Weight Weenies

Hi all

So, I have been looking at the Allez Sprint for quite some time as a N+1 purchase. I have had several alu bikes in the past, mostly as a tribute to the frame material and because it allows a cheap(-ish) addition of another bike. The Allez Sprint would be with the intend of building a bike for the fun of it with a bit of aero qualities with spare components. I have found a couple of colorways at reduced prices, so I am tempted.

What I am trying to do (although applying logic to any bike purchase is counter productive ) is to get my head around if the Allez Sprint mostly lives off the hype - or if it is a genuinly fun bike with a decent quality/price ratio and would be different to most other modern alu frames (I have had a couple of Allez E5 DSW's and currently a Ridley Helium SLA).

So my basic question is: Is the Allez Sprint just more of the same, or is there something significant about it, that makes it stand out to other modern era aluminium frames?

For reference I am looking at a 56cm frameset for rim brakes and mechanical gears.

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The geometry is what makes it somewhat special. If you are looking for a relatively cheap race bike with aggressive geometry there are not that many alternatives left. Thats why i bought it. Otherwise there isn't anything special about it besides its fancy paint jobs. Yeah its stiff, but my 8 year old Felt FA, which has the same geometry, is equally stiff and weighs less.

When i look at most of the sprints here in the forum, set up with loads of spacers under the 80mm stem, i can't help but wonder if people just bought it because of the hype. Everybody can buy whatever they want offcourse, but its not like the sprint is a good allrounder.

Set up low long and stiff they're great fun. I've owned 5 of them with plenty of 100km+ days on them and still have one despite building up an SL6 recently.
They're sharper feeling than a Tarmac and the Cost V Loss ratio as a crit bike is hard to beat.

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I bought mine specifically for racing. Other than the cool paint job, it does nothing more than my Canyon Aeroad Disc other than cheaper replacement cost if I crash it.

I think a good two road bike quiver would be an Allez Sprint for fast group rides or crits and a Tarmac disc for basically everything else short of gravel.

I would buy a $3-400 chinese carbon bike first. Lighter and cheaper. FWIW.

Nothing special about the allez other than geometry. CAAD 13 is completely different and the Emonda ALR only comes in H2. It also looks good.
It's not as stiff as people claim that it is but it's also not harsh. The venge seatpost doesn't help. It's also not a very cheap bike.

Hey Nefarious,

I posted on another thread but thought I’d ask here - are there supposed to be grommets for the ports under the bottom bracket? I’m planning to run DI2 and wondering how to plug the port for the rear derailleur cable port.


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Put di2 cables and junction box over bottom bracket instead of under.
And leave that port open for water drain.

I would post photos of mine, but i first need to remove all of the spacers.

I don't have another modern alloy bike to compare it to, but I feel it handles very similar to my gen1 SystemSix (the old carbon front/alloy rear frameset, not the new aero carbon version). It is very much a point-and-shoot ride, with no uneasiness or "give" when leaning it into corners. Basically, its a great crit bike (i've done road races on it too and its fine there as well). An additional perk is that the frame will fit 28s, so you can train on cushy wide tires, then swap to your race wheels when needed. It is fairly heavy though...

johnrho wrote:Hey Nefarious,

I posted on another thread but thought I’d ask here - are there supposed to be grommets for the ports under the bottom bracket? I’m planning to run DI2 and wondering how to plug the port for the rear derailleur cable port.


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fyi, that grommet that goes into the chainstay for the di2 cable is not a part that you can order separately. I bought my bike as a complete (didn't come with it in the box) and spent an hour on the site looking for that grommet on the dealer site, couldn't find it.

Why didn't ypu just call your rep?

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icantaffordcycling wrote:fyi, that grommet that goes into the chainstay for the di2 cable is not a part that you can order separately. I bought my bike as a complete (didn't come with it in the box) and spent an hour on the site looking for that grommet on the dealer site, couldn't find it.

My 2020 Sagan came with those grommets - just didn’t know about the ports underneath the bottom bracket


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