No they don't. And I didn't even have to read what you posted to know that. Maybe you should actually read it?

Jeez, you're not much fun, are you?! Do I need to edit that advert so that it's all in pink for you?!

Awesome. I'm happy to hear that. I have a CAAD that I like. Just thinking I would like to upgrade to something new and that Allez Sprint sure looks like a potential fit.

Do you think you would be happy with the Allez Sprint after a 80-100 mile ride? From the sounds of it, the ride isn't harsh at all. With proper wheels, tires and pressure, seems like it should be no big deal.

One thing is, I wish the cable routing was a little bit nicer. The RD cable entrance on downtube and exit on downtube looks a little out of place.

I'm probably the wrong guy to ask about comfort. I have done plenty of centuries on my old Cervelo Soloist team and this bike is way more comfortable than that in stock form. Coming from CAAD I doubt, but don't have any real basis for this, that you would have any problems.

The rear derailleur cable routing is probably my only niggle on the whole thing. I think they had to do it the way they did because of the way the bottom bracket is setup, but I'm not sure. The entrance up top isn't so bad, but the piece of cable housing that exits the downtube and goes to the chainstay is kinda annoying.

Are there any openings in the bottom bracket in case one wanted to run Di2 on the frame? Or maybe you haven't had the crank off yet?

I took the crank off to put a power meter. The whole thing is pretty open inside. The two halves are welded over a cylinder that I think has 3 cutouts in it. You could probably run a di2 cable all the way from the cable entrance to the hole in the drop out if you had the patience of a saint, a steady hand, and a wire fishing snake. I don't think there are any walls that would prevent you from doing it.....but it would def be a 3-4 beer job and involve words that you wouldn't want small people hearing. Having said that...it would be pretty damn sweet, but so would Red ETap with way less swearing.

Yeah SRAM eTap would be very nice. Just the price tag is much higher than a Shimano 6870 setup. Once eTap Force or Rival comes out, then I might be able to spring for it.

How do you like the 1x setup? I like the idea of that for crit racing, but for training and general riding I like 2x for the tighter gears. Do you feel the 1x has too large of jumps in hearing?

I really like the 1x stuff....it is eerily quiet and I've really grown to appreciate that part of it. The stock 'Expert' setup comes with a 50T front and a 11-32 rear. I've got an additional 11-28 on it right now. The 11-28 is single tooth gaps up to about the 17 I think which is perfectly livable. I live in an absurdly flat place where you could have welded the fr. derailleur on my last bike into the 53 and it would have taken me months to notice. Now I just don't have to feel guilty about cross chaining :)

Mark, is the "traditional competitor" that you tested against the regular Allez DSW? A CdA reduction of 0.015 m^2 is around 15 watts, correct?

In case anyone is interested: This is my Allez X1 build out with SRAM Force 1 and 52t and 10-42. It was under 16lbs with no pedals and uncut steerer tube. You can see frame and fork was 4lbs. I have since replaced the stem with a Zipp Sprint.

Out of curiosity what do you see as the advantage of the running 1X on this bike? The 10-42 cassette does offer a huge range but at the cost of a some pretty big jumps across the middle of the range. If you were racing crits and could get away with an 11-28 cassette I see where the 1X comes into its own, but by the time you need the wide range set-up I would have thought a traditional compact system would work better.

You are correct, if I was racing crits I'd have a much smaller cassette. The bike is setup this way because my Shiv is setup this way. So when I train on this bike, it's the same as my "race bike". I always hear the "big jumps" comment regarding the 1x setup. I have not noticed it racing or riding. The advantage of this setup (IMO) is the simplicity. Mechanically, it's one less thing on the bike to go wrong/need maintenance. I have dropped my chain during a race but that's not happening with this setup. Also, it's dead quiet. While riding, you just click up or down. That's it. No thinking if now is the time to move the front chainring, no loss of momentum. It's not for everyone I guess, but for me, it works.

