Specialized, forgiveness may be close at hand... 2013 S-WORKS ALLEZ!

A sub 1200g alu frame, only 50 to be made.

Cannondale already trail-blazed with the new CAAD10, but unfortunately their designers confused bluprints for the front-end with the bride of Frankenstein, that is after she fell down the ugly tree hitting every branch on the way down

The S-WORKS ALLEZ: http://www.bikeradar.com/road/gear/category/bikes/road/product/review-specialized-bicycles-allez-race-13-46401?CPN=RSS&SOURCE=BRGENGEAR

Gazing at this alloy wonder, and the potential for future ownership, I may be able to let go of the Volagi transgression.

 

In terms of aesthetics I'm gonna cast my vote for the CAAD10. I'm not hip to the Allez's top tube hump. It'll be interesting, though, to see where its price lands in the real world compared to the CAAD10.

 

Yes, the hump. I figure if i squint just so I won't notice - seems to be the new Specialized moniker. I'm thinking thousands. The closest thing I could find was $2500 which wasn't specific as to the frame or the bike but seeing as I read in another article planned pricing was going to be $5G+ with an "s-works" package, I'm pretty sure that's just the frame. Lotta heresay at this point. They sell the current Allez as a frame for 700 bucks or something similar. Is 200grams and exclusivity worth the extra $$$? I dunno? If bling factor has a price limit it's not really bling.

 

Is that like plugging your ears so that Rosie Perez's voice doesn't ruin her look?

 

I think the S-works version is going to fall flat price wise except for die-hards and fan boys. CAAD10 w/105 is a hard match for the value. Torelli did a limited run on their XCR stainless steel bike of 33 a couple years ago. One would think that would make them hard to come by, but they can still be ordered from a dealer. Maybe the cost slowed down demand. $2500 for an alu framset is a tough sell in any market.

Rosie's gonna need more than plugs to do the trick on me. But just like the Specialized, I imagine it's less of an issue when looking down once the ride is underway...

 

I say let the wife worry about what something cost while I just ride, unburdened by such weighty considerations.

 

The BB was flexy under a rider weighing a buck-fiddy???

 

Imagine what they would have said about Sean Kelly's Vitus. Imagine what Sean Kelly said about his Vitus. This 'ere bike is as noodly as a piece o' straw in the wind but I just noodled my way out o' the field on the downside of the Poggio, and then noodled past Moreno in his stiffer SLX bike, for the win.

But 150 is a pretty low threshold for noodles. The Italians however would likely say you just need to work on your pedaling style.

 

Imagine what my team mate said when his Vitus came unglued.

Sean probably said something more like, "I've made da calcoolatshun and my bank account will grow by a bazillion shillings if I ride this here glued and pinned POS up da Turmalay."

Things I learned from Cycling Forums #134: Flexible bikes are a good thing.

Things I've learned from pro racing #26: You can pay a bicyclist to use pure, unadulterated garbage if you pay him enough.

Things I've learned from life #7: Talent, dope, luck or any combination trumps flexible and garbage.

Maybe the driveline flex will provide a softer ride AND help trim the shimaNO front derailleur? /img/vbsmilies/smilies/wink.gif

BTW, my Ti Litespeed is about two notches stiffer than a Vitus...polishing the inside of the chainstays with a 23mm tire. Garbage. Pure. Unadulterated. Garbage.

 

Good one.

My old Merlin once secretly conspired to cut off it's own chainstay in cahoots with my cranksets inner chainring and BB. Good thing ti don't cut easy. Bad thing I didn't routinely inspect for damage, or do my own drivetrain work back then. I wish I could have seen the slo-mo film on that one. That bike rode soft as a baby's behind but all those lost watts! Oh the humanity.

Not the Lightspeed Ultimate though? That thing looked tough as nails.

 

Oh crap?

 

Oh crap?

More. Much more.

None of it suitable for a family forum.

Between Alan and Vitus I often wondered how many attorneys made partner in the '80's...

The early aluminum failures (and Kestral's plastic crap) were epic. The joint quality made Lambert Aerospace forks and Sears Free Spirit head tube tack welds look downright proper and over-engineered. Toss in Ohio seasonal temperature changes and winter road salt and it was a recipe for disaster. That reminds me...a friend probably still has that fugly purple Vitus hanging in his basement...and I am in need of a good lamp stand project.

