Specialized Allez Sprint: Is This a Good Bike for Crits?! 

I still love my Klein from 1996 and my Caad 10.

Didn't expect Mark's bartape getting all this heat. 😄 7:00 Bro, your differing opinions on handling are probably because of your different sizes. The bike is bigger for you than for Mark, so it makes sense that it feels sluggish to you and twitchy to him.

I had 2022 Sprint Comp 105. Tubeless. It was comfortable and predictable. Efficient, modern, quick…..but I still had a 2013 Specialized SL4 Tarmac. I tried hard to like the Sprint ($3k !!!), but ultimately I was faster and obtained way more PRs and KOMs on the old rim brake SL4. I sold off the Sprint. I do t say this to discourage anyone, it is a fine bike, but if $$$ is a concern look for a used rim brake SL4 Tarmac, Supersix, CAAD13, etc. The motor (your fitness and technique) matter most or how you feel. I get sly grins from people on the road in my early 2000s Pinarello (it is classy and modern enough) but then I quietly drop said person on a climb or flat. It is all about riding bikes and having fun.

Just returned from a two hour ride with my '13 CAAD10 an still be impressed after more than a decade how responsive and compliant is rides. You simply can not go wrong with the C'dale 10. If I see the premium Specialized is asking and usually getting; I salute their marketing department to create an image that so many are willing to pay a premium for a good bike - unbelievable😆

I purchased a Allez in 2022, and upgraded to electrical 105 gear set, and a one piece arrow handlebar. I also have a 2023 Tarmac with sram gear set. My Allez may be a tad heavier but can hold and maintain top end speed better than the Tarmac. The Tarmac is great for maintaining speed over a longer duration. However, you can't go wrong with either bike. Both are fantastic.

Really enjoy these evaluations of bikes and the fairness too particularly on the turn in. Keep them up!

Handle bar tape on this bike has maximum bling!

I raced a CAAD 4 and then a System Six for hundreds of races over dozens years and imo you can’t beat the aluminum Cannondales for crit racing… They handle like an F-16 jet fighter. Disc brakes on a crit bike has to be the most nonsensical technology application that I can think of. What happens when you catch a flat? Are you going to change a disc brake wheel in the pit? Your race is over! And don’t tell me about improved braking performance, in the crits if you’re braking you’re losing!

Amazing video man!

YES - CAAD 10 all day long, excellent conclusion. Bought one after your earlier 'superbike beater' vlog, hardly ever ride anything other than it since I bought it. Best handling bike I have and even ahead of the Colnago Dream. Arguably two of the best Alu frames ever made. Not to mention the advantage of rim brakes. Those disk thingys are just noisy nonsense.

Since 2018, I've owned 4 Allez Sprint rim brake bikes, on which I raced crits (2018-2022, 3 of them replaced due to damage from racing or casual riding) and my missus gifted me the new disc Allez Sprint as a birthday present in 2022, which I raced for another year. In terms of sharpness/agressiveness/stiffness/confidence the rim brake Allez Sprint was better by miles it was an actual race bike, a weapon. In my honest opinion Specialized ruined one of the very few affordable, actual race bike, available to the public, by listening to people asking for wider tyres on race bikes, which they shouldn't be riding in the first place. Cannondale did the same thing ruining the CAAD10 with the CAAD12 (rim). By comparison, the new Allez Sprint disc is soft and mushy, not even close to the rim brake model, definitely not a race bike, it's basically a gravel bike, a comfort bike. Whoever says otherwise doesn't know what a race bike is. Just to make myself clear, I'm not hating, but a lot of 'racing' words are thrown around on youtube and a line has to be drawn somewhere, they can't be all race bikes. Group rides/fondos/weekend warrior'ing is not racing, this type of riding is fun and I enjoy it very much myself, however, it's simply not racing and there are no racing demands placed on bike or rider here. One can obviously participate in events, even races, on any bike, but not all bikes are race bikes. As I was riding and racing the disc Allez Sprint in 2022, a mate asked me to sell him my rim brake Allez Sprint. I didn't like the Allez Sprint disc and replaced it in 2023 with a Cinelli Vigorelli rim brake. Muuuch happier with the Vigorelli.

