I’ve never owned a modern road bike. Always wanted one, but the thought of shaving my legs and wearing lycra and click clack shoes always stopped me.
I had a steel Europa road bike as a kid, loved it. Years later I bought and restored an 80’s Paino road bike, still have it and love it, but a recent ride on it just made me realise just how old school it is. The brakes just don’t work (it makes sense that modern road bikes now use hydraulic disc brakes) and the non-SIS gear shifting on the downtube is just whack (I just left it in a one gear for most of the ride!).
Steel is real and I spent weeks planning a fast modern steel road bike build, but I thought that maybe it’s time for me to drop the stubbornness, well, not all of it, but what about an aggressive aluminium road bike? It would be stiff, fast, heavier than carbon but lighter than steel. Yeah I felt like I was onto something. A bit different, a little naughty. A little rebellious.
Enter the Specialized Allez.
The Specialized Allez Sprint is an aluminium race bike made for crit racing and it has a world wide cult following. It’s basically a carbon Specialized Tarmac SL7 made with alloy and holy shit the welds on it are gnarly, so gnarly that it’s the main criticism by most.
Specialized says: The Allez Sprint is the fastest alloy road bike in history, thanks to the time its sibling, the Tarmac SL7, spent in the wind. It’s details like the most complex alloy head tube we’ve ever made and integrated cables that make it 41 seconds faster over 40km than the previous Allez Sprint. That’s a hell of a facelift. With 41 seconds, you’d have a podium picture in your Insta feed, just saying.
That’s pretty cringe marketing talk, but I’ve done enough research on the bike to know that the geometry is about as aggressive as you can get for a road bike and those who own one love it for it’s speed and power transfer.
The hunt was on but there were none in my size in stock anywhere in the country. I looked daily and finally found one on sale at Epic Cycles in Queensland for $3,200 down from $4,200. Even with the sale that’s huge money for an alloy frame with previous gen mechanical Shimano 105 but this build was never going to be about value for money!
How the Allez Sprint looked on day #1. The super thin, heavy, cheap and nasty rims had to be the first thing to go!
At this stage I was still super stubborn about avoiding lycra and click-clack shoes so these Adidas Velosambas and MTB XTR pedals were perfect to get me going.
The first few rides out were super disapointing as the bike didn’t at all live up to the hype. I just felt that it was far from fast. I figure it was a combination of the heavy 105 groupset and also the heavy and super thin wheelset so I started hunting down some wheels.
Bike mechanic Sam at CCACHE. Trying on a 100m -12 degree stem.
I bought a size 49 which is one size down from the recommended size of 52 (I’m 169cm). I dropped in to my LBS to swap out the short 80mm stem for a 100m -12 degree Kalloy Uno V2 stem. As a retired graphic designer I live by “less is more”, so I absolutely love how clean integrated cables look on modern bikes. Although the Allez has partial cable integration, the sight of 4 cables going from the bars under the stem and into the headset really gave me the shits every time I rode the bike.
Go wide or go home? I bought a set of ENVE Foundation 65’s. Not super light at 1652g, but lighter than the anemic OEM rims.
Dark side of the Force.
I see Helvetica. I buy. Got these carbon cages from AliExpress. They’re crazy light, look and work well, but something doesn’t feel right (I hope they’re not a knock-off of another brand?).
At this stage the bike was hefty at 8.65kgs and I really wanted to address that. I rode the bike enough to know the frame was worth it. IE: I had to be sure I liked the bike before going all out on it.
I decided to stop stalking new Canyon Aeroad’s and S-WORKS Tarmac SL8’s and instead go all out on my Allez Sprint.
The deep dish ENVE wheels I put on the bike made the bike look, feel and sound so much faster which confirmed for me that the frame is awesome (and worth it!). As much as I like the concept of mechanical Shimano 105 being the groupset of the people, in reality it’s heavy and despite the Allez having semi-integrated cables the sight of the 4 cables around the stem was doing my head in so I thought I’d give electronic shifting a go.
I decided to go 1x for weight savings (from removing the front derailleur and extra front chainring) and also for simplicity (less is more!) as well as attitude. I’ve chosen to go for an aero chainring too (mainly because it looks so damn hot!).
