Parlee Taos review: this is the best all-round gravel bike I’ve ever tested – but what about that price?

The Parlee Taos is claimed to be fast and forgiving in equal measure – a bike that can cut it in races and on technical terrain.

Parlee, the Boston-based carbon specialist, has been making gravel bikes for more than a decade. Previously, it was known for its adventurous road bike, the Chebacco. The Taos is its latest gravel bike with a new ground-up design. 

It builds on a decade of making gravel-focused bikes, but comes with a new direction that has off-road capability and versatility at its heart. Parlee has used some aerodynamic tricks combined with a progressive geometry and its customary emphasis on using lightweight carbon.

The result? A bike that's impressively light, smooth and quick everywhere.

• Read more: Best gravel bikes in 2025: top-rated carbon, aluminium, titanium and steel gravel bikes reviewed

Parlee Taos T3 Force Eagle frame details

Compared to the Chebacco, the Taos' frame is longer, with a massively sloping top tube and slacker head angle. 

Parlee has built 50mm tyre clearance into the frame and says the construction is torsionally stiffer than the Chebacco's, yet offers more vertical 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, with a blend of unidirectional carbon fibres to create a meticulously crafted frame with a claimed weight of under 980g (56cm). It's made in Portugal, rather than more commonly used Taiwanese factories.

Parlee has chosen to leave the frameset raw-finished. You can see every ply, join and orientation of the carbon, all on show underneath a transparent waxed finish.

The finish means no paint chips or scratching – Parlee says you should simply wipe the bike down and occasionally give it a re-waxing to keep it looking pristine.

The frameset hits all the modern gravel notes: large tyre clearances, internal routing, a SRAM UDH rear dropout, T47 threaded bottom bracket, and in-built frame protection in high-impact areas. 

It also includes a generously sized down tube storage port replete with dual custom storage bags.

Parlee claims the Taos is its most versatile bike yet, given the frame geometry is corrected for a suspension fork.

In theory, it won’t alter the handling should you want a bit more travel (aside from the characteristics of the fork, of course). It also has ‘stealth’ routing, enabling you to add a dropper post. It will accept a 31.6mm-diameter post, opening it up to the wider range of mountain bike droppers.

The frame can be used with 1x or 2x drivetrains, and has fender/mudguard mounts and top tube bag mounts on top of the internal storage; it could easily serve as a long-distance touring bike.

The fork has a flip-chip dropout, so you can run the Taos as an all-road bike rather than pure gravel. In the shorter setting, the wheelbase is tightened and the head angle steepened, so when you run it with smaller tyres, it has a more road-biased ride.

Parlee Taos T3 Force Eagle geometry

The Taos features a 69.5-degree head angle on my size-large test bike, slacker than most of its rivals. For instance, the latest Cervélo Áspero 5 and Giant Revolt have 72-degree head angles. Cannondale’s Topstone Carbon measures 70.7 degrees.

The Taos' steep 73.5-degree seat angle plants you squarely over the cranks.

Its 417mm reach is long and the 620mm stack makes it taller than most front ends.

The fork offset shifts between 45mm and 51mm, depending on which way you run the dropout chip. That makes for a trail of 81mm with the short offset, and 75mm with the longer option when combined with the 45mm-wide tyres on my test bike.

The 430mm chainstays keep the back end compact for a bike with 50mm tyre clearances. When that is matched with the long reach and specified short stem, it’s apparent Parlee’s approach to gravel is very much geared towards more technical terrain.

Parlee Taos T3 Force Eagle build

This Taos features a nominally second-tier build that combines SRAM’s Force AXS shifters and brakes, with a 1x XPLR 42-tooth crankset, paired with a mountain bike X0 Eagle AXS Transmission rear derailleur and a broad 10-52t cassette.

The shifters and brakes come from the previous generation of Force AXS, because the bike was supplied before SRAM’s recent launch of the latest-generation Force AXS and Force XPLR AXS. Parlee says any bikes bought from now will come with SRAM’s latest offering.

