This has been a huge year for gravel. We’ve seen tyre widths grow and the continued emergence of distinct race bikes incorporating aerodynamics alongside evolved geometry.
The range of gravel bikes is widening too, with adventurous bikepacking machines sitting alongside trail-capable full-suspension options, and lightweight aero bikes that wouldn’t look out of place on the road if it weren’t for their big-tread tyres.
I’ve been impressed by Rondo's radical-looking Ruut, Wilier’s slick and speedy Rave SLR ID2, Cannondale’s evolution of its Topstone, and the SuperX.
Cervélo has two distinct and impressive gravel rides, the Áspero and Áspero 5. Plus, we still have old favourites such as Santa Cruz’s Stigmata, Lauf’s Seigla, and Giant’s Revolt and Revolt X.
The two bikes that have stood head and shoulders above the rest I’ve tested throughout 2025, however, offer something new.
Both bring progressive geometry, giving them the handling chops for technical trails. Both are built light, yet offer big 50mm tyre clearances, and both have nods towards aerodynamics alongside their go-anywhere outlook.
The two bikes I’ve chosen for 2025’s gravel Bike of the Year head-to-head shootout are Mondraker’s Arid Carbon RR Force AXS and Parlee’s Taos Force AXS.
- Read more: Best gravel bikes in 2025 – top-rated carbon, aluminium, titanium and steel gravel bikes reviewed
Introducing the Mondraker Arid RR Force AXS
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With the Arid, the designers at Mondraker built a bike to master the challenges of arid, rocky, loose and rutted terrain, a bike that can stay on track and get grip where traction is at a minimum.
The Arid frame's construction is all about off-road. That means stiffness at the bottom bracket and head tube, while that unique back end, with its spar-like triangulated seatstay to seat tube joint, is all about compliance. That's enhanced by the carbon layup under the skin.
By using FSA’s ACR system, Mondraker has been able to route the brake hoses fully internally, keeping them out of the way of bags and snags.
Clearance for 50mm tyres, top tube mounts, three bottle mounts, triple fork mounts and down tube storage make it bikepacking-friendly.
The UDH rear dropout future-proofs the frame (albeit even wider clearances are beginning to appear), and opens the possibility of tuning the drivetrain to your preference.
Want more range at the back? Then you can mix it up with SRAM's direct-mounting T-Type Transmission mountain bike derailleur with gravel drivetrain parts.
Finishing things off is a threaded T47 bottom bracket.
The Arid, unlike the Parlee Taos, is designed for 1x drivetrains only.
- Read more: Mondraker Arid Carbon RR review
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Bike of the Year is supported by Auto-Trail
Big thanks to sports campervan specialists Auto-Trail for supporting our Bike of the Year 2025 test. Head to auto-trail.co.uk for more details about their range, including the cycling-specific Auto-Trail Expedition 68, which features a purpose-built bike garage.
Introducing the Parlee Taos Force AXS
Massachusetts-based carbon bike builder Parlee has a decade of experience building gravel bikes, since launching the original fully custom Z-Series XD bikes and gravel/all-roader, the Chebacco.
Compared to its predecessor, the frame is longer, with a massively sloping top tube, slacker head angle, 50mm tyre clearances and a torsionally stiffer construction, yet it has more compliance. Parlee claims this makes the Taos its fastest yet most forgiving gravel bike to date.
The frame has been configured with a monocoque construction that uses a blend of unidirectional carbon fibres to create a meticulously crafted frame with a claimed weight of less than 980g (56cm).
Parlee has chosen to leave the made in the EU (Portugal) carbon fibre frameset here. It's in a raw-waxed carbon finish, so there are no worries about chips and scratches to the paintwork – simply buff and re-wax and it’ll look as good as new.
Like the Arid, the Taos gets down tube storage, a UDH rear dropout and a T47 threaded bottom bracket; it's also suspension corrected, as is the Arid.
The difference with the Taos is 2x compatibility and a fork with a flip chip dropout, enabling you to steepen the head angle and shorten the trail, making the Taos more road-ready than a pure gravel bike.
- Read more: Parlee Taos review
Also tested and highly commended
- Cannondale Topstone Carbon 1 Lefty AXS
- Kinesis Tripster AT+
- Wilier Rave SLR ID2
Very similar geometry
Even though our two finalists are pitched somewhat differently, they have a lot in common when it comes to geometry.
The Arid’s inspiration comes from Mondraker's mountain bike ‘Forward Geometry’, which means a very long reach of 423mm.
