I recently built up a 2018 S-Works Venge Vias Disc, which has CLX 64 wheels (disc brakes).
I’m going to be racing crits this year and decided that I probably won’t race with this bike, since it’s too nice/expensive to potentially smash. Something cheaper would take some worry away. The 2nd bike would also be my “Crappy weather” bike.
I’m pretty set on getting a Specialized Allez Sprint for this purpose. I get 25% off new Specialized bikes so it will end up being very reasonable. I have to decide if I want to go with disc or rim brakes. It would be nice to throw the Roval CLX 64 wheels on the Allez and use those for my criterium races. In that case I would need to go with disc brakes.
Any reason I shouldn’t go with the disc version of the Allez so that I can throw the CLX64’s on it for certain races?
Would you go with rim brakes or disc?
I recently made the switch to a disc road bike with DA brakes. Went back to the old rim brake bike (also DA brakes) for a New Years Day ride and my first reaction was “damn, were my brakes really this bad?” after ~25 years on road rim brakes.
I adjusted just fine, but YMMV, and since in crits you tend to make very fine speed adjustments with the brakes rather than grabbing a fistful, rim brakes may actually be preferable, but if you want braking feel to be consistent between both bikes, that may be a reason to go disc on the second bike.
Other than buying my Venge which would be the obvious choice, the bigger question you should ask yourself is what is the chance of you crashing in the crit races that you will be doing? Some people crash a decent amount, in which case having a “crit bike” makes sense, others barely ever go down, in which case you should just race your #1 bike. Allez Sprint is a solid bike to ride and race on for sure.
Either way, you’ll want a spare set of wheels as neutral support rarely has thru-axle disc wheels handy.
The only reason I can see not to get the Allez is that, at least in my size (58), the geometry is not the same. In my case, both the head and top tubes are different lengths.
Dont race what you can’t afford to break.
Discs are becoming more and more common, but neutral support still isn’t there for them to the same level as rim brakes. If you’re OK bringing your own spare wheels that’s cool, it just starts to add up.
Sounds to me like you probably can afford to smash up stuff if you’re thinking about buying another new bike separate from an already nice bike, just for crits.
If you’re worried about it, cruise Craigslist for someone’s $800 used CAAD or a used Fuji of some kind. Go bash around the crits for a year and find out.
Lots of “hammer” local group rides crash more than crits because they are essentially a crit, but half the people don’t have racing “genes” and are “choppers” causing issues. You know, braking mid turn, hooking bars, can’t follow a wheel to save their life, too busy chatting when not pulling, didn’t call out that huge rock/hole.
By definition, if you are doing a crit and get a flat/mechanical, you can run to the pit area, swap your wheel out and get back on the next lap legally. This is fairly easy to do with a quick release wheel, but would definitely be more time consuming with disc wheels. But with practice it can be done.
Neutral support for road races and circuit races - Truth is, without a car convoy, you are probably not going to get back into the race after changing your wheel with neutral support whether it be quick release or disc, so this probably isn’t as big a deal.
I can say from many years of racing crits that half the crashes I had in crits not only scraped up my body/bike and shifters but also tended to either completely taco or at least bend one of the wheels out of alignment to some degree. So I’d probably not race high-end wheels if you plan to do a lot of crits.
By definition, if you are doing a crit and get a flat/mechanical, you can run to the pit area, swap your wheel out and get back on the next lap legally. This is fairly easy to do with a quick release wheel, but would definitely be more time consuming with disc wheels. But with practice it can be done.
Neutral support for road races and circuit races - Truth is, without a car convoy, you are probably not going to get back into the race after changing your wheel with neutral support whether it be quick release or disc, so this probably isn’t as big a deal.
I can say from many years of racing crits that half the crashes I had in crits not only scraped up my body/bike and shifters but also tended to either completely taco or at least bend one of the wheels out of alignment to some degree. So I’d probably not race high-end wheels if you plan to do a lot of crits.
I was about to answer this. My advice is get a used rim brake bike and some resonable alloy rim wheels, which brake a lot better and more predictably than carbon.
If you’re dead set on getting a rain/crit bike then definitely get one with discs so you can swap wheels between the 2 (which is actually the reason that I WON’T be switching over to discs anytime soon)
That said, I can’t imagine starting a race knowing i’m leaving free speed (that I have full access to) just because I don’t trust myself and others to not crash. Race the Venge!
I have a Specialized Allez Sprint SL DSW (Aluminum frame). It is a great crit bike, I actually won a prime on it my first race with it;) It has the S-works fork and seatpost on a $1500 complete bike, good value. That being said, most of the OEM on this bike is pretty low end, I upgraded to a Campy Chorus group and put some real wheels on it.
In short, you will not get a better crit bike for the money.
Truth is, without a car convoy, you are probably not going to get back into the race after changing your wheel with neutral support whether it be quick release or disc, so this probably isn’t as big a deal.
It may be improbable, but I’ve done it twice (as a pure amateur). At Sea Otter and CA District champs. The neutral support drafted me back into the field each time. It’s certainly possible, but it does require a savvy neutral support.
I recently built up a 2018 S-Works Venge Vias Disc, which has CLX 64 wheels (disc brakes).
I’m going to be racing crits this year and decided that I probably won’t race with this bike, since it’s too nice/expensive to potentially smash. Something cheaper would take some worry away. The 2nd bike would also be my “Crappy weather” bike.
I’m pretty set on getting a Specialized Allez Sprint for this purpose. I get 25% off new Specialized bikes so it will end up being very reasonable. I have to decide if I want to go with disc or rim brakes. It would be nice to throw the Roval CLX 64 wheels on the Allez and use those for my criterium races. In that case I would need to go with disc brakes.
Any reason I shouldn’t go with the disc version of the Allez so that I can throw the CLX64’s on it for certain races?
Would you go with rim brakes or disc?
I’m not going to say it can’t happen. . . but I’ve crashed my Madone many times and haven’t broken either my frame nor my wheels. Most of the crashes are over quick and not that bad (not like the nasty ones you see at the world tour level). Sure there are some nasty ones too. . . but I haven’t thought once about not racing my carbon bike and wheels.
All that said. . . the road bike market is very much moving away from rim brakes. . . I wouldn’t buy a rim brake bike at this point unless I had some significant money invested in rim brake wheel sets (which in my case is an unfortunate truth).