The bike rolls on Zipp’s 303 XPLR S wheels with the 45mm tyres from Zipp’s collaboration with Goodyear. These are Zipp’s second-tier gravel wheels, but share the same very wide (32mm internal) rim shape.

The cockpit is made up of FSA’s latest K-Force AGX carbon bar matched to an SMR II stem. At the rear is Parlee’s own carbon seatpost. 

The perch is Ergon’s SR Allroad Core pro carbon saddle, with brand-matching Ergon All Road bar tape and two Parlee carbon bottle cages finishing things off.

My size-large test bike tips the scales at 8.82kg (with the two bottle cages).

Parlee Taos T3 Force Eagle ride impressions

The Parlee Taos is an incredibly capable bike when it comes to technical terrain. How it rolls over washboard, rock-hard ruts is remarkable. It’s a wonderful companion when hitting the sort of surfaces that ebb away at your energy reserves and jar you to the core.

On the sort of hardened horse-track strewn bridleways that have unsettled many a racy gravel bike (the Cinelli King Zydeco 2 and Cervélo Áspero spring to mind), the Parlee simply sailed over the surface. It was unbridled, shall we say, by the choppy, disruptive terrain.

The drivetrain provides a great range. The top-end 10/42t, or 118in gear, is only one inch shy of what you’d have on a 50/12 gear on the road. For many, that’s ample for the fastest road work.

At the lighter end, a 42/50 is far less than a 1:1 ratio at only 22 inches, providing a gear that’ll keep you pedalling rather than hiking.

What sets the Taos apart, however, is just how quick it feels everywhere. On tarmac, it can be hustled along with the pace of a great endurance bike, while it’s just a step shy of the bullet-fast Wilier Rave SLR ID2 or Cervélo Áspero 5 on lighter ‘princess ‘ gravel. That said, get into the rougher stuff and the Taos leaves them in a trail of dust.

Its balanced feel and composure when riding technical singletrack seriously impresses. The smooth steering smothers the stuttering impacts you get when hitting a slew of exposed roots or railing through a rock-strewn path. It gives you masses of confidence.

The shifting and chain management never faltered when changing, pushing power uphill out of the saddle or dropping down the cassette over choppy ground to anticipate a ramp – something I’d expect of the latest SRAM groupsets.

The contact points are excellent – the AGX bar is a great shape, with a comfortable profile on the tops and in the drops. Things should only be improved ergonomically with the upgrade to SRAM’s latest shifter design.

If there’s one thing to level at the Taos, it’s the value. Parlee is a small manufacturer that can’t compete on economies of scale with the biggest brands. So, on paper, the Taos can’t offer the same value for money.

However, I’d argue that the quality and workmanship of the frame and fork, not to mention the lifetime warranty, and certainly the ride experience, more than justify the price. 

In comparison, Cervélo’s Áspero 5 with Force AXS is £8,000, although an Enve MOG with Force AXS XPLR and ENVE AG25 wheels would be around £9,600.

Parlee Taos T3 Force Eagle bottom line

The Taos has impressed me thoroughly. Parlee has managed to combine the best elements of a gravel race bike – low weight, pedalling efficiency and fast handling – with the very best traits of more adventurous designs – large tyre capacity, smooth riding over rough ground, and stable handling and control on technical trails. 

The only downside is that Parlee is unable to compete with the economies of scale afforded by major players; hence, on paper, the Taos looks expensive in comparison. The ride and handling go some way to justifying the expense, though.

That's thanks to the Parlee’s more versatile traits; it has the low weight associated with the brand, but combines it with geometry and handling that can make it both a rapid racer and a bike to take on the toughest technical terrain.

It is expensive, and yes, that is an issue – but for those who can afford it, you’re getting what you pay for, which is the most capable and versatile race-ready gravel bike of 2025.