201x Specialized Allez Sprint DSW and Gen2

[IrrelevantD]

I thought about doing all of this and still ended up going to a CRUX. The Trail and BB drop were too much of a compromise for anything other than well maintained fire roads.

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In the sizes I would ride (54/56), the sprint and CruX have the same drop. CruX does have more trail, but running 650b in rear would slacken the HT angle and increase the trail. By no means would i think that it could replace a full time gravel or cross bike, but would make an interesting experiment for someone who only does a handful of gravel events a year.

Now I'm really curious, gonna have to go do some math. Why oh why did I sleep my way through Geometry way back in high school?!?

EDIT: 2.2° for a 56, but I didn't look at Hexsense's pic of the front close enough. Thought that was a bigger tire in front. I would have doubts about anything bigger than a 33 or 35 on 700c rims in front, so maybe not as good as I thought.

[Lieblingsleguan]

I thought about doing all of this and still ended up going to a CRUX. The Trail and BB drop were too much of a compromise for anything other than well maintained fire roads.

Sent from my SM-G977B using Tapatalk

I have a Focus Mares AX cross bike that does a good job as a gravel bike as well (700C 38mm or 650b 42mm tires fit). Where I live (just south outside Munich), there are a lot of well mantained gravel roads through the forests and a fast bike with something like a 32mm Panaracer Gravel King Slick or the 33mm Challenge Almanzo would be nice for road rides with just a bit of easy and fastly ridden gravel in them. This also opens up more ways to circumvent roads with heavy traffic, so it just adds variety to the road riding.

[Hexsense]

I guess my size is just perfect for the task.
Allez Sprint size 49 have higher trail than any other sizes, so it is not as twitchy as larger bike when using 650b.
And my height dictate 165mm crank. This reduce pedal strike with smaller wheel size.

[ch00bzs]

Allez Sprint "acid dip" 49cm
SRAM Force22 Groupset
"blacked out" cannondale hollowgram si power2max crank
Driveline Aero Chainring
Zipp Service Course SL stem & handlebar
Pro Stealth Saddle ltd
Look Keo Blade 2 Cr
Mavic Cosmic Pro Carbon SL C wheels and tire

total weight = 7.5kg without bidons and Wahoo elemnt roam

[AnkitS]

Allez Sprint "acid dip" 49cm

Pretty Allez! Are you able to get small bidons in and out of the mandible cages on that 49cm frame?

[Reno]

To anyone who still have doubt of Allez Sprint's tire clearance.
This is image of my Allez Sprint Disc with 650b wheel and 40mm tire. Yes, not typo, 1.5ich tire measure 40.1mm wide!
74312273_534872010685824_7914450031497707520_n.jpg
The leftover clearance is too small for me to feel comfortable though. So i'll drop to 35mm tire (1.35") for better mud clearance in gravel mode.

Allez Sprint has relatively tall bb (compare to new Tarmac and Venge). When using 650b wheel size which will make the bike a bit lower to the ground this become advantage. It still isn't a gravel bike. But it certainly is capable with 650b wheel size.
The drop in height is not quite noticeable to me. Brief calculation show it to be just (622-584)/2 +25-40 = 4mm down afterall. When switching to 35mm tire it'll be a more noticeable 9mm lower rather than 4mm.

I'm impressed. What's the clearance in the fork? That's the bigger limiting factor on the rim brake version.

Picture of the Rim version fork clearance with 21mm internal width, 29mm external, Revolution Series Fatboy with Conti GP5000 28mm, which measures at 31mm.

[Reno]

The paintjob looks awesome. What parts are you planning to use?

Thinking about buying one but cannot decide between this or a Palace R disc....

I would go for the Palace R. Probably lighter and almost as stiff? Not sure about the disc Allez but Rim version certainly doesn't accelerate like a greyhound. Handling is perfect though, but I have heard it is very good with Palace R as well. Would be nice to hear experiences from someone who have ridden both bikes...

[IrrelevantD]

To anyone who still have doubt of Allez Sprint's tire clearance.
This is image of my Allez Sprint Disc with 650b wheel and 40mm tire. Yes, not typo, 1.5ich tire measure 40.1mm wide!
74312273_534872010685824_7914450031497707520_n.jpg
The leftover clearance is too small for me to feel comfortable though. So i'll drop to 35mm tire (1.35") for better mud clearance in gravel mode.

