The BEST Gravel Bike of 2025 Is…

The gravel bike category has evolved more than any other – and 2025 is no exception. Dozens of gravel bikes were in the frame, but only two could make the final cut.

Warren Rossiter pitches the Parlee Taos against the Mondraker Arid Carbon RR in our 2025 Gravel Bike of the Year finalists duel.

Bike of the Year 2025 is supported by Auto-Trail. Head to https://www.auto-trail.co.uk/ for more details about their range, including the cycling-specific Auto-Trail Expedition 68, which features a purpose-built bike garage.

00:00 Intro
01:00 Introducing the Mondraker Arid
01:58 Introducing the Parlee Taos
04:13 Geometry
05:47 The Builds
08:23 Ride Impressions
12:14 The Winner Is…

Listen to the BikeRadar Podcast
→ https://www.bikeradar.com/bikeradar-podcast/

Follow BikeRadar on our social media channels:
→ https://instagram.com/bikeradar
→ https://facebook.com/bikeradar
→ https://twitter.com/bikeradar

BikeRadar is supported by Mountain Biking UK and Cycling Plus Magazine –For more information and to subscribe please visit
→ https://bit.ly/3nMr3Rn

For more content like this see our latest subscription offer –
→ https://www.cyclingplus.com/subscribe-today/
→ https://www.mbuk.com/subscribe-today/

