Cinelli Mash Parallax review

Mash and Cinelli collaboration continues with their street-crit racer

Our rating

4.0

1150.00

Jonny Ashelford

Published: October 6, 2016 at 7:00 am

Our review
Great bike, though maybe choose frameset only Buy if, You're looking for an urban racer that's fun and is available complete or as a frameset only

Pros:

Mash artwork design, stiff and strong build, light

Cons:

Lack of full-carbon fork, mid-range finishing kit

The latest collaboration between San Francisco’s coolest bike shop and legendary Italian brand Cinelli is the Parallax Cyanotype frame. Melding Cinelli’s bike-building knowledge and Mash’s love for art and street bikes, it’s possibly the most refined frame to come out of this long-running partnership.

Artwork’s provided by Garrett Chow of Mash, and boy is there some fine detail on this pearl white and cyan frame. Geometry comes straight from the track thanks to a 75-degree head angle and 28mm fork, but the frame’s built to be bombproof and street-ready for crit racing. We should add that it lacks any form of brake, which is needed to be street-legal in the UK, US and Australia.

Oversized chainstays and a tapered headtube give this bike some real stiffness, raising its track-racing pedigree, but make no mistake — this bike is fun to ride on the road. In fact, throw in toe straps and trainers, and you can shred this machine on the streets for hours. It’s tough, it’s light and it’s incredibly stiff.

Supporting the frame on this bike is a Miche Xpress wheelset, which feel surprising stiff and strong. They’re wrapped in Zaffiro Slick tyres, which are fast on the road, but not ideal for brakeless riders; if you're strong enough to skid it a few times, you’ll be looking to invest in new rear tread.

The Miche Xpress wheelset feels surprising stiff and strong - Jonny Ashelford

The Miche crankset continues the Italian theme and is as solid as you’d expect from a square taper offering. Finishing up the build are a Cinelli stem, seatpost and extremely compact bar — nice to use on the street, but not enough drop to make much of a difference when riding the Parallax fast.

The 48t chainring and 17t cog mix provides a perfect street gear, which is low enough to get up hills with some effort, but high enough for serious speed on the flat. Mind you, swapping gears is easy, as the lengthy dropouts mean you can use two cogs with a five-tooth difference and have no worries with chain length. On the downside, for the money it would have been nice to see a full carbon fork included, rather than the carbon leg/alloy steerer combo.

Cinelli's extremely compact bar - Jonny Ashelford

That’s a minor gripe as you’ll feel instantly fast on the Parallax, despite its mid-range finishing kit. The frame — available on its own for £799 / US$935 / AU$1,423.98 — is one of the finest aluminium track versions on the market, and this complete build gives you the perfect off-the-peg ride whether you’re looking for a fast track racer or urban ripper.

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