I put an order in for the latest SRAM RED AXS E1 groupset with CCACHE. I bought a Roval aero handlebar from Wooly’s Wheels, Tarmac SL7 stem direct from Specialized.com and the stem accessories (cable bat and cover + 3D printed spacer to adapt the SL7 to the Allez frame) from various online shops.
The weight weenie in me resurfaced. Found this S-WORKS saddle on eBay and pounced on it (OEM saddle was 281g).
Strip down at CCACHE.
Love at first sight.
Internal cable routing is something I’ve never done, good thing that Sam does it day in day out!
If there was ever a best dressed bike mechanic award, Sam would win it!
Was awesome hanging out at my local LBS CCACHE with Sam over a few days talking shit and building the bike up. He’s a rad dude who’s become a friend over the past month and we’ve even started going for rides on his day off.
Lightning bolt tape to match my lightning bolt tattoos.
Gone are the days of old where you could just reach into your parts bin and make shit work. Everything is proprietary these days. Getting the S-WORKS Tarmac SL7 stem to fit on an Allez Sprint took a whole lot of fuckery, but we got there in the end! I needed a custom 3D printed spacer, the stem, a bat cable kit to attach the 2 brake lines to the stem, a stem cover plate kit and last of all (the bit I had forgotten and came in the mail today), a special top cap which the stem cover clips down onto.
Since I’m not running a front derailleur I removed the derailleur hanger and found this Specialized block-off plate to cover the 2 mount holes.
Won’t lie. Would love to get it in the 6kg range with a lighter wheelset and some boutique weight weenie parts, but happy to have saved 1kg as is.
The 1kg savings is massive and the electronic shifting is wild. The bike just feels SO fast.
Before the upgrades I was just doing slow laps around Centennial Park, but on the shakedown ride I quickly realised that this thing now just eggs you on to ride harder and faster. It’s a night and day difference from my Canyon Grizl. The Grizl is super playful and fun, but the Allez… it’s trying to kill me!
Love not having any electrical tape to finish off the bar tape (less is more!).
Pulled the trigger on a Berk Lupina Short 132mm. Great packaging, quality and so light in the hands.
I’m really happy with my S-WORKS Power saddle as is, but when I spotted the Berk saddle on sale at Creative Cycles Workshop in Victoria I had to pull the trigger.
Packaging was super sexy (came in a nice box and Berk pouch too), the saddle is SO light in the hands and quality is amazing. If I’m being honest I think the S-WORKS Power saddle (visually) suits the bike much more than the dainty looking Berk saddle.
Also picked up a pair of Galfer rotors. Nothing at all wrong with the Shimano rotors I have on the bike (again I think the existing rotors look better), but these are lighter and they were on the Creative Cycles Workshop online shop so I thought I’d try them out as I’ve read many great reviews on them.
My Hylix zero setback seatpost finally arrived (took almost 1 month). Was very well packed, seller (on eBay) also sent through some very specific instructions.
Now 7.5 flat (with pedals). The only way to get it under 7kg’s would be to get a much shallower wheelset, but rather than obsessing on a number I’ll be adding more weight soon with wider tyres and a computer too.
Studio shot by Nick Turner at UNO Studios.
SPECS: 2022 Specialized Allez Sprint Comp (size 49) in Tarmac Black/Brushed Foil
GROUPSET: SRAM RED AXS E1 rear derailleur, shifters and calipers, SRAM DUB BB, SRAM Red AXS E1 chain, SRAM RED AXS E1 cassette (10-36), SRAM RED 1 AXS crankset (165mm), SRAM AERO chainring (50t).
WHEELS & TYRES: ENVE 65 Foundation wheelset, ENVE SES tyres (27mm), Galfer rotors (160/140).
COMPONENTS: S-Works Tarmac SL7 stem 110mm -12 degree, Tarmac SL7 stem cable bat, top cap and stem cover kit, RaceWare 3D printed spacer, Specialized Roval Rapide handlebars 380mm, Burgh Lightning bar tape, Berk Lupina short saddle (132mm), Specialized carbon rail clamp, Hylix 0mm offset seatpost, Xpedo Thrust SL titanium pedals, Specialized front derailleur mount cover, S-WORKS bottle cage bolts.
WEIGHT: 7.50kg.