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TECH NEWS
Lance's ParleeLance Armstrong tweets about his new bike… and it's not a Trek
Having been associated closely with Trek during his racing career, Lance Armstrong has tweeted that he now has a new Parlee Z-Zero road bike.
Lance said, “Down @mellowjohnnys building up my new @parlee_z1. What a beauty!! Right at 15 lbs.”
Mellow Johnny’s is a bike store in Austin, Texas, owned by Armstrong. The name comes from maillot jaune – French for ‘yellow jersey’.
Mellow Johnny's is a Trek dealership. Whereas usually Trek might not be too pleased with an ex-pro and current dealer showing off a bike other than a Trek, in this case they're probably fairly relaxed about the situation.
The Parlee race bike brand was established by Bob Parlee in Massachusetts about a decade ago.
The Z-Zero is custom-made to order in 16 semi-custom sizes, or in a full-custom geometry. Parlee say that they can tune the ride characteristics to each rider's exact requirements.
Armstrong has gone for a Shimano Dura-Ace 9070 groupset here. Previously, he had a contract with SRAM but the US component brand terminated it last year in the light of revelations about Armstrong’s doping during his race career – you might have heard about that!
Mat has been in cycling media since 1996, on titles including BikeRadar, Total Bike, Total Mountain Bike, What Mountain Bike and Mountain Biking UK, and he has been editor of 220 Triathlon and Cycling Plus. Mat has been road.cc technical editor for over a decade, testing bikes, fettling the latest kit, and trying out the most up-to-the-minute clothing. He has won his category in Ironman UK 70.3 and finished on the podium in both marathons he has run. Mat is a Cambridge graduate who did a post-grad in magazine journalism, and he is a winner of the Cycling Media Award for Specialist Online Writer. Now over 50, he's riding road and gravel bikes most days for fun and fitness rather than training for competitions.
Latest Comments
- Geordiepeddeler 3 hours 6 min ago
Cycling infrastructure does not force drivers to break the law, drivers are the reason they break the law, no one else.
- chrisonabike 3 hours 18 min ago
Ah but taking pictures of things to defy the man (avoid a fine) is righteous. Taking pictures of people to grass on them to the cops (perhaps...
- ktache 5 hours 8 min ago
But getting paid for it is the very definition of professional....
- ktache 5 hours 17 min ago
Never had a Shimano QR fail on me. They just work. And the top end ones look good too....
- Backladder 6 hours 3 min ago
If you're only looking at the guy in front of you then you're going to crash whatever brakes you have, you need to look beyond them to anticipate...
- jaysa 6 hours 29 min ago
As a woman, this works great for me! My chain broke once, and a kind guy stopped with a chain breaker and sorted it all out for me. We stopped at a...
- andystow 7 hours 20 min ago
Same. I also have gone through a bunch of their tyres, and only the extralight disappointed (torn sidewall) but the standards are fantastic....
- chrisonabike 9 hours 17 min ago
Indeed - but it's no more inconsistent than our current road design - very often UK high streets are "for shopping" and also a busy through route....
- mike the bike 10 hours 48 min ago
If you ask the world's leading economic commentators how many people have been rescued from abject poverty by capitalism the average answer would...
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74 comments
I feel so sorry for Lance that all he can afford these days is a Parlee... Oh, wait! Grrrr.
Does twitter make you a famous cyclist? Of course not, there are 4 million people interested in hearing his views on Twitter.
4 million who have definitely heard of Lance Armstrong.
You mention Merckx or Lemond to the average person on the street and you'll probably get a blank look but they will know Armstrong.
If Lemond was on Oprah next week, would he attract more viewers than Lance's appearance? Not a chance, people all round the world tuned in to see Armstrong.
Don't confuse who you prefer with who is more famous.
Do you genuinely believe that or are you just talking with your sausage out?
There is not a chance in hell that those riders are more famous than Armstrong. You can debate the rights and wrongs of that fame all you like, but that doesn't make Armstrong less famous.
