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specialized allez sprint comp disc
it appears that the appending of disc brakes to contemporary road bicycles has not only increased their mechanical complexity, but also that of the naming procedure. where once this bicycle may simply have been referred to as a specialized allez, its purported suitability for cirterium racing, as witnessed by peter sagan choosing to ride the frameset at the tour down under, has added the word sprint in front of comp, the latter presumably referring to an innate ability to be competitive in that particular genre of road-racing. the suffix of disc, is likely self explanatory.
aluminium probably never quite reached the pinnacle of its career prior to being almost totally supplanted by the black stuff. marco pantani was aboard an aluminium bianchi during the superlative (and latterly infamous) 1998 portion of his career. but in the years that followed, carbon ultimately took the upper hand. this state of affairs has led to a modern generation of the pelotonese who will scarcely give aluminium a second look, aided and abetted by carbon-framed bicycles that easily undercut the price of this specialized.
that, however, would surely make us guilty of judging a book by its cover? while carbon has been interminably developed year on year, aluminium has scarcely been resting on its laurels. this specialized allez frame makes no attempt to hide its provenance, presented as it is in its more or less raw state under the clearcoat. however, rather than polish its surface to a reflective gleam, specialized have given it a satin, brushed appearance, one that is particularly pleasing to the eye. this is augmented with sky-blue painted carbon forks with chrome detailing, carried through to the forks' inner surface.
subtle.
the seatstays, which follow the modern trend of meeting the seat tube several centimetres below the top tube juncture (and i can find no specific engineering reason for so doing - it appears to be based more in aesthetics) are also painted that selfsame shade of blue on their outward face. that leaves only the blue specialized lettering and logo to finish off this rather sleek and minimalist look.
according to a graphic at the rear of the top tube, the e5, hydroformed aluminium frame benefits from d'aluisio smartweld sprint technology which, i believe, has re-thought the weld spots on the frame, allowing the strategic placement of more material to aid the common buzzwords, stiffness and compliance. this is most noticeable just above the bottom bracket region, where the latter joins the large downtube and seat-tube. the welding at that point could hardly be described as svelte, but it does offer substantial confidence that nothing's likely to fall apart anytime soon. and though the review model featured a mechanical groupset, the internal cable-routing lends itself to upgrading to electrons, if such is your jam.
possibly the most notable feature of the allez frame is the contoured seat tube, which is trendily aero-flat, and features a cutout to accommodate the rear wheel. that flattened tube, unfortunately, in my opinion, results in the need for a similarly tear-drop shaped seatpost, sourced from the s-works venge. while this does complement the rest of the bike, it essentially means that the seatpost aftermarket is not one of which you can take advantage. and though seatposts are not particularly prone to breakage, i think i'd add the cost of a new one onto your bike budget and get a second one at point of purchase. in ten years' time, specialized might not keep stock. it's held in place by a two-bolt angled collar, applying equal pressure to each side of the post.
though the majority of the groupset is sourced from shimano's 105 range, including front and rear mechs, sti levers and those disc calipers, the external bottom bracket bearing cups and chainset are from santa cruz-based praxis components. the front rings comprise the current flavour of compact: 36/52. those are matched with an eleven-speed cassette ranging from 11- 28. specialized are also particularly diligent when it comes to braking, specifying a 160mm rotor up front and 140mm at rear. these are affixed to a pair of dt swiss r470 wheels, featuring cartridge bearing hubs.
along with the previously mentioned seatpost, the toupé sport saddle, shallow drop alloy bars and forged alloy stem are sourced in-house at specialized, as is the bar tape. the tyres are specialized turbo pro 26mm. retail models do come replete with nylon pedals, but i fitted a pair of clipless ritchey offroad pedals for the duration of the review.
though not exactly the same pantone colour, the blue detailing on the allez reminded the majority of my sunday morning peloton of the shade used by bruichladdich distillery on their building and regular branding. perhaps the two could offer a limited edition to go with their recently announced cycling kit.
going for a ride
just a matter of a few hundred metres south of bridgend village, several years ago now, there was a spate of vehicles sliding off the road into the adjacent ditch. i don't believe anyone was seriously harmed in such escapades in the undergrowth, but the road became the hapless scapegoat. though the cause was undoubtedly a simple case of folks driving too fast, the fact that a police car was amongst the victims, ultimately led to several portions of bendy road being laid with an increased friction, tactile surface that appears to have been applied in thin strips at right angles to the direction of travel.
when new, this was hardly noticeable, but now that the surface has seriously worn, that unkempt roadway engenders similar sensations to that of crossing a cattle-grid.
aluminium has never been amongst my favoured frame materials. its a metal that is considerably lighter than steel, but in order to achieve a similar strength and resilience, the tubes have to be of a substantially greater diameter. in the early days of plain-gauge aluminium alloy, riding such a frame was liable to loosen your fillings, unless you were of substantial build. all that has changed nowadays; hydroformed aluminium frames can be tuned almost as easily as altering the carbon layup in its plastic stable-mate. however, the prejudice acquired through riding aluminium back in the early 1990s has yet to leave the inner portions of my psyche. and riding the allez over the above mentioned tacky road surface, initially did little to dispel those thoughts.