 

I just scoped out the Caad 10 on C-dale's website. Not so bad looking, but I have to wonder why they still are doing aluminum. Retro challenge?

Surely not for cost and that "it'll ride the seat stay cluster right off any $5K carbon bike!"...er...whatever.

The new Allez alloy...I've read the head tube is forged and I've read that that it is hydroformed. My guess is that is investment cast or CNC billet machined. Oh well, the 'junior welders' can have at it. No heat zone worries...no need to alloy Scandium...Allez! Allez! (CampyBob will have nightmares tonight of the wild nights he tried to sleep off a week-long binge at LeMans during the 24-hours with the moronic French carnival ride operators screaming, "Allez! Allez! Allez!"...All. Night. Long.)

 

The still make 'em because they're ace and are priced to move.

In terms of ride, the only real difference between the CAAD and a SuperSix Hi-Mod is the latters' amazing road vibration damping and about 100g less weight.

The only thing worse than a Vitus frame was Campags attempt at indexed shifting in the 80's and early 90's. Plastic Sachs-Huret rear mechs shifted as well. I reckon that Delta brakes lead to more crashes than all the crud alu frames in the mid 80s. Sure, set them up right and they stopped kinda ok. Kinda... is being kind. Chuck the brake cable in and set the shoes as wide apart as you would have done with a sidepull and you were in for a sphyncter closing moment or three if you had to jam on the anchors.

My Vitus came "unbonded" but didn't dump me on the floor. It has a few day vacation at British Aerospace where the top and downtubes were removed and bonded back to the respective lungs. Life was good after that.

 

The still make 'em because they're ace and are priced to move.

Yeah, they still build a replica Mini Cooper S, too!

In terms of ride, the only real difference between the CAAD and a SuperSix Hi-Mod is the latters' amazing road vibration damping and about 100g less weight.

Meh! You forgot the most important feature...the Cool Factor. You can't be a Cool Kid on a recycled beer can.

The only thing worse than a Vitus frame was Campags attempt at indexed shifting in the 80's and early 90's.

My God, was that crap...crap. So bad it could be switched to friction with a twist of the knob. Even when it 'worked'...it didn't work. I had a Chorus or Victory version and I NEVER got it dialed in. What was that? 7-speed?

Plastic Sachs-Huret rear mechs shifted as well.

The all steel Huret Alvit was, without peer, the worst rear EVAR manufactured. The term "fishing for a gear" was invented by Alvit users.

I reckon that Delta brakes lead to more crashes than all the crud alu frames in the mid 80s. Sure, set them up right and they stopped kinda ok. Kinda... is being kind. Chuck the brake cable in and set the shoes as wide apart as you would have done with a sidepull and you were in for a sphyncter closing moment or three if you had to jam on the anchors.

Oddly, I raced them (the C-Record versions) in hilly races for a season or two with no problems other than loooong braking distances and set-up distances that lost you gobs of positions. Campagnolo ad men probably came up with the original version of "racing brakes are only meant to slow you down, not stop you!" 15 minutes after Deltas hit the market. I have a never-mounted pair of Croce Deltas...great paper weights.

My Vitus came "unbonded" but didn't dump me on the floor. It has a few day vacation at British Aerospace where the top and downtubes were removed and bonded back to the respective lungs. Life was good after that.

The first versions were not pinned. Later versions were...for our safety! LMAO. Around here, we just scrapped them. They ended up on curbs during community trash pickup days. The frame flex, thudder ride and el explodo construction had even the tightest riders stripping the components off and turning them into...lamps. The road salt we use in winter mixed into the road spray and penetrated the joints, causing the epoxy to fail and the aluminum to oxidize from the inside.

Nashbar sold a bunch of them and I stopped into the outlet store one day to find a pile of them in the 'warranty pile' in a back room.

I wonder how many freebies Sean went thru in a season?

My friend's Vitus was a slow fail. He did not go down hard either. Now, the poor kid on the black Alan...lost hide measured in square feet. What was the third popular glued brand? I'm drawing a blank right now, but if I'm remembering things correctly that was the one that generated the most destructive and complete failure I've ever seen in a frame, prior to the carbon explosions of a few years ago.