Parlee has chosen to go a little shorter with the Taos, at 417mm. Compare that to a classic racy gravel bike such as the Giant Revolt in the same size, and it's 393mm.
The Mondraker is designed to be used with an 80mm stem, and the Parlee with a 90mm. Which means the on-bike reach is drawn closer, with only 4mm between them.
When it comes to stack, our two contenders are a little more different; the Arid is 613mm and the Taos is 620mm.
Both bikes have slack head angles to cope with rough surfaces. The Arid comes with a 70-degree angle, and the Taos takes things a little further at 69.5 degrees.
This informs the trail of the fork, which has a bearing on steering responses. The Mondraker, with its 45mm fork offset running 45mm-wide tyres, gives a long 83mm trail. The Parlee, because of the flip chip, can be run with the same 45mm offset or 51mm. That means a trail of 85mm or 81mm, sitting either side of the Arid.
The wheelbases are marginally different, with the Arid at 1,089mm and the Taos at 1,090mm. Bottom bracket heights are 269mm on the Arid and 271mm on the Taos.
The builds
Both bikes are nominally built around SRAM's Force AXS XPLR groupset. Parlee has chosen to go down the mullet route, combining its Force shifters and crankset with an X0 Eagle AXS Transmission derailleur and cassette.
That means the Arid gets a standard and broad 10-44 cassette, and a 40-tooth chainring. The Taos, meanwhile, gets a very wide 10-52 cassette paired with a larger 42-tooth chainring.
Because of the timing of SRAM’s new Force XPLR, which came after we’d received both bikes, our test models are running the previous D2 generation of Force.
Both Mondraker and Parlee assure us the bikes will get the new E1 Force AXS and Force XPLR AXS, which features the updated shifter shape, new crankset, and in the case of the Arid, the new rear derailleur and cassette.
When it comes to rolling stock, Mondraker has gone with a classic gravel approach, with Mavic’s low-profile 1,521g (including tubeless valves) Allroad Pro Carbon SL wheels.
Parlee, however, has gone down the wide-deep aero route by using Zipp’s 303 XPLR S. These 54mm-deep aero wheels have a very wide 32mm internal width and come with Goodyear's Zipp collaboration Inter gravel tyres in a 45mm width. These come up closer to 48mm on the wide Zipp rims at my preferred tyre pressure.
Mondraker has used Maxxis Reaver tyres in the same 45mm width, although on the Mavics, these come up a little narrower than the Zipps because the Allroad has ‘only’ a 25mm internal measurement.
Parlee has used FSA’s well-shaped K-Force AGX carbon bar, paired with FSA’s SMR II stem. The stem is 90mm and the bar has a nominal 42cm width, although the 25-degree flare pushes the bar out to a wide 46cm.
The bar has a subtle rise from the stem, too, adding to the Taos' slightly more upright ride position.
Mondraker has used its own-brand OnOff components with a semi-integrated 80mm stem and the OnOff S9 GR carbon bar. The bar has a good 16-degree flare and a compact drop. The tops are flattened into an aero profile, and with a width of 46cm on my large test bike, Mondraker thankfully hasn’t been tempted into the narrow-bar trend.
Both use their own-brand carbon posts, while Mondraker has opted for an old favourite in the Fizik Terra Argo X5 (chromoly railed) saddle, and Parlee the rarely seen Ergon SR Allroad Core pro carbon saddle.
For the Parlee, that means a complete weight of 8.82kg (large with two bottle cages and storage bags). The Mondraker is a little heavier at 9.09kg, including storage bags.
The rides
With its low, slack-angled and long-reach design, the Arid looks on paper like a bike that won't be great for the road. You'd expect the handling to feel pedestrian compared to a road bike on the blacktop. That should be offset by a capable and lively bike when things get rougher underfoot.
After plenty of test riding in all weather and conditions, a picture emerged of a truly exceptional bike for riding the most challenging terrain. Thankfully, my initial reservations about its on-road performance were mostly unfounded. Whilst it's no race bike on tarmac, it's capable of being hustled along at a decent enough pace.
It takes a bit more work to get the Arid to behave through fast road corners – the slack head angle, fat tyres, and lower front end lead to a little understeer.
It also gives the feeling of needing a little more effort to maintain speed. I’ve experienced far less capable rowdy gravel bikes on the road, however – Nukeproof's Digger RS V3 and Marin’s Gestalt X10 spring to mind.
Where the relaxed geometry pays dividends, aside from on technical descents, is on low-traction steep climbs. The long fork and relaxed angle mean the front tyre tracks aren’t unsettled by ruts and lumps. It’s a great climbing companion when it comes to dirt, especially tight singletrack uphill trails.
