Parlee is launching its first aero road bike, the ESX. The ESX is all new design that the company has been working on for several years in the lab, in the wind tunnel and on the road. "Aero bikes are not a new category, but a lot of dealers and riders gave us feedback on existing designs that there were too many trade-offs with existing aero road bikes in the market. We wanted to make a bike with no tradeoffs compared to a great riding road bike," Parlee said in a statement this week.
The ESX has a patent-pending tube shape called Recurve that has superior aerodynamics without the structural tradeoffs inherent in traditional airfoil shapes. The company said the shape achieves an excellent range of performance across yaw angles, which translates to real world watt savings without a harsh ride or heavy, dead feel.
The bike also features Parlee's third generation Flex-Fit geometry, which creates two stack-and-reach geometries for each of five sizes by having an interchangeable spacer system, creating a race and endurance fit on the same bike.
"This is simpler for retailers to stock and to fit for, knowing that many athletes fit evolve or progress from season to season," the company said. The ESX is all carbon and weighs in at just 950 grams for a ML (56cm top tube) from. The matching Parlee-made fork weighs 320 grams uncut. It has internal cabling for mechanical or electronic drive systems and internal seat binder fasteners. The ESX uses direct mount brakes front and rear and can accommodate wheel and tires up to 28-30c, including all the wider aero wheels from ZIPP, HED and ENVE.
The bike is available for pre-order now with first deliveries scheduled for December. Custom paint will be an option starting in January.
Like all Parlee frames, the ESX is sold exclusively through IBDs. The frame set assembly is $5,400 MSRP, with complete bikes starting at $6,500.
