in the pavement perpendicular to the road direction, I found the Z4 was more comfortable than any of the bikes I’ve taken there over the last several months. I think I’ll have no trouble doing 5-6 hour rides comfortably on the bike.
Climbing. The rider wasn’t at his best (which isn’t all that good) but this bike likes to climb. It gets the power down well. I can’t think of anything more to say.
Handling. The roads in town still have a lot of gravel on them because the city hasn’t done much of its spring cleaning, so my handling check was confined to roads out of town. Yesterday, I thought the bike felt a little short while in the drops and didn’t push very much because the feel was different than my other bikes. I rotated the bars upward a few degrees today and the sizing now seems right. The toughest test I subjected the bike to was a downhill almost 90 degree corner on a bumpy road. I’ve been riding this route regularly for several years and have only done this corner without brakes for the last year (I know, I’m a chicken but we old guys heal slowly). There was a little bit of junk on the road and it’s bumpy in spots but I felt confident enough on the bike by that point that I was able to go through the corner at over 75 without feeling nervous. So, it works well in this test as well.
So, what are my overall thoughts of the Z4? It’s not a Z1. The finish isn’t quite as good, the one lug isn’t as nice as the handwork on the Z1 and the ride quality is not the same. The plush feeling just isn’t there. On the other hand, it's half the price and I think I’ll like it better than the C50 in all respects except paint (I still think Colnago is #1 in finishing). It’s lighter, handles well, just like the C50, but has a more planted feel on rough roads. It would probably make a great race bike since it’s stinking light (large frame about 1000 grams) and seems to do everything racers want well (although I don’t have the power to test its sprinting capabilities).
Will this bike be a keeper? Probably not for 10 or 12 years since I’m sure that something similar will come along to catch my eye in that time. However, I suspect it will be around for 4-5 years, which is a long time for me.
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