2025 has been a huge year for gravel. We’ve seen tire widths grow. The emergence of distinct race bikes incorporating aerodynamics alongside more evolved geometry. The range of bikes is widening too. The adventurous bike packing machine sitting alongside trail capable full suspension options. And there’s lightweight aero bikes that wouldn’t look out of place on the road if it weren’t for their big volume treaded rubber. I’ve been impressed with so many bikes from Rondo with a radical looking route, Willia’s slick and speedy rave SLR ID2, Cannondale’s Evolution of its Topstone and the Super X. Plus, we still have great old favorites like Santa Cruz Stigmata, La Sagler, and Giants Revolt and the Revolt X. But two bikes have stood head and shoulders above the rest I’ve tested throughout 2025. Both bring progressive geometry, giving them the handling chops to handle technical trails. Both are built light yet offer big 50 mil tire clearances and both have nods towards aerodynamics alongside their go anywhere outlook. The two bikes I’ve chosen for 2025’s gravel bike of the year head-to-head shootout are Mondrek’s Arid Carbon R and Parley’s Taos. With the Arid, the designers of Mondreker have built a bike to master the challenges of an arid terrain. That means it’s rocky, loose, and ruted. A bike that can stay on track and get grip where traction can be in an absolute minimum. The Arid Frames construction is all about off-road. That means stiffness at the bottom bracket and at the head tube and that unique back end where you’ve got this spar-like triangulated seat stay to seat tube junction. It’s all about compliance. That’s enhanced by the carbon layup under the skin. Mondrek have also fully rooted the hoses internally, keeping them out of the way of bags and snags and adding to its aero efficiency. There’s clearance for 50 mm tires, top tube mounts, three bottle mounts, triple fork mounts, and down tube storage, which just makes it so bike packing friendly. And with that UDH rear dropout and draia hanger that future proofs the frame. Finishing things off is a threaded T47 bottom bracket. Though the Arid unlike the Parley Taos, is designed for one by drivetrains only. PI the Massachusetts based carbon bike builders has a decade of experience building gravel bikes since the original gravel stroke all-roader Chewbacca. Compared to its predecessor, the frame is longer with this massively sloping top tube. It’s got a slacker head angle, 50 mm tire clearances, and a torsionally stiffer frame construction. Yet, it has more compliance. Pari claims that this makes the Taos their fastest yet most forgiving gravel bike today. The frame has been configured with a monot construction. This uses a blend of unidirectional carbon fibers to create a meticulously crafted frame and it has a weight claimed to be under 980 grams for a size 56. Parlay has chosen to leave this frame set in its raw carbon finish with just a coating of wax. So no worries when it comes to chips and scratches to the paintwork. Simply buff and then rewax and it’ll look as good as new. Like the Arid, the Teaos gets down tube storage, a UDH rear dropout, and a T47th threaded bottom bracket. It’s also suspension corrected as is the Arid. The difference with the Taos is it does have two compatibility and it’s got a fork with a flip chip dropout enabling you to steepen the head angle and shorten the trail making the TAS more road friendly than just pure gravel. Before we go any further, I’m going to take a minute to tell you about Autotrail and the Expedition 68, a purpose-built camper van for cyclists. This year’s bike of the year couldn’t have been possible without the support of Autotrail, the UK’s leading motor home and camper van manufacturer. Autotrail has more than 40 years of experience pushing boundaries, embracing cuttingedge technologies, and designing solutions to enhance the van life experience. And the good news for you as a rider, Autotrail’s Expedition 68 range is designed with gravel riders in mind. The range includes three models, all with an integrated bike garage and pullout bike trays. It’s a no compromised camper van for cyclists who want to head out onto the open road to explore new terrain and with convenience and comfort. With 140 brake horsepower engine as standard, 200 watt solar panels, a 75 A leisure battery, and a pop top roof option, the Expedition 68 is designed to unleash your sense of adventure. Head to autotrail.co.uk for more information or click the link in the description. Thanks again to Autotrail for sponsoring this year’s bike of the year test. Now, back to the video. Even though our two finalists are pitched somewhat differently, they have a lot in common when it comes to geometry. The Montre Aids inspiration comes from their mountain bike forward geometry, which means a very long reach of 423 mm. Parley with the Teaos has chosen to go a little shorter at 417. Compare that to a classic racy gravel bike like Giants Revolt in the same size, and it’s much much longer than that bike’s 393 mil. The Mandreker is designed to be used with an 80 mm stem and the Pari with a 90 mil, which means the onike riding reach is drawn closer by just 4 mm between them. When it comes to stack, our two contenders have a little bit more difference. The Arid is lower at 613 and the Teaos at 620. The front ends are completed with both bikes having slacker head angles to cope with rough surfaces. The Arid comes with a 70° angle and the Teaos takes things a little further at 69.5. These both inform the trail of the fork which has a bearing on the steering responses. The Mandreo with its 45mm fork offset running a 45mm tire gives a long 83 mm trail. The Pari because of the flip chip can be run with the same 45mm offset or 51 mm. That means a trail of 85 mm or 81 mm sitting either side of the arid. When it comes to geometry, there really isn’t much to choose between them. Only Parley’s Flip Chip gives the opportunity to roadify the ride a little. That’s if you switch to narrower tires and on a shorter offset. [Music] Both bikes are nominally built around Stram’s Force Axis Explore group set. Though Parley has chose to go down the mullet route, combining its force shifters and chain set with an exo eagle accessis transmission derailia and cassette. That means the arid gets a standard and broad 10 to 44 cassette and a 40 to chain ring. The tea, meanwhile, gets a very wide 1052 cassette paired with a larger 42 to chain ring. Now, because of the timing of Stram’s new Force Expo, which came out after I’d received both of these bikes, these test models are running the previous D2 generation of Force. Both Mandreker and Parley assure us that both bikes will now feature the new E1 Force Axis and Force Explore axis. That means it will feature the updated shifter shape, the new chain set, and in the case of the Arid, the new rear draia and cassette 2. Now, when it comes to rolling stock, Mondreker has gone with a classic gravel approach with Mavic’s lowprofile 1,521 g all-road pro carbon SL wheels. Pari, however, has gone down the wide, deep arrow route by using