in fact, my early outings on the specialized were nothing if not rather confusing. the bicycle would ride so smoothly over some surfaces, themselves not exactly billiard table flat, then i'd hit some poorly laid surface dressing (the road around coull farm near saligo, to be precise), and i'd be disconcertingly jiggled all over the place. such jiggling led to my unfairly castigating the saddle and its shaped seatpost; were it not for the fact that i really think i ought to review bicycles as they are sold, i'd have swapped the specialized saddle for a brooks cambium.
sadly, i don't have the facility to check the weight of any bicycle in the bike shed, but i'd be fibbing if i said the allez was in the featherweight class. it's not that it is worryingly heavy, but at first i thought the ride quality to be just a smidgeon on the harsh side and though i'm no longer a spring chicken, i did seem to find myself trailing a bit on the climbs, a fact that pride had me place squarely at the door of the bicycle's weight. there may, or may not be a certain degree of truth in that assertion, but ultimately, the blame would be better aimed at the dt swiss wheels. these are actually quite heavy and just a little bit 'dead' to the touch.
in order that i might satisfy this theory, i removed the stock wheels and replaced them with a pair of wheelsmith aluminium-rimmed aero hoops. so doing provided the allez with an altogether different personality, one that enhanced the frame's versatility, manouevrability and was fun to ride. i don't mind admitting that i'm a spoilt brat; all my own bicycles benefit from marvellous wheelsets. by comparison, on a road-bike at least, the dt swiss wheels are the allez's least attractive feature. however, i'd be the first to admit that all is relative. if you've saved your pennies for this bike, it's quite likely that you've not experienced the delights to be had from something considerably more expensive. therefore, it's not that the dt swiss wheels are bad, it's just that more money buys you better.
in point of fact, this can be considered a good thing, for after a year or so riding the allez and saving more pennies for a wheel upgrade, the aluminium frame will still be eager and waiting to accede to your demands. much has been made of peter sagan's decision to race this frame in the tour down under criterium race. cynics would have you believe that this was specialized's marketing at work. but kitted out with top-level componentry, the allez is an absolute delight and unlikely to hinder the progress of the three-time world champion.
though i'm certainly not quick enough to achieve the promised benefits of an aero frame, the flat seat tube and seatpost do seem to collect more than their fair share of belgian toothpaste. how it sticks to such a smooth, flat surface is anyone's guess. this is not, however, a criticism, merely an observation and it's easily wiped off.
specialized, in common with others, feature a bigger disc rotor up front than at the rear, based on the rather obvious fact that hitting the brakes late and hard, will transfer amost all the weight forward. i can testify to the efficacy of that choice, having met a delivery van ascending as i descended at speed round a blind corner, in the pouring rain. to be honest, i was looking for somewhere soft to fall, but my pride and person were saved by the effectiveness of shimano's 105 hydraulic disc system. this too, adds to the overall weight of the bicycle, but since none of us have need of racing chris froome up the ventoux, disparaging the all-up weight would seem a tad childish. the sti levers still look as if there's a bit missing off the inside facing and the rightmost example was prone to rattling a bit when grabbing the drops or top of the bars. but hey...
i'm not a great fan of the indexing on shimano's left lever. no matter how that front mech is adjusted, it always seems to incur chain rub at some point of the equation. however, this example of 105 seemed less prone than some others i've ridden, but as usual, the rear shifting was well-nigh impeccable. mind you, there were one or two occasions when i longed for a 34 inner ring, but i think that's more an age thing that will come to us all eventually.
i cannot thank specialized enough for their propensity to lend review models for a few more weeks than is common. if i'd had to write my review of the allez based on only three-weeks of riding and confined to the stock wheelset, i'd have completely missed what a marvellous bicycle this actually is. no longer will i be so keen to deny the benefits of an alumimium frame and once you realise what the bicycle is capable of achieving, you'll be congratulating yourself on a choice purchase.
the replacement wheels featured specialized turbo cotton 28mm rubber, and i do wonder why the stock tyres are 2mm narrower. but even the latter would be a relatively inexpensive, yet worthwhile upgrade. there's no denying that the majority of modern-day bicycles are built to a price-point, with judicious savings being made to keep the numbers on the hang-tag as low as possible. however, specialized have acquitted themselves well in this respect, offering a highly recommended frame (which is available to purchase separately in both road and track guise) with a set of components that can easily be upgraded when they wear out or when you budget allows.
straight out of its (enormous) cardboard box, this is still an impressive bicycle, one that continued to reveal more of its innate characteristics as we became firm friends. suffice it to say, that the allez sits at the front of thewashingmachinepost bike shed with a smile on its face.
and i have the same smile.
specialized allez sprint comp disc
sunday 27 january 2019
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