I own one. Limiting factor is the weight in anything over 7%. Mine is 8.2kg (inc. pedals, cages, mounts) in a size 58 with Dura ace, rapide bars and wheels. Its surprisingly smooth and compliant. Tbh tho, it doesn’t accelerate as fast as expected but does hold speed well. In terms of turn in ability, it is probably a little sluggish but not an issue at all. Its a nice looking ride. I like the DSW’s as a visual feature - just adds a different vibe in an industrial build sort of way if that makes sense…

Awesome content as usal 😄 To add my take : First gen Allez sprint owner here ! I found it a bit harsh at the beginning but with the experience on it, I find myself riding it more than my Pinarello F8 top spec with dura ace… For racing/crits in France, as long as there isn’t much climbing involved, it’s my weapon of choice ! Only 7.8kg with Ultegra R8000 and very responsive with the proper wheels 👍🏼

CAAD10, the last al crit machine. I love mine and am happy that I rebuilt it instead of upgrading.

Did two races today at a circuit race, this is a car race course, it's basically an over distance crit. I need two races, I got two dnfs, long story doesn't matter, but relating to this video. When I was doing the masters race, on my Tarmac sl6 of course 😎; there was another racer on a Cannondale CAAD 9 😎. So yeah like you said those Cannondales are definitely still out there, there a solid design.

Thank you for showing the bike 👍🏾 Very good info. Nice bike! You had to go there ……. Disk vs Rim brake. I ride a 2009 Cannondale card 9-7 & recently updated to Mavic ES with 11speed SRAM Red wireless. I purchased the bike new & the upgrade was much needed. Many people have said ENTRY LEVEL BIKES are dead & a waste of money,I beg to differ.

CAAD 10. Yep.

The new sprint is basically an SL7 in aluminum.

Interesting! You are one of the few tubers who can describe a understandable bike feel without getting boring 🫡

Good video, ths you for sharing !!!

They had a 40th Anniversary steel Reynolds 853 Specialized Allez. I clubbed raced a Tange Prestige Specialized Allez in the 80s and wished I had kept that thing. It was a thing of beauty that rode nicely

I’ve been absolutely LOVING my Allez! Regarding the steering and handling characteristics, for *Me I wouldn’t say it was/is twitchy. IMO the Allez is very deliberate and sharp. I feel very comfortable leaning this Bike over. Great content Brother! #RobbArmstrong

I am racing with the Allez and I do feel the difference in corning. To me the bike feels stiff and the handling is perfect. But you are right, it’s like you have to push the bike when hitting the corners. I got hammered in my last crit race. It was a 4 corner crit.I have a size 54, my Tarmac is a 56. A lot of racers here in the East are crit racing with the Allez. With all the science and data on bikes, I still feel the person on the bike makes the machine perform well.Legion won races on the Allez.. Thanks for doing a review.

One thing is for sure - the Allez Sprint definitely looks cool

Very good review. I tried an older Allez made of A1 Aluminium with polished welds and fitted with duraa ace 7900 and zipp 808 carbon wheels back in 2010 , the ride was comfy and the handling good , also test rode a 2016 Allez Sprint comp but despite a newer aluminium alloy , the pivot steerer was cut too short and handling was twitchy. The quality and finish of the welds on this 2016 Allez were average at best . I would rather have a CAAD10 or my older CAAD4 than a specialized for criterium racing

I have a Cannondale CAAD 6 with Ultegra 11s mechanical, carbon wheels with a weight of 6,9 kg. The bike is responsive ( not like aero carbon bikes ) and climbs well too. Its built tough and makes no creaks , I enjoy it a lot. Good video as always.

Great overview Luis.. it’ll be inter3sting to hear what Mark thinks of your bike in comparison 😊 Pete 🚴🏻👍

I love my, I ride it on size 54 even I am 6” tall or 183cm. I can easily ride it for 4-5 hours rides. I have it with stock 105 mechanical, put a 130mm sworks stem and a 400mm aero bar on it. It runs on carbon wheels with 26mm tubeless Pirelli. Love it, the weight is around 8kg. I used to have it on my Hypers but I had the feeling that the carbon spokes are a bit too harsh in combination with the aluminum frame. Overall I would say it’s a fast and stiff bike. I think it a bit twitchy compared to my other bikes but is also my smallest frame I ride . How ever it’s predictable and I feel confident in cornering.

I hope someone lets you borrow the Van Rysel RCR. Thanks for the honest review.