Zips 303 Explore S. These 54 mm deep arrow wheels have a very wide 32mm internal width and come with the Goodyear Zip Collaboration gravel tires in a 45 mm width. Now, these come up closer to 48 millimeters on the wide zip rim at my preferred tire pressures. Monrea has used Maxis Reaver tires in the same 45 millimeter width, though on the Mavics, these come up a little narrower than the zips, as the Orroad has just a 25 mm internal measurement. Parley has used FSA’s well-shaped KF Force AGX carbon bar paired with FSA’s SMR2 stem. The stem is 90 mm and the bar is 42 cm wide, though with a 25° flare that pushes the bar out to a very wide 46 cm at the drop. Now, the bar has a subtle rise from the stem too, adding to the Taos’s slightly more upright position. Mondreker has used their own brand on-off components with a semi-integrated 80 mm stem and the on-off S9 GR carbon bar. The bar has a good 16° flare and a nice compact drop. The tops are flattened into an narrow profile and with a width of 46 cm on my large test bike, they thankfully haven’t been tempted down the narrow bar trend. Both use their own branded carbon steep host and while the Montre has opted for an old favorite with physique Terra Argo X5 saddle, Parley has the rarely seen Urggon SR Allroad Core Pro carbon saddle. For the Parley, that means a complete weight of 8.82 kilos and the Monrea is a little more at 9.09 kilos. With the Mandrea Arid’s low and slack angled and longreach design, on paper, it looks like a bike that wouldn’t be great for the road. Now, thankfully, my initial reservations about it onroad performance are mostly unfounded. Whilst it’s no race bike on tarmac, it’s capable of being hustled along at a decent enough pace. Yeah, it does take a little bit more effort to get the area to behave through fast road corners, that slack head angle, fat tires, and lower front end lead to a little bit of under steer. It also gives the feeling of needing a little more effort to maintain speed. I’ve experienced far far less capable rowdy gravel bikes on the road. However, where the relaxed geometry pays dividends, aside from on technical descents, is on low traction steep climbs. The long fork and relaxed head angle mean the front tire tracks and it isn’t unsettled by ruts and lumps. It’s a great climbing companion when it comes to dirt, especially tight single track uphill trails. The Mavic wheels ride with a lightness and zip, which is enhanced by the excellent Maxis Rever tires, which have fast become a favorite of mine for dry summer gravel riding. The Mandreker can’t quite hold the pace of the Parley Teaos on smoother gravel and tarmac. Once you get into the wild, the arid carbon RR shows its capability and its appetite for challenging technical terrain. On my favorite gravel test route, there’s plenty of single track through the woods that starts out straight and fast, but quickly transitions into a tight twisty descent with lots of natural sweeping turns. Both bikes impressed me here, but it was the Arid that had the edge. It felt that bit tamer when it came to tight turns, drops, and lots of rooty off-c campber sections. Now, the Teaos flowed beautifully through the twists and turns, but it just took a little bit more of my attention when it came to some of the steeper sections and the tighter, narrower turns. I’d like to try out both bikes with a dropper post just to add that little bit more maneuverability when it comes to steeper drops. Now, the lower bottom bracket than a mountain bike gives both bikes stability on gravel roads, but it can be an issue on more technical terrain. I did manage to strike a pedal on a large route aboard the Arid when pedaling through a particularly rooty, rocky section of single track. Now, the Arid’s bottom bracket at 269 mm is only a couple millime lower than the Teaos’s. So, you’ll definitely need to be aware that this could be issue when riding on rougher terrain for both. Now, on a mountain bike, you’ll find a bottom bracket height, more commonly around 40 mm higher at 310 mm plus. Now, I won’t hold this against the Arid or the Teaos. The fact that I felt confident enough to take both onto pure mountain bike trails pays testament to just how good the handling is on both bikes. Overall, the Teaos is close to matching the Aris performance on technical train, though it just loses out as it takes a little more hustling into single track corners at speed because of its marginally taller front end. The frame and fork do have ample compliance that rolls over hardened tractor tracks and water bar ruts with a smoothness that on lesser bikes just erodess your energy and slows you down. Parley’s mullet approach to gearing choice suits the Taos 2 with a very wide gearing given a bottom end that’s the equivalent of a road bike’s 5012. In simple terms, it’s a low enough gear to help keep pace with road bike riding buddies on tarmac. Now, the lightest gear of 24 in is an inch lighter than the Mondreker 2. Not that on either bike you’re ever going to struggle to find a gear to get off the steepest off-road ramps. The Teaos and Arid are so close when it comes to getting way off-road that it really would only come down to personal preference on bar height. Now, where the difference is more marked is when it comes to everywhere else. The Teaos on smoother gravel roads, double track and tarmac just feels quick, much more so than the Arid. Now, it’s not up with the most arrow of gravel bikes such as Willia’s Rave SLRD2 or Cello’s Aspero 5 when it comes to tarmac. It is however the far superior allrounder. It’s worth noting that both the arid and the tea will be improved and lightened with the switch to new force. Lighter component weights, better ergonomics, and better braking. And the winner is the Parley Teaos. Now, the Teaos isn’t a gravel bike you can easily pigeon hole, and that’s a good thing. It’s light and agile enough to race, yet it’s stable and comfortable and smooth enough for bike packing. With versatility at its core and a flip chip in the fork, I could see myself using the Taos as both a gravel bike and even an endurance bike. It won’t disappoint in either trim. The Mandrek Aid is very, very close to the Pali. And with the Arid, I’m happy to pay a small penalty for efficiency on smooth gravel and tarmac when it comes to just how good it is on challenging and more exciting technical rides. It’s simply one of the most capable gravel bikes I’ve ever tested. It’s a more focused off-roader than the Teaos. is more guided towards the technical off-road. Even though the geometry is very similar, the Arid’s longer and lower ride position makes for a bike that’s much more at home where gravel bikes shouldn’t be. The Pari, however, just nudges out the Mandreka by being more of an allrounder, a more versatile proposition, even if it is more expensive. Now, it is expensive, and yes, that could be an issue, but I truly think with the Teaos, you’re getting what you pay for, and that’s one of the most capable and versatile gravel bikes of 2025. Thanks for watching. Let us know in the comments what you think of these bikes.