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Golden Saddle Rides: From the Pit to the Crit – Mike’s Parlee Z5

Reportage

Golden Saddle Rides: From the Pit to the Crit – Mike’s Parlee Z5

Golden Saddle Rides: From the Pit to the Crit – Mike’s Parlee Z5
Photos and words by Kyle Kelley

I met Mike about 8 years ago when he moved from Boston to LA and started hanging out at the bike shop where I was working at the time. He was a bike punk from the east coast hardcore scene, cooking vegan food by day and drumming in bands by night. Few things have changed in the years in-between and Mike is still hanging out at my bike shop, but he’s looking a lot more punk jock these days. When he isn’t roasting for Bicycle Coffee or running a Pure Luck pop up, Mike is likely out training for road or cyclocross season.

Mike is a big dude and he does not baby his bikes. He has broken just about every single one he has owned. From touring bikes to track bikes and a steel road frame to a Ritte, the guy is a crusher. Last year when Mike was down a road bike and looking for an upgrade his friend Rudi Jung was starting a new position painting bikes at Parlee. The connection was made and it wasn’t long before Mike owned what many would consider a dentist bike, the Parlee Z5.

Radar

Movado and Parlee’s Balleur Collaboration

If you don’t want to look at super, über high end collaborations, don’t even bother watching this video because Movado doesn’t dabble in affordable timepieces and Parlee is, in their own right, the equivalent in the cycling world. That said, both the bike and watch looks damn nice. Insane, but yeah, nice.

I do wish that they would have coated some of the components in PVD because that would make this a truly detail-oriented collaboration, rather than putting a sticker on a bike… I’ve always wanted to see what a PVD crankset would look like!

See more at Movado.