Difference between the £400 Allez and the £600 Allez

paulorg

Hi all, I've been riding my Claud Butler for a few years now and am looking to upgrade, I've been fairly smitten with the Spec Allez for almost as long so I'm going to be looking to Santa for one this year.

Obviously I'm aware that the standard of kit on the bike should be better on the more expensive bike but what I want to know is does that extra few quid make that much of a difference, will my changes be smoother because I bought the pricier option, will my ride be faster for the same amount of effort, will going up hills be easier or will it not really make any difference.

Does anyone who has experience of moving up the price ladder from one Allez to another have any opinions on the comparative performance of both bikes?

Hope you can help.

Paul

meanwhile

You really need to quote sub models rather than price.

Btw have you ridden an Allez? Spec'd road bikes tend to have very harsh rides. Not for everyone. My Sirrus was an ok secondhand bargain, but new I'd have bought something else - and its a carbon forked Sirrus, which is supposed to reduce much of the nasty, irritating road buzz.

Rich Hcp

Higher spec and you won't have Sora gear change leavers on the more expensive one.

Which year model?

boybiker

I think that then difference between the entry level Alllez and the next level is that the Allez dual has 18 gears with two front rings and the next level up has 27 gears with 3 front rings,I went for the Allez dual and it hasn't killed me yet.
I don't think there are any other differences between the two.I think it still has the same gear levers and shimano tiagra rear derailier.

andy_wrx

Assuming you're talking 2008 bikes, these are the specs - except that if you're wanting it for Christmas it'll be a 2009 model and it might all have changed !

There's not a £400 model and a £600 model - these might be the discounted prices you've seen in a shop/on the web, but aren't the RRP

The Spesh Allez triple (27 gears) is RRP £549 and has Sora gears (ignore the Tiagra rear mech - it has Sora gears)
The Allez double (18 gears) is RRP £499 and is exactly the same except it has a compact chainset

The Allez Sport is RRP £699 and is the same frame but has Tiagra gears and better wheels, again a compact chainset

The Allez Elite is RRP £799 and has a different version of the frame with carbon rear stays, agains with Tiagra gears and better wheels, a compact chainset


The Allez is a proper 'race' bike, not a hybrid or comfort bike. It doesn't have a harsh ride - it's a 'race' bike and that's what they are like.
The headtube is quite long compared to equivalent models from Trek or Giant and it has lots of headset spacers which you can remove or keep, so the front end is fairly high and it's OK as a Century-ride/sportive-type bike, less so as a low-profile TT bike.
It's considered to have reliable but lively handling (i.e. it's fun to ride but not scary).
The frame is considered amongst the best of the £500 bikes and worth keeping if you were to want to upgrade the components at a later stage (rather than it not being worth it because the frame's not good enough to bother upgrading).
Lots of people have them and like them.

Whether it's worth paying the extra money for the better models - up to you really !
The base model is perfectly fine. It probably needs better wheels, but that'll be the case with all the other £500 bikes from other manufacturers - they all come with OK but not brilliant wheels.
The Sora gears are fine, the Tiagra ones are a bit better. Both work. Neither will make the difference between you being able to cycle 100 miles or not, or climb a hill rather than walking up it - that's down to you I'm afraid !
You could buy the £500 base model and some £200 wheels and compare it with what you'd get if you paid the £700 for the Sport - you'd now have better wheels but the gears not so good.

I think you need to trot down to the bike shop, see them in the flesh, have a testride and see what you think.

meanwhile

andy_wrx wrote:

The Allez is a proper 'race' bike, not a hybrid or comfort bike. It doesn't have a harsh ride - it's a 'race' bike and that's what they are like.

If you're saying that all race bikes have the same ride - and I can't think what else you are saying - then I strongly disagree. Mind you, my feelings are probably coloured by being outside of the normal road racer skinny-boy body type.

Campy King

meanwhile wrote:

andy_wrx wrote:

The Allez is a proper 'race' bike, not a hybrid or comfort bike. It doesn't have a harsh ride - it's a 'race' bike and that's what they are like.

If you're saying that all race bikes have the same ride - and I can't think what else you are saying - then I strongly disagree. Mind you, my feelings are probably coloured by being outside of the normal road racer skinny-boy body type.

The Specialised Allez is definately not a proper race bike.

andy_wrx

Go on then, give us your definition of a proper road bike

Campy King

I said proper "race" bike not road bike if you read my post.

andy_wrx

Go on then, give us your definition of a proper race bike

Campy King

The Specialized Allez has a very relaxed riding position, that is what I am saying.

dazzawazza

If money is an issue I would advise buying the cheaper bike and upgrade later.
I’ve recently upgraded my std Allez for £400 using discounted Ultegra Octalink parts, £200 Xero wheels and some second hand shifters. I now feel I’ve got quite a good bike for just over £900 and it’s more unique and better looking.
The Sora group-set is fine for a novice, which I’ve used for a year and 3000 miles. I’m now going to use the group-set and wheels to build a commuter, as soon as I find a cheap second hand, or discarded frame.

paulorg

Thanks for the replies, especially Andy WRX, will toddle off to the LBS and see what they can convince me to spend

Lagavulin

Campy King wrote:

The Specialized Allez has a very relaxed riding position, that is what I am saying.

It does have a fairly long headtube but then they tend to come supplied with a mighty stack of spacers as well. I think mine came with about 3cm-4cm, plus a chunky stem - needed an additional spacer on top when I swapped to a shallower shorter ITM Visia stem.

Takethe spacers out, have the steerer cut and, providing the reach is still ok, with a neutral stem you could probably get a fairly aggressive position out of an Allez.