Old guy here, I bought a new 1999 Allez. It came with 105 through out with the exception for the crankset. Mavic CXP wheels, and a 12-25 9 speed freehub. Purchase price was $999. It was/is s sprinters bike. The geometry sounds like the bike Loius rode. I posted this just to provide a "reality check" on what has happened to the bike industry. Even after adjusting for inflation the old Allez is a bargin! It doesn't seem that a "bargin" exist in the bike world of today.

Allez Allez Allez 🙌🏽 Nice Review Bruv 🍻

Rim brakes (aka drum brakes) also rub. Due to frame and wheel flex. And it makes the rim itself a maintenance part that needs to be replaced (like you would a rotor). They haven't used drum brakes on cars since the 1970s (other than the cheapest of vehicles) so I don't run them on my bike any longer either.

Quick note about disc brake rubbing. Every wheelset I've had so far flexes on sharp hard turns especially when you're going down a sharp corner with a steep ledge. However I have a custom built carbon wheelset I currently own that's so stiff it doesn't brake rub under any circumstance even on sharp sharp hard turns. Most off shelf carbon wheels only come with 24spokes which should be stiff enough but I've had really flexy wheels where it would flex like heck when going off saddle. All these off shelf carbon wheels are stiff in 1 direction but lack another. And the only remedy is to get a custom built wheelset that can handle the flex. Having super thin spokes doesnt help the flex either

Very good point about disc brake rub. I just came back from a longish ride on my SRAM equipped Colnago C64 feeling the discs rubbing . I tried to put the wheel somehow where I could get rid of it to no avail. I’ll visit my mechanic for an opinion soon but this is a recurring problem. Nevertheless, I wouldn’t go back to rim brakes for rides here in Europe where I have lots of descending and turning. However, I often wonder every time I’m in Florida why everyone seems to be riding disc brakes these days . Especially for crit racing purposes. I can sort of see it for the rainy days which are often in Fl but for racing?

Allez Sprint is definitely twitchy but not in a bad way. It’s responsive in the turns.

Have the Caad 10 & 12,12 is a lil too big & hardly ridden,also have many others along with a rim allez sprint(rim) which I like,also a tarmac ,emonda & merckx san remo & a few more

With generous pneumatics around 2.5hrs is comfortable on an aluminium bike. I can go further on steel even with lower volume tyres. The alu. serves a purpose though as an all-weather basher.

I sold my 2021 Sprint Allez, wayy too stiff and limited tire clearance didn't help. But razor sharp handling and steering made it a weapon for crit racing. By with caution. If you're just out there solo riding and enjoying the scenery, this is not the bike for you. Stack is ridiculously short.

lol, components won’t take an aluminum bone anywhere close to a nice titanium frame. Just upgraded from an allez to a litespeed and it’s night and day; it’s got me smiling from ear to ear. I transferred over my components-only thing new is a titanium seat post.

I had this bike great bike but not for me. I felt it was twitchy, also I felt the shoulder pain just as you described. Also felt that I was going forward ahead of the front fork.

everyone and most riders SHOULD BE ON THESES carbon takes out the BUZZ on rough roads but when I started on a alum ALEZ tires where 23mm now 29mm AVERAGE SPECIALIZED are silly they should have spec'd better and painted these and pushed them more if was spending the coin get a ALEZ ALUM and a CARBON CRUX - dream setup I have been on competitive weekly bunch rides with AUST NATIONAL TEAM RIDERS rock up on a hardtail mountain bike and ride on the front

Just had an Allez Sprint built up with C38 hoops on Pathfinder 32 tires, 130mm stem, whiskey carbon flat bars and Sram Rival xplr group. I dunno about a crit but it's the fastest and most fun bike I've ever ridden.

Good video, I feel specialized semi dropped the ball with this Allez over the previous version. This newer version despite what specialized claims is heavier and less aero than the previous versions 2017 to 2019 rim/disc. I have 2 2019 versions rim brake 58cm and 61, the 58 is barley 16lbs the 61 is 16.9lbs. The newer Allez are basically heavy aluminum tarmac clones. Now as for Allez vs caad10 both rim brake its the allez all day.. way stiffer in the rear triangle with nice aero features having owned and ridden both 😁

I own that same bike, although mine is mechanical 105. I am pretty sure that the frame geometry of the Allez Sprint is an exact match to the Tarmac SL7. The main difference is that the Tarmac will be a bit lighter. I consider the steering to be sharp and precise on the Allez. I am going to sell my Allez as I am middle-aged, and I need a bike that has endurance geometry-the Allez is simply too aggressive for my body. Plan to replace this with a Mason Definition.