The Mavic wheels ride with a lightness and zip that's enhanced by the excellent Maxxis Reaver tyres, which have fast become a favourite of mine for dry summer gravel riding. The Arid’s weight, of 9.09kg for my large test bike, is comfortably light enough, and certainly plays into the Arid’s impressive climbing feel.
The Mondraker can’t quite hold the pace of the Parlee Taos on smoother gravel and tarmac. However, once you get into the wild, the Arid Carbon RR shows its capability and appetite for challenging technical terrain.
On my favoured gravel test route, there's a section of singletrack through the woods that starts straight and fast but transitions quickly to a tight, twisty singletrack descent, with lots of natural sweeping turns, dropping 30ft/225m in 1 mile/1.6km.
Both bikes impressed me here, but it was the Arid that had the edge; it felt that bit tamer when it came to drops, tighter turns and rooty off-camber sections. It's as impressive on the same trails as gravel bikes I've ridden equipped with suspension forks, such as the Santa Cruz Stigmata or Cannondale’s Topstone Carbon.
The Taos flowed beautifully through the twists and turns, but it took a little more of my attention when it came to some of the steeper sections and tighter, narrower turns.
I’d like to try out each bike with a dropper post, to add that bit more manoeuvrability when it comes to steeper drops.
Having a lower bottom bracket than a mountain bike gives each bike stability on gravel roads, but it can be an issue on more technical terrain. I hit a pedal on a large root aboard the Arid when riding through a particularly rooty, rocky section of singletrack.
The Arid’s bottom bracket, at 269mm, is only a couple of millimetres lower than the Taos', so you’ll need to be aware this could be an issue when riding on rougher terrain.
I won’t hold this against the Arid or the Taos. The fact that I’ve felt confident enough to take both onto pure mountain bike trails pays testament to how good their handling is.
Overall, the Taos is close to matching the Arid’s performance on technical terrain, although it just loses out because it takes a little more hustling into singletrack corners at speed because of its marginally taller front end.
The frame and fork have a level of compliance that sees them roll over hardened tractor tracks and water-bar ruts with a smoothness that, on lesser bikes, erodes your endurance and slows you down.
Parlee’s mullet approach to gearing choice suits the Taos too, with the very wide gearing giving a bottom end that's the equivalent of a road bike's 50/12. In simple terms, it's a low enough gear to help keep pace with road bikes on tarmac. The lightest gear of only 24 inches is an inch lighter than the Mondraker, too.
However, you won't struggle to find a gear to get up the steepest off-road ramps on either bike.
The Taos and Arid are so close when it comes to getting way off-road that it will come down to personal preference on bar height.
The difference everywhere else is more marked. The Taos feels quick on smoother gravel roads, doubletrack and tarmac – more so than the Arid.
It's not up with the most aero of gravel bikes, such as Wilier’s Rave SLR ID2 or Cervélo’s Áspero 5 when it comes to tarmac. It is, however, the far superior all-rounder.
Its ride isn’t unlike Parlee's Ouray – a road bike that smashes through categories and isn't wholly a race, endurance nor climbing bike. The Taos is its perfect counterpart when it comes to dirt.
It's worth noting that both the Arid and Taos will be improved, and lightened with the switch to new Force, lighter component weights, better ergonomics, and better braking.
Mondraker Arid vs Parlee Taos Force AXS bottom line
The Taos isn’t a gravel bike you can easily pigeonhole – and that's a good thing. It's light and agile enough to race, yet it's stable, comfortable and smooth enough for bikepacking.
With versatility at its core and a flip chip in the fork, I could see myself using the Taos as both a gravel bike and an endurance bike. It won’t disappoint in either trim.
The Mondraker Arid is very, very close to the Parlee. With the Arid, I’m happy to pay a small penalty for efficiency on smooth gravel and tarmac. When it comes to challenging and exciting, more technical rides, it's one of the most capable gravel bikes I’ve ever tested.
It’s a more focused off-roader than the Taos, more guided towards technical off-road riding, even though the geometry is very similar. The Arid’s longer and lower ride position makes for a bike that’s much more at home where gravel bikes shouldn’t be.
The Parlee, however, just nudges out the Mondraker by being more of an all-rounder, a more versatile proposition, even if it’s more expensive.
It is expensive, and yes, that is an issue, but with the Taos, you’re getting what you pay for – and that’s one of the most capable and versatile gravel bikes of 2025.