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With the future of Parlee Cycles secured, Daniel Blackham speaks to new CEO John Harrison to hear about the brand’s next chapter
This piece first appeared in the print edition of BikeBiz magazine – get your free subscription here
Parlee Cycles is a storied brand with more than two decades of custom carbon frame building history. Earlier this year it filed for Chapter 11 status, allowing for a reorganisation and restructure of the company.
Now, Parlee is now looking ahead to a new era after avid cyclist and independent investor John Harrison acquired the brand and 100% of its assets.
The business will operate under a newly formed entity named Parlee Composites, Inc., with Harrison assuming the role of president and CEO.
But how did Harrison, a successful businessman in his own right and former CCO at a software company, come to take over such a heralded brand?
“I’d heard about the Chapter 11 process and – as I owned a bike – was inquisitive on what the future of the business would look like,” he explained.
“I was riding with some friends practising for a charity fundraising ride in Massachusetts and talking about next steps, business, careers and passions.
“This put the proper thought in my mind while we’re out riding that some of the challenges Parlee faced in the past were things that I’ve done really well in my career.”
That discussion sowed the seed for potentially investing in Parlee, which Harrison initially dismissed.
“I then woke up at three o’clock in the morning and couldn’t sleep because I couldn’t get that thought out of my mind.
“I called Bob and Isabel [Parlee] the next day.
“The more I looked, the more I understood how the business had ended up here and I felt more confident that I had the right skills to be able to help the business go forward into its next chapter.”
Harrison’s affiliation with Parlee started after a recommendation from a local bike fitter.
“I didn’t really know much about the brand at the time [but] once I was able to get a test ride, I instantly loved it. It rode like nothing else that I had tried before,” he said.
“That’s when I started looking at what the brand was about and the passion for developing bikes that rode with a real high degree of both performance and comfort.
“I also like the craftsmanship of the brand. This wasn’t an off the shelf, well known mega brand that everybody else was riding. It was a little bit unique. It had a story, a personality.
“I felt like there were people making these bikes that I could relate to. And I felt like there was a level of passion in the brand and in the product I was acquiring that I didn’t see represented in the other brands that were available in my local bike shop.”
Family business
Parlee was founded by Bob and Isabel Parlee in 2000 with a simple but lofty goal: to build the best bikes in the world.
Both have played an integral part to Parlee’s success and the plan is for Bob to continue doing what he loves – designing and developing bikes.
“I can’t say enough good things about both of them,” said Harrison. “They are kind, warm, genuine, generous people. The most wonderful souls that you could wish to spend time with.
“Bob has some genius characteristics. He likes to be hands-on with his craft. He wants to be drawing all the time and then go and spend time in the workshop and making things.
“I think that’s always been a part of Parlee. I walk around the building here, we’ve got old frames in the building that date back to 2000 before the business even launched and they’re magical. It’s like this history book of craft.
“You can see how he’s evolved his own style and continued to hone and improve his process over the years and you really see that represented in the brand and the product.”
Harrison also had a special mention for Isabel’s contribution to Parlee.
“Isabel is amazing,” he said. “She’s managed to assemble a really incredible team of people.
“I’ve only been here a month or so officially and I’ve been continually impressed at the quality of people here and the passion. There’s a good, happy vibe of people here who really care about this company and the bikes that they’re making.
“Every bike that goes out here gets reviewed, looked at and studied by everybody.
“There’s a real care and attention placed on everything that goes out the door because it’s their name on it, it’s their personal identity on every frame. It’s a really cool experience that you don’t see in many businesses.”
This year has been difficult for the staff at Parlee. Chapter 11 status naturally left many awaiting answers on their career prospects as the future of the brand remained undecided.
Harrison paid tribute to those employees and sees them as one of the company’s biggest assets moving forward.
“It’s been a tough haul but the folks that are here have weathered the storm because they really give a damn about what they’re doing.
“They had trust and faith that the brand would continue and it would survive whatever challenges were put in front of it.”
Building blocks
With the business and its staff now looking ahead rather than to the past, Parlee is preparing to ramp up in 2024.
“We’re moving fast at the moment.” explained Harrison. “We have to be careful that we’re not running too fast, but we feel like we’ve got a lot of catching up.
“We’ve got a ton of activity here that has been bubbling away on the surface just waiting to be let go for a while.
“I think that energy and excitement about what we’ve got planned for 2024 – and being able to finally realise some of these projects that had been in the wings for a while – is helping buoy everybody.”
Part of this will be updating the product line-up, something that has been in the works since before the Chapter 11 filing.
“I think that we’ve been in the market with an incomplete product portfolio for a while. There are some things in the portfolio that are also ready for a little breath of fresh air.
“Some of our bikes are amazing and have a lot of juice left in them but there are others that I think are ready for some new air.”
A key part of this is ensuring that dealers are still looked after – something that Harrison sees as crucial to maintaining Parlee’s position in the market.
“At a high level, you’ll see us really focused on building out a portfolio of bikes that we make available for our dealers to sell, making sure that those are offered at a margin level that they can make a good living.
“We think that’s very important.
“And that’s a lot of responsibility on us to make sure that we’re driving costs in the right areas to be able to retain quality and performance and what the brand stands for and continue to appeal to the buyer that we always have and also create an opportunity for our dealers to make a living.”
One element of Parlee that will always remain is the brand’s focus on producing a premium product.
“There’s absolutely no question that we will continue to focus on the high end,” said Harrison.
“We’re a high craft product. It is something special and unique.
“We’ll continue to stay focused on that space, but within that market, I think there’s still an opportunity for us to expand the scope of what we’re delivering.”
Dealer relationships
As Harrison has already alluded to, IBDs will play a fundamental part in Parlee’s future.
“We’ve made it very clear that we’re 100% committed to a dealer channel and IBD distribution.
“We’re not online selling, we’re not going direct-to-consumer, we’re 100% dealer focused.
“The relationship that we have with our dealers is to ensure that the product on the floor represents the different types of customers that have come into their store.”
In the early weeks of his tenure as CEO, Harrison has begun engaging with IBDs and he has been “quite surprised” at the positive attitude from the majority.
“We’ve had dealers in our books that have had their best year with us ever in 2023. And these are not new dealers, these are folks that have been working with us for years.
“As you sit down and speak with them about their forecast for ‘24, they’re extremely positive.
“That’s not a universal truth, but overall I think that the trend and optimism is definitely noticeable.”
Within those discussions, Harrison has also noted the warm and positive response to him becoming CEO.
“I think folks are delighted that there’s a future for Parlee and the people that they know here,” he explained.
“Like with any change, I think there’s a little bit of cautious optimism. I’m a new guy so I think there’s a fair amount of ‘let’s wait and see what he does’ and I think that’s a totally reasonable and fair position.
“Our joint actions over the course of the coming months will speak a lot louder than any words we can use, but I think it’s been very positive.”
Dealer enquiries can be emailed to: sales@parleecycles.com