The bigger bike with shorter stem would put less weight on the front wheel. That would affect the steering.

That bar tape though!

Love your video as always. The NOOB out there should watch your video more. You talk a lot of sense. I like the way you review the bike, honest review and real life ride expectation. Not those youtuber "Just Ride Bike" that all the bike they review are fast bla bla bla.

I noticed that there are spacers under the stem. That could be the reason for your shoulder pain, ‘cos the front end is too high. It’s a size bigger after all. I know it’s kinda counterintuitive, but what it does is remove the weight away from the back end and not really stabilize it there.

I suggest looking up a few videos about bike materials and compliance. The carbon lie seems to still be alive and well. Carbon transfers ALL the road noise to the rider, thus the reason for fat tires on these bikes now. I have a carbon bike and it is the least compliant of all of my bikes. My hands arms and feet are literally vibrating for an hour or more after riding carbon. This never happens from any of my alloy bikes. All of them are set up exactly the same and all have pretty close geometry to each other. Carbon is great for racing, pro or otherwise but seems like a complete waste of money for a disposable plastic bike. There are some comparison videos out there and the legit ones I have seen put aluminum at the top of the list or near for compliance.

If you don't want your 10K Tarmac cracked up during a crit... this is the bike to have for crits!

Next specialized review has to be the rim brake version of the Allez sprint. Do it. Make it happen😤

At the amateur level as long as the bike is in good working order and handles it’ll be good for crits

Have you ever try riding a Ribble slr, and if so what do you think about the bike and style?

I don't know at what point we started accepting unfinished frames from manufacturers but I guess it doesn't matter to a lot of people. I'm talking about welds that look like house caulking. A road bike is suppose to be a thing of beauty so this Allez Sprint is not for me. Cannondale used to make some great aluminum bikes and they finished the welds which made them one of the best brands going. These days companies got lazy and cheap and people still buy them. I don't get it.

How much of a difference would it make in your feel of the bike having Duraace and that combo of wheels and tires versus what the Allez Sprint comes stock with?

I am curious about this frame for a while. Unlike a tarmac, allez sprint is something I can save up in a year and build wtih my older bike's components. I don't plan to race but do want a well built frame to replace my Chinarello that I can not dial in and on average is 2 km/h slower than my other bike, an elves falath pro. The problem is though, how much better will this bike be than for example a van rysel 900af which I also have and ride occasionally. That is an entry level bike a price perspective, but it is the top of the line aluminum frame from another manufacturer at a lower price (decathlon). The two weights roughtly the same, but 900af is a rim brake frame while allez now is disc brake only.

Still got a 2005 Allez with dura ace n sram mix plus deep sections, it’s my holiday bike at my in laws now for the Slovakian mountains but it used to be my chain gang bike so similar to crits My 2016 Scott foil carbon bike flexed like mad compared to the Allez, brake rub every time I’m out the saddle, u can feel the lower rigidity compared to the aluminium Allez yet all the carbon aficionados talk about is the stiff ride. What nonsense! The Allez is not only a great value bike but it performs better too

I'm curious, at 5'10 why do you usually ride a 54? Most size charts I've seen would put you at a 56. I ask because I'm 6'1 and looking for an upgrade with most size charts pointing me to 58.

Funny you say that because the Sprint is supposed to be purpose-built for crits. Do you think that maybe an Allez Sprint with rim brakes would be better than the disc model? Don't get me wrong. I'm still a CAAD fan (two 10s and one 12) till the end, but I'm just curious

😮

My Allez is twictchy for sure, due to the geometry ... Comparing to a Pinarello F10. But otherwise it's a great fitting, aggressive ride. I actually enjoy it more than the Pinarello. Put good components on it (wheelset is important) and you have a fantastic bike at a good price. If you manage to flex that bike, then you must have watts from hell! Is your wheelset stiff? BTW, Weight difference (same groopset, similar wheels): Allez vs. Pinarello = 100g Price difference: More than double for the F10 !!! Think about that!

Is that a switch blaze on the disk??? BMC gang lol

I sold mine. This bike is only good for 20 miles. It is very harsh especially with inner tubes, really teeth rattling.

Have you reviewed the Tarmac?

Unless you're bombing the Swiss Alps, disc brakes are ass

Dude said "agreeable" and not "compliant". Do we need to invent more ambiguous words to describe comfort?

crits... ugg

Who is this Bike for obviously it’s not for you. It’s not your kind of ride.