Early 2000's: Cannondale CAAD had silky smooth welds 2022: Specialized new technology goobers enough weld material for two frames...then charges 10x the price for it. Hey Specialized, can you spend 5 min and grind those welds smooth... you know, so it looks like a finished product that costs thousands of dollars?
I have a folder of photos of specialized alloy bikes with cracked welds. The smoothing alloy weld trend is retarded. As the weld cools it contracts and pulls the 2 pieces of metal together. Imagine a single weld as a sphere, with all these contraction forces pulling the outer skin in compression to the center. Now grind off half the sphere, the sphere is now trying to explode /invert itself. They grind the welds to cover up the fact that the Chinese labor was unskilled. Its a cost cutting measure that they charge you for and plebs like you demand it. Stacked dimes indicate the skill involved to fabricate it. The saying is A grinder makes me the welder I ain't.
Completely agree with you and I own a TCR advanced pro and wouldn’t even look twice at that Allez for them money! But none of these you tube reviewers would dare say any negative about a big brand like Specialized for fear of being snubbed! It’s $100 more than a TCR for a fraction of the bike
The problem with the bike is it’s just a bad value proposition. Especially when other mainstream brands like Giant, Trek and Cannondale offer carbon bikes with similar build for about $100 more, or Alloy bikes with the exact same build spec for nearly $800 less.
I have a SRAM 1x Allez sprint and routinely drop people on group rides and races. You are talking about the highest end aluminum bike vs an entry level carbon bike at that price. That priced carbon won't be nearly as light nor stiff. My bike weighs 16.5 pounds and is a rocket ship.
@@louissorrentino9339 With regard to weight, you’re just plain wrong. A new Allez frame and fork weigh 1951g in a size 52. An equivalent Standard Modulus Cannondale Supersix Evo frame and fork weighs 1550g. I seriously doubt either bike is going to have an issues being stiff enough for anyone outside a world tour sprinter. Glad to hear you’re enjoying the bike, but it doesn’t change the facts. You dropping people on group rides probably doesn’t have much to do with the marginal differences in weight, and more to do with realistic differences in fitness. So kudos on that.
@@louissorrentino9339 Just checked, the bottom level Giant TCR Advanced (Non Pro/SL) in a size ML (57) with Frame, Fork, Seatpost, and hardware is 1620g. Which is still 300g lighter than the “top level” alloy frame.
@@RyonBeachner you will not get a supersix Evo for the same price as an allez sprint. I said an entry level carbon bike is not as light nor stiff. A super six Evo is not an entry level carbon bike. I actually own a Giant TCR carbon with 105 which is an entry level carbon bike. It is heavy as a complete bike and the power transfer is slow. The bike has way too much flex. The Allez sprint is a crit bike, aka a sprinting machine. It was made to be as stiff as possible and handle like the race bike it was designed to be. No entry level carbon will compare to that, plain and simple.
Trek has a aluminum Emonda & Domane with carbon like shapes and nice builds using 105 and threaded BB’s. The CAD is a classic aluminum bike and didn’t Specialized make a aluminum bike for Segan when he raced for Bora for certain races? Specialized needs to do something with those weld lines, hideous looking.
All welds have lines....all aluminum bikes have weld lines....most manufacturers keep the welds at the junction points to minimize the effect. Specialized is claiming that putting the welds where they are putting them is better for the performance of the bike. I don't know if that is quantifiable....but that's what they say. The lines really don't make that much of a difference....not to my eye anyway.
@@chrisgilligan4968 Well the position of the welds matter to those in the comments including me. I am a mechanical engineer and there is little value added moving them into the line of sight. I own the Allez Elite which has the welds at the junction of the head tube and they are also grinded smooth. Unacceptable what Specialized does on the Allez Sprint when none of the competition does this.
If you're firmly in the Specialized camp, this might seem a good option to not have to sell your house to get an SL7. Otherwise, there's much better priced options elsewhere - carbon and aluminium alike. About the price: Literally the whole bike industry has upped prices bc of resources becoming more expensive, so there's that.