I really like the aesthetics and overall concept of this bike. 1X drivetrain, giant downtube, and standard 64mm wheels... all great ideas as a straight up race bike. The polished frame, International orange accents and blacked out deep section wheels just looks bitchin. Specialized's alloy forming is cutting edge stuff, the shapes in this frame are incredible.

$3,750 for the Edition is a lot for a crashable crit bike, though. This bike is probably not ideal as a training bike. I'll bet aero section alloy + deep section carbon = buckboard ride. Buying the Edition would be a dedicated crit investment... Unsurprisingly, the lower end models are far less sexy.

Part of me really wants to go 1X in my TT rig as I am all for simplifying the bike for travel. I just don't have the self belief I have the power to make it work very well. It's probably a marketing/tradition thing but I feel nervous losing the little ring even though I realize 52x46 is a little gear.

Scott8888, you've got the power man, don't worry about it. My shiv has 50t and 10~42. I raced that at IMLT 70.3 in Sept and I was fine. Check out your current vs proposed gear ratios, you'll be surprised. I've never looked back.

Do you know if the 'Expert' model comes with a long cage or a Med cage? Heck, I've got one sitting in my car, how do I tell what it is?

I'm assuming you would have to do the long cage to get the 10-42 to work. I'm thinking about running that as an option for the one mountainous ride I do a year. A 50-42 is serious goat type gearing, and the 50-10 will be more than enough to get me in plenty of trouble on the way down.

As for this bike being livable day to day, I'm completely happy with it so far. It is way more comfortable than my old daily ride (Cervelo Soloist, Aluminum). I'll update it once I get the CLX 64's on it, but it should scream. I know some people will call me crazy for putting these wheels on it, but for my primary bike/race bike I think it is combo that will do me well far into the future, plus getting a pretty good deal on all of it doesn't hurt either.

What size frame did you go with? 56cm?

i'd think you could run a medium cage on the 10-42. Thats not too much chain length to make up with the single ring up front. I'm running a short cage X9 with a 50t front & 11-36 rear

pyrahna, you hit the nail on the head: "A 50-42 is serious goat type gearing, and the 50-10 will be more than enough to get me in plenty of trouble on the way down." This is exactly what I have found on my Shiv and this Allez with the 52t up front.

I also agree that this bike is fine day to day putting 100+ miles/week on it.

To answer your questions: I have the "long cage" on this bike to accommodate the 52t & 10~42. I do not know what the Expert comes with, sorry.

When you get a second, can you measure the distance between the centers of the pulleys on your long cage?

It is exactly 3" from center to center. I checked both on my Shiv and the Allez. I personally ordered the one on the Allez and I checked the box when it arrived, it is the "long cage". Hope that helps.

I have to disagree about the aesthetics being cutting edge or incredible - Lots of aluminum bikes have shaped aero-esque tubes. And in these BikeRadar pics of the Allez Sprint, the bottom bracket welds are especially lumpy for alloy, and the exposed center seam is just bizarre:



The head tube welds are even louder. If these are pics of finished frames, then I think Specialized created this alloy bike just to exaggerate the aesthetic advantages of carbon over welded alloy:



Cannondale had smooth, pretty welds decades ago. Even my lowly $600 2011 aluminum GT has a squoval-y downtube and tapered/shaped top tube, joined by nearly invisible welds throughout:

I am no expert but I believe the weld difference is that the Allez Sprint is using butt welds and not fillet welds. I also bet that the GT and Cannondale frames had someone sand the weld down prior to painting.


This one looks very nice:

So according to these pictures, there appears to be a large amount of variation in how obtrusive the welds are on the Allez Sprint - ranging from really ugly to reasonably ok.

But that weird center seam on the bottom bracket is consistent, and in my opinion, it's a total party foul. Wiping down the bike will push all kinds of nasty greasy sweaty gatoradey grime into that crevice - and in centuries of bike building, nobody else felt the need to place a seam/joint there - It looks like someone tack welded those halves together in their garage.