Nate Plant — Sales & Relations
Evolution | Parlee
“There’s a hallmark ride quality that I usually describe as quiet. The bike disappears underneath you. You’re not thinking about noises or harshness or what the bike is doing—you’re just riding. What’s important is that this feel carries across the entire lineup. A Z1 rides like a Z5 rides like an RZ7. We work really hard to maintain that consistency. When we launched the RZ7, I had a longtime partner tell me—almost emotionally—that it rode like his Z-Zero. That meant everything to us.”
Nate Plant is Parlee’s Regional Sales Manager, overseeing the East Coast as well as Europe and the UK. Before joining Parlee, Plant ran a Boston-area bike shop that was itself a longtime Parlee dealer, giving him years of firsthand experience selling, fitting, and riding Parlees. He has spent nearly a decade at the company, bridging the internal culture of the factory with the external realities of the market. From dealer selection to customer education, Plant’s role hinges on translating Parlee’s values into relationships rather than volume. He speaks candidly about ride quality, brand mystique, and why Parlee would rather be small and understood than everywhere.
Can you start by explaining your role at Parlee and how sales is structured?
I’m one of two regional sales managers. Cary Tatro handles the western U.S., Australia, and Asia. I cover everything east of the Mississippi, plus the UK and Europe. We joke that our territories are hemispheres. That’s kind of a theme you’ll hear from everyone here—we’re small, and we’ve always been small. We’re used to that, and at this point we wouldn’t want it any other way.
How do you think about where Parlee shows up in the world? Is the goal broad coverage or something more selective?
It’s always been organic. We do target certain markets when it makes sense, but we’ve always been very particular about who we work with. Sometimes, honestly, we’d rather do without than partner with someone who doesn’t really represent the brand.
Because we’re small, we rely heavily on our partners to tell our story—to recommend Parlee, to educate customers. We don’t have the marketing horsepower where people just walk in asking for the bike because they saw it win the Tour or because it’s everywhere on Instagram. That means a shop has to want to be an advisor, not just a retailer leaning on hype.
Parlee is the original fit- and ride-quality-forward brand. How does that land in today’s market, where everyone claims comfort and performance?
When Bob started the company 25 years ago, carbon bikes were light and stiff and pretty miserable to ride. That was our starting point: ride quality first.
Now, everyone says their bikes ride well. Everyone says they fit well. So we have to go a step further and explain why our bikes do—what’s actually happening structurally and materially. There are technical reasons for it. It’s not just marketing language.
Our bikes are meant to grow with you as a rider. That’s something that’s hard to explain quickly, but it matters a lot over time.
How long have you been at Parlee, and what was your relationship to the brand before that?
I’m into my ninth year now—I started in the fall of 2017. Before that, I ran a shop just outside Boston for about eight years, and we were a Parlee dealer. So I knew Bob and Isabel, Tom, Rommel, Lyndall—all of them—from that side of the counter.
When the opportunity came up to join the company, I took it and haven’t looked back.
How has the company changed since Bob’s passing and with new ownership?
In terms of principles, goals, and product philosophy—very little. Operationally, a lot.
Bob and Isabel weren’t just founders; they were like parents to a lot of us. But that didn’t always mean we were dialed operationally.
With John coming in, there’s been a huge step forward in systems—IT infrastructure, procurement, logistics, organization. It’s allowed us to be better at what we were already trying to do. And the transition itself was incredibly organic. John was a customer. I sold him a bike years ago. Bob was still deeply involved right up until the end—there was a design meeting two weeks before he passed.
This kind of transition doesn’t usually go well in cycling. For us, it really has been a fairytale.
Bob’s illness lasted several years. How did that period affect the company internally?
It was about four or five years. He told the team around late 2020 or early 2021. We’d encouraged him to share it—we wanted him to feel the love and support from the people he’d influenced—but that wasn’t his style. He always called himself an old Yankee. He just wanted to keep working.
He ran the business through bankruptcy and through the pandemic while he was very sick. After he passed, the outpouring from the industry was overwhelming. People we didn’t even realize he’d influenced reached out. That legacy hits differently now. When we release a new product, it’s not just another bike—it’s an extension of what he started.
In your words, what makes a Parlee a Parlee?
The way they ride. That’s the simplest answer.
There’s a hallmark ride quality that I usually describe as quiet. The bike disappears underneath you. You’re not thinking about noises or harshness or what the bike is doing—you’re just riding.
What’s important is that this feel carries across the entire lineup. A Z1 rides like a Z5 rides like an RZ7. We work really hard to maintain that consistency. When we launched the RZ7, I had a longtime partner tell me—almost emotionally—that it rode like his Z-Zero. That meant everything to us.
How would you describe the internal culture that supports that outcome?
It sounds cheesy, but it’s a family. It really is.
For over 20 years, it literally was a family business. And now, we’re in a place where there aren't any passengers. There aren’t transplants cycling through brands. The core team has been here forever. Rommel and Tom are essentially employees three and four. People stayed through Chapter 11. Nobody looked for other jobs. We just said, “This has to work.”
That loyalty isn’t strategic—it’s instinctive. We look out for each other. We’re transparent. Everyone understands what everyone else does, even if we can’t do it ourselves. That empathy makes a huge difference.
How does Parlee’s New England location factor into all of this?
The roads, first of all. That informs everything.
Chebacco—the gravel bike—that’s literally named after the frost-heaved gravel road between Tom’s house and the factory. That was our test loop. These aren’t abstractions.
There’s also a blue-collar, old-Yankee sensibility. Thoughtfulness with materials. Efficiency. No pretense. The building itself is an old railroad turnstile. Where the train spun around is now the paint booth. It’s not a showroom—it’s a working factory.
We like it that way.
From a sales and brand perspective, how are you positioning Parlee today?
We’re learning to be more unapologetic. There are off-the-shelf bikes selling for $17,000, $18,000, $19,000 now. If someone is willing to spend that, why not consider a bike made specifically for you?
We’ve also shifted language. “Custom” can feel intimidating. We talk more about “bespoke” or “made-to-measure.” These bikes aren’t just for very tall or very short people—they’re for anyone who wants something with soul and personality.
The product always comes first. We’ll market it, but we won’t compromise it. We’re terrified of becoming a brand that just licenses its name. That will never happen here.
If there’s one thing you hope people understand about Parlee, what is it?
That we care. Deeply.
There are twelve of us. Everything that leaves the building is personal. If something isn’t right, people stay late to fix it. That matters when you’re asking someone to trust you with a bike at this level.
Parlee is a high-performance bicycle manufacturer headquartered in Beverly, Massachusetts.
Written by Chessin Gertler with Nate Plant | Photography by Chessin Gertler