I know some will think I'm crazy for doing this, but I'm going to order this frameset. For me, this is simply THE dream bike par excellence and I work at an online bike parts shop and see this beautiful frame every day... twice. I would simply never buy a carbon road bike, I just crash too regularly for that and the aluminum bikes have always been able to cope with this up to now.
is no one going to point out the weld on the downtube? compare the stock photo to the actual bike - It looks like it has been misaligned and welded in place. The stock photo is clean looking on the inside portion of the junction from headtube to downtube...
The welds just behind the head tube are horrific. I own the endurance version of the Allez called the Elite which has less racy geometry and honestly in some ways I prefer it to my carbon Roubaix. Frame flex is about perfect for my aging 6'1" 180 lb body on size 58cm. The Allez Elite doesn't have those hideous welds. The Elite version of the Allez looks like a carbon bike. I would not buy the Allez Sprint but I am an older rider and don't like the aggressive geometry and upright STA. The Allez Sprint is a 'crit bike' with its upright angles and slammed geometry.
Eh, the average roadie is just way too aesthetics-conscious. They even think the flaky patterns they see on unpainted carbon are defects because the bare carbon look they have in their minds is grid-shaped weaves. I don't care if the welds are visible, only thing I care about, is if it can withstand multiple beatings.
The welds are terrible. As stated it does put potential customers off. Especially at that price point. Yes it’s way under the price of big brother Tarmac but there are decent carbon bikes out there for that sort of money. Especially when this aluminium bike is so bloody ugly looking. As for it being the first Aluminum super bike what about all the great aluminum bikes that were around between the age of Steel and the age of Carbon. Maybe the marketing hype could justifiably read something like the first aluminum super bike for a generation. Thanks for doing the review.
I'm really conflicted on this bike. On one hand, $3K for an alloy frame, 105 and cheap wheels seems ridiculous to me. This price is far more than competitors like the Emonda ALR and CAAD and carbon bikes like the excellent Giant TCR with a similar build are being sold for actually less than the price of the Allez Sprint. On the other hand, the Allez Sprint is (probably) very good as a fast, durable, sharp-handling, easy to work on race bike whose existence makes it really hard to justify higher-priced models like the Tarmac from any real-world, practical stance. IMO, despite the absurd pricing the Allez Sprint remains a particularly good option for crit racers here in the Midwest of the US.
8.74 kgs is s boat anchor, people are utter stupid. You need 18,000 Australian to get a 7 plus kg bike. Let's go back to the future and BRING BACK 6.8KG RIM BRAKE BIKE. Cycling is meant to be high performance, if I'm guided by Speciaized and others nearly 9 kg with bottle cages, pedals computer and mount is acceptable. You journalists want us to believe this is acceptable YOU CAN SHOVE IT
@@roadcc I don't know how old you are but I've been cycling for nearly 50 years and if want to believe that that's fine but your being paid and coherced by manufacturers, one wrong word from you lot and manufacturers would black ban you and all your future test bikes would be purchases. There were plenty of sub 7.5kg bikes RIM BRAKE, BACK TO THE FUTURE BIKES, that were available for under $4000 Australian.
No way, these welds are super ugly and frame too expensive, my Merida Scultura alloy is waaay nicer and cheaper, of course I have also lightweight carbon bike for serious rides.
Road cc always chat shit. Paid marketing bullshit. Best value for money entry level road bike is the Ribble Al disk. It’s more than a £1000 cheaper, even for the 105 group set.
@@mclogged2280 Yep we reviewed that too and it got a very good score - road.cc/content/review/ribble-endurance-al-disc-2021-278851. Ironically we have actually worked commercially with Ribble recently, Specialized not since last year. We'd have to mark this vid as sponsored if it was "paid marketing bulls*it".
this just isn't a good deal. If I had to have alu + disc for some reason, I would get a kinesis or standert kreissage, both of which would come out cheaper with similar components. But, I would save my money and go for rim brakes and carbon wheels. At this price I would probably get a TCR advance 2 and then a set of Hunt 50mm - that would be the same price as the allez sprint and a much better bike.
