Paralysed by choice

Last year I decided to buy a dream bike. It felt like my life was about to change dramatically and I might not get the same opportunity for a number of years. For years I had been thinking about doing this, but signing up to do the Etape du Tour forced the issue. There was no way I was going to take on that course with my old Trek 5200. 

It probably took me 6 months to finally take the plunge. All I knew was that it needed to be light, comfortable to ride long distances on and something I would look at longingly at again and again. I also wanted to try and stay away from some of the mass produced brands and have something less familiar but with pedigree.
 

First on my short list was a Colnago C50. There is something timeless about Colnago. You know that they will still look great in 10 years time.  But have you ever tried to test ride or order one? I had email conversation with a well known Colnago dealer who said "no I do not have test bikes" and "no I don't know how long one would take to arrive from the factory...they are Italian."  Not particularly helpful and I also suspected that the C50 was about to change and that I might be paying for old technology.
 

Next up was a Storck Fenomalist. It certainly ticked the lightweight box, but what are those strange horizontal rear dropouts all about? I have enough trouble as it is getting a rear wheel off! And, the more I read about them the more I questionned what state they would leave me in at the end of a long ride.
 

Next the Cervelo RS. There is no doubt that this bike has the looks, but I was not convinced about sizing or the long headtube. Hmmm...looking back on it I didn't go to bed dreaming about this one for long!

 

The more I read forums about which bike the more the name Parlee kept cropping up. They were  completely new to me and having never seen them advertised I thought they were probably not available in the UK.  By chance I clicked on the suppliers tab on the Parlee website and found they did have a UK dealer, Bespoke Cycling. How did I not know about this lot?  They are just 10 minutes from my office! Parlee had just released their Z5 it seemed to tick all my boxes. The reviews were very thin on the ground then nothing like the rave reviews out there now Cycling Weekly. And, Bespoke Cycling had one I could take out for a spin. I said I would be 30 mins and ended up coming back over an hour later. Barrry at Bespoke was completely chilled about and said "oh we don't mind if you are late back, most people are. It means they like it." I did and bought one. And, yep it got me up the Marie Blanque, the Solour and the Tourmalet with no sight of the Broomwagon.

If you are looking for a new bike and are not interested in 'squovals', 'asymmetric concepts' and other oddities, have a look at the Z5. I have heard that they are shifting 3 times more of them this season than last. That's no surprise if you have ridden one.