Black is the New Black
New Mexico’s mountainous Gila National Forest is a road climber’s mecca. Specifically, Silver City is home to one of the hardest stage races in ‘Merica, with roads crossing the continental divide several times. The steep high altitude climbs force you to put up or shut up, and are followed by hair raising descents that test your mettle. A customer of ours from the region commissioned us to build this custom Parlee Z5 SLi to handle the rigors of these rides found in her backyard, built around the idea that a lightweight climbing bike shouldn’t sacrifice descending, nor handling capabilities.
An exotic group of parts adorn the bike in a unique configuration to suit our customer. Black is the new black. The Clavicula crankset was specifically arranged with a compact spider and super stiff Praxis chainrings. Tune Mig 45 and Mag 170 hubs were laced to the new Smart Enve System (SES) 3.4 tubular rims, which in this case provide a perfect balance of aerodynamic stability and weight. The logos on the Enve bar and stem combo were removed, and the frameset itself was custom painted with stars, which are only caught in the right light; a unique design you rarely see on a bike. The aesthetics as a whole were focused around the look of the Parts of Passion laser logo seatpost, emitting that murdered out, stealth appeal. The Z5 SLi frameset is specifically designed with wire access for the Shimano Dura Ace Di2 group, leaving out any frivolous cable stops. Weighed as shown, the bike is right at 13lbs, while our customer’s ultra lightweight Enve 1.25 wheelset drops it another half-pound.
Black is the New Black Build List (13lbs)
- Frame & Fork: Parlee Z5 SLi custom paint
- Wheels: Fair Wheel Hand Built
- Rims: SES 3.4 Tubular
- Front Hub: Tune Mig 45
- Rear Hub: Tune Mag 170
- Spokes: Sapim CX-Ray
- Tires: Vittoria Corsa Evo CX
- Crankset: THM Clavicula M3 with Compact Spider
- Chainrings: Praxis Works 50/34
- Bottom Bracket: THM BB30
- Casette: Shimano Dura Ace 7900 11-25
- Chain: KMC X10SL Black DLC
- Brakes: EE Cycleworks with Enve Brake Pads
- Cables: Ashima Reaction & Di2 wires
- Handlebar: Enve Compact Carbon
- Bar Tape: Lizard Skins DSP Race
- Quick Releases: Tune DC14
- Seatpost: Parts of Passion Laser Logo
- Shifters: Shimano Dura Ace Di2
- Stem: Enve Carbon
- Bottle Cages: Tune Carbon
- Front Derailleur: Shimano Dura Ace Di2
- Front Derailleur Clamp: Parlee Carbon
- Rear Derailleur: Shimano Dura Ace Di2
Very nice. I love the subtle star paint scheme. Did the customer consider adding a bit of additional sparkle perhaps using an accent color on the Tune QRs or decals on the Enves or even the Tune hubs? Also, any particular reason for the DA cassette instead of a lighter full titanium cluster such as KCNC or Recon?
@john,
The cassette is temporary, we’re going to be installing a KCNC.
Cut down the fork tube and that is possibly the baddest bike on the planet.
Hi, Any issues w/Di2 and Parlee fr derailleur clamp? Thanks!
How did you go about removing the enve logos from the stem and bars?
Patrick, we had a painter that we often work with match the frame paint.