I like the welds. I think they should be visible, not hidden. I want to remember what kind of frame it is, not have it look like an exact copy of an SL7.
Those welds really are unsightly. Looks like someones stuck the pieces together with bubblegum. Maybe they'll revise it for the next model when they see low sales.
I would be interested to know how the actual manufacturing quality compares on these bikes. A huge percentage of high end carbon bikes are actually trash from a QC perspective.
@@roadcc Good question. Like you mention, maybe it’s the stigma of aluminium being seen as something you’d get on cheaper road bikes. Especially when you think this has the Allez name, which is also used on entry level bikes. My everyday steed is a 10 year old 725 steel Equilibrium (which I love), so if I was to get another road bike, It would have to be something different. I’d love to try a fast responsive carbon bike and I’d hope that £2600 can still do that. But I’d also be tempted to look at titanium 🙂
Specialized is all hype.. I would never buy one there is zeroooo value in this company it's all a status symbol that makes you look dumb due to over paying for less we talking thousands more for brand name. I'll get an CF bike over this any day.
The endless bitching and moaning about the price is hilarious. It's definitely expensive, but only marginally more so than the 2020 allez sprint. I myself rode a number of similarly priced carbon frames to this but ended up building out a 2020 allez sprint because it just felt so much better than carbon bikes that were just a bit pricier than it. Carbon isn't synonymous with better and half the time is just a buzzword that doesn't actually result in a better bike. You can see some of this simple mentality in the comments section.
@@roadcc It's just a bit much seeing the endless moaning across nearly every video of this bike. As nice as carbon can be, carbon in the price range of this bike doesn't match the lateral stiffness or aggressive geometry of the allez sprint. Instead the maker is passing on the higher material cost of carbon to you, without any of the more advanced design. Plus you get the durability of aluminum over carbon fibre, especially if you're using this to race crits as is intended. To all the naysayers, I say "meh".
There is cheaper alloy frames that are liably as good and there is carbon frames for similar price that are definitively better so no the allez is specialised marketing tripe
Is it? Then why is it so popular and well regarded then? Cheaper alloy bikes don't ride same, and carbon breaks if you crash it and is expensive to replace, which was always the point of the AS.
Are we comparing two bikes completely different??? like alloy wheels and 105 to ultegra di2 and carbon wheels, of couse the results are going to be different as it is a different frame a different material, but do a compassion between the two, at least do it in a standard environment
also for the price the bike and frame set should come with the sl7 stem, not this ugly system, it's like a 125usd$ upgrade in aftermarket, but, for the price they are asking it should be as standart
800 euros in portugal over the previous model is just stupid, you can buy some new wheels with that money, for 3300 euros you have the canyon ultimate with rival axs or the 105 groupset and a pair of winspace hyper wheels and trl 5000 tyres. specialized should really look after their bussiness, ther mother brand Merida is going to release the new scultura with ultegra for 3000eur, a limited edition with 105 for 3200eur.
3k dollars! for that money you can buy a mid-range giant TCR that beats this alloy bike in any possible way. Alloy is alloy, there is a reason it is not used in pro-peloton because it is only alloy and that smartweld, I have to be honest it is quite ugly.
I’m enjoying the bike so far ru-vid.comUgkxMesz3KOGEmwmvyKQfLfrRSUXLFzfVHZA My only real complaints are the brakes and the pedals. I feel like a bike designed for bigger people should have much larger pedals and more heavy duty brakes. I’ve only gotten two really good rides out of it, minimal downhill action, and the brakes feel like they’re already going out. A larger person has more momentum, so I think this wasn’t thought through very well. Also, I wear size 13-14 wide shoes. My feet cramp up on these pedals that are clearly made for smaller feet. Since I’m not a pro rider (and I don’t think many are who purchase this bike) I don’t think that the straps on the pedal are necessary at all. None of this takes away from the enjoyment I get from riding, however. I’ll just head to a bike shop to improve on a few things.