Allez Sprint has relatively tall bb (compare to new Tarmac and Venge). When using 650b wheel size which will make the bike a bit lower to the ground this become advantage. It still isn't a gravel bike. But it certainly is capable with 650b wheel size.
The drop in height is not quite noticeable to me. Brief calculation show it to be just (622-584)/2 +25-40 = 4mm down afterall. When switching to 35mm tire it'll be a more noticeable 9mm lower rather than 4mm.

I'm impressed. What's the clearance in the fork? That's the bigger limiting factor on the rim brake version.

Picture of the Rim version fork clearance with 21mm internal width, 29mm external, Revolution Series Fatboy with Conti GP5000 28mm, which measures at 31mm.

That's a touch tighter than mine, but 28c 5000TRs only measure 29mm on my HEDs. Though, I want to say that my 6800 calipers may be a little tighter than the 105s you have there. Either way, I wouldn't try anything bigger than 28c on the rim brake models. Pop a spoke or have one de-tension and it's Uber time.

[Reno]

To anyone who still have doubt of Allez Sprint's tire clearance.
This is image of my Allez Sprint Disc with 650b wheel and 40mm tire. Yes, not typo, 1.5ich tire measure 40.1mm wide!
74312273_534872010685824_7914450031497707520_n.jpg
The leftover clearance is too small for me to feel comfortable though. So i'll drop to 35mm tire (1.35") for better mud clearance in gravel mode.

Allez Sprint has relatively tall bb (compare to new Tarmac and Venge). When using 650b wheel size which will make the bike a bit lower to the ground this become advantage. It still isn't a gravel bike. But it certainly is capable with 650b wheel size.
The drop in height is not quite noticeable to me. Brief calculation show it to be just (622-584)/2 +25-40 = 4mm down afterall. When switching to 35mm tire it'll be a more noticeable 9mm lower rather than 4mm.

I'm impressed. What's the clearance in the fork? That's the bigger limiting factor on the rim brake version.

Picture of the Rim version fork clearance with 21mm internal width, 29mm external, Revolution Series Fatboy with Conti GP5000 28mm, which measures at 31mm.

That's a touch tighter than mine, but 28c 5000TRs only measure 29mm on my HEDs. Though, I want to say that my 6800 calipers may be a little tighter than the 105s you have there. Either way, I wouldn't try anything bigger than 28c on the rim brake models. Pop a spoke or have one de-tension and it's Uber time.

And really there is no need to go wider, at least not for me. I am planning to change the front tire to something less wide. But just goes to show there is plenty of clearance if needed.

[AnkitS]

Anyone using a low stack headset bearing cover on their allez?
I like the ceramic speed one but when I emailed them about it they claimed none of their versions would fit.
Any help would be appriciated.

[IrrelevantD]

Anyone using a low stack headset bearing cover on their allez?
I like the ceramic speed one but when I emailed them about it they claimed none of their versions would fit.
Any help would be appriciated.

I haven't seen any outside of maybe someone making their own. How low of a stem do you have? You could always go with a -17 or something like that and get pretty low. Looking at ch00bzs bike a few posts up, would something like that work?

[moock]

As for the Allez vs. TCR... looking at the geo, the Sprint is definitely more aggressive in the front end than the TCR.... that's basically yhe case for any bike. The Allez sprint is super aggressive.

thats not true.. I have Sprint 58 and compared to TCR L, reach is 2mm shorter and stack 2mm higher. And nearly every other roadbike in the same size is more aggressive...

[jorryt]

Yeah I don't get that super agressive talk either. My caad10 in 58 is also lower. But my understanding of geometry is limited.

[mpulsiv]

I would go for the Palace R. Probably lighter and almost as stiff? Not sure about the disc Allez but Rim version certainly doesn't accelerate like a greyhound. Handling is perfect though, but I have heard it is very good with Palace R as well. Would be nice to hear experiences from someone who have ridden both bikes...

Based on slew of rider's feedback over the years, Allez Sprint does accelerate like a greyhound, on par with Tarmac frames.

[Reno]

I would go for the Palace R. Probably lighter and almost as stiff? Not sure about the disc Allez but Rim version certainly doesn't accelerate like a greyhound. Handling is perfect though, but I have heard it is very good with Palace R as well. Would be nice to hear experiences from someone who have ridden both bikes...

Based on slew of rider's feedback over the years, Allez Sprint does accelerate like a greyhound, on par with Tarmac frames.

For some it might, that's of course subjective. For me - I have ridden both, SL5&SL6 versions from Comp to SWorks and I don't feel the same reactivity. That doesn't mean I think it's not good, but if it would be on par with Tarmac it would be awesome because that is the sensation that I feel lacking with Sprint...