I am annoyed with myself for reading this
Absolutely, you really think if you asked everyone on the planet to name a "cyclist" more people would say Hinault or Indurain than Armstrong ? Just because you want something to be true doesn't make it so, just ask Lance !
Really ? I'm pretty sure they're delighted. Tweeted to 4 million followers, discussed on countless cycling websites, rode Trek for years but now that he can ride anything he wants he chose a Parlee. It's publicity that is worth absolutely millions to Parlee
Reading the Maglia Rosa book - Merckx was tested positive - any different or better than anyone else who's been found cheating?
Actually, Tom Rodi of Parlee has just issued a tweet with a link to this very article:
https://twitter.com/parlee_z1/status/339403554534072322
I think he's pretty happy with the publicity.
(PS - Hi Tom and all at Parlee - Nice bikes!)
We don't only write about people we like or whose actions we approve of, you know. You've read a daily newspaper, right?
Simon stuck up a story on Jeremy Clarkson yesterday.
The Clarkson story had a positive message. Most newspapers don't report on criminals as if they're heroes. What's the message behind this story? It seems to be that spending 10 years lying, cheating, wrecking peoples lives and ruining the reputation of the sport you make a living from is OK. We will still give you free advertising. Anything to produce copy is it?
and I'm really annoyed for making it this far down in the comments...it's like watching a car wreck, can't look away.
Jeez, get over yourself Paul. Where is he treated like a hero in the article ? Says he been dumped by his sponsors. The fact is that lots of people will be interested to see what he's bought now that he's been ditched by Trek, it's a bit of gear based gossip, nothing more.
I don't think we've said he's a hero Paul, we've just said he's been tweeting about his new bike. We found his choice quite interesting.
Is it free advertising? What's Armstrong selling? And exactly how does this portray him as a hero? You're reading way too much into it. There's no deep and meaningful moral message here, it's just a bit of factual reporting.
Seems to me it's a story of interest to a lot of people (in a good or bad way - but it's certainly generated some traffic). If you hate Armstrong so much that the sight of his name offends you, you could always skip to the next article...
Sorry. Didn't mean to imply you considered him a hero should have been something like "why treat him as someone who still has any relevance to cycling in any positive way". I probably had my tuppence worth and more so I promise I will now shut up on the subject.
I thought he was banned from riding a bike? Why would he buy a new one?
That's a nice looking bike.
Interesting bike. I thought it was metal at a first glance. The joins don't have the large radius typical of carbon. How do they keep them strong enough? If all carbon bikes looked like this, I might buy one. (Not this one obviously, as it is tainted by association with "The evil one"...)
It's taken him 41 years to realise there are better bikes than a Trek out there.
Enve, I believe...
No kidding...
Lance fan for Life!!! I'm going straight out and buying two Parlee's! (if I have to sell my child and whore out my wife...!)
Nope, not that either.
1. What is there in the article that makes you think we're treating him as someone who still has any relevance to cycling in a positive way? A quote, perhaps, or a reference?
2. Why would we, as a news-based website, confine our news to people who have a relevance to cycling in a positive way?
Lance Armstrong has tweeted about a new bike that's a) Not a Trek. b) Not fitted with SRAM. It's news, especially in the light of his relationships with sponsors as a result of the USADA report and the fallout from that.
We're not in the business of restricting our news to cover only people whose actions we approve of. Sorry.
This is why they posted this story - 50 odd comments in a few hours on a story which is otherwise of no consequence.
Anything about LA is going to cause a reaction and controversy and road cc know this as much as anyone!
I was going to agree, but i'm actually finding it quite entertaining!
I'm no Lance fan but some of you guys really need to unwind a little before you do yourselves an injury!
Looks like he might have chosen a Specialized(?) helmet too http://instagram.com/p/Z0uVI6QDCY/
Just a small point. if he/it is so unimportant why are you reading/commenting on here?
Nice choice going with the Shimano Dura-Ace 9070. Nice to have that option.
Where's the downtube shifter for the chainrings?
Its a little sad i made it to the bottom....
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