New bike for racing - Specialized Allez Sprint Disc or Canyon Aeroad CF SLX 9.0 Disc - please help!

Equipment
1

Hi everyone,

I’m hoping I can get a little advice here. I’m currently torn between my current bike (Canyon Aeroad CF SLX disc) and a frame I’ve just ordered (Allez Sprint disc).

Long story short I was hit by a car last year and totaled my old Aeroad and once I received the insurance payout I replaced it but sized down as I got an extremely good offer on a virtually brand new (secondhand) bike. Although I love the bike and can’t really fault it, I had a few fit issues from the new size, albeit mostly rectified now, I still see it more as a racing tool rather than something that excites me.

I’ve got a busy race season ahead of crits and mostly flat road races and i’m confident either bike would be well suited to this. Keeping ‘only race what you can afford to replace’ in mind, what would you do?

  • Move the hydro Dura ace groupset and wheels from my aeroad to the Allez sprint frame? (and have a nice chunk of cash left over from the sale of the Canyon frame)

  • Stick with the aeroad?

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I’ve heard lots of people say to race a size down, especially for crits. With that in mind, I’d recommend racing the aeroad. I’d say that even more strongly considering my bias against specialized and the fact that the aeroad is a flat out beautiful bike (that’s all personal though). As far as replacement of the bike if you crash in a race, I’d say whichever you decide you want to race or ride. You have the allez to replace the aeroad if you crash it, so it seems cost of replacing the bike shouldn’t be as much of a concern. You could still sell the allez if you want the extra money, or you could build it up to have as another bike, or you could just keep it around to put parts on if you damage the aeroad frame. If you do crash the aeroad, canyon should have a crash-replacement deal that would give you a significant discount even without insurance money. All-in-all, try not to crash, good luck with your season, and whichever you pick really is mostly preference. Hopefully that helps!

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Maybe I can help.

I have a specialized allez sprint disc since May 2019 after breaking my old trek emonda SL.

Fast forward to today and I crashed it last week. I broke my enve aero handlebars and dented the seatstays slightly, a change of handlebar and some true-ing of wheels and I was back on it 2 days later.

Unlike after the first crash, crashing the allez sprint was like meh, I’m sure its fine.

Why not race the allez sprint disc with a build that is completely easy to replace and keep the aeroad for those really nice long days? completely rebuild it with parts you’ll keep. since its disc, you can keep the wheelset for a really long time.

Id recommend for the allez sprint disc:

shimano 105 R7020 complete groupset
Light bicycle WR50 rims with dt swiss 350’s
tubeless tires
reasonably cheap cockpit

I wish where I lived I am covered by insurance, where I stay, there is no such thing.

or do it the other way round, the difference between the two bikes is tire clearance, I have schwalbe pro one 28’s on them and they ride really well. I bet they’ll fit 30’s. use the allez sprint for training and long rides and race the aeroad.

or

have a dedicated trainerroad bike and built it as cheap as possible while trying to mimic the bike fits exactly for both bikes.

i’ve never ridden the aeroad so I cant comment on exciting. The allez sprint disc can be summarized in one word to me: stiff. it just feels rock solid everywhere. its definitely a racy feeling bike and feels best in crits and when you’re going hard. Compared to the trek emonda SL, it feels like when you’re on the bike there’s no such thing as tempo, its either sweetspot, threshold or go home buddy.

best thing about disc brake bikes is almost everything can be swapped between the two bikes.

Also if anybody is reading this and has dealt with the Enve crash replacement do let me know. I’m hoping Enve honors the crash replacement warranty. Thank you.

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dgb1821 and Muzzaffar thank you for your replies and theres some definitely some great advice in there. However, I should’ve been more specific with some of the details.

Unfortunately I’m not in a position to keep both partly because of the cost, partly due to living in a shared house (fortunate enough to already be able to keep two bikes inside), and I don’t want another bike that does very similar things. N+1 would be CX or XC for winter.

Crash replacement from Canyon wouldn’t really be a viable option - I bought the bike second hand and i think it then becomes void. Also dangling 1 point away from an upgrade last year after my accident and having no road bike for 3 months of the summer was really frustrating.

I work as a bike mechanic so I’m lucky enough to access to discounted parts and a brilliant workshop. I have 25mm Schwalbe Pro ones set-up tubeless on my my wheels that come up like 28’s so that’s that covered.

I’ve studied the geo charts of both frames and the Allez is actually more ‘relaxed’ than the Aeroad with a higher stack, shorter reach and a more relaxed seat tube angle.

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Ah, I see. geometry is something definitely you should consider. If the allez fits you better you should go for the allez. Although, I always thought the allez sprint has a pretty aggressive geometry. That aeroad must be quite small for you.

If you could only keep one and if you plan to use it mainly for racing, go for the allez sprint disc. I’d vouch for it 100%.

Transfer the parts over and post a picture here after you’re done, would love to see it!

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Are you sure? I just looked at both and this is what I came up with:

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image1123×441 25.5 KB

The allez has a steeper head angle and seat tube, shorter wheel base and chainstay. All of which I’d say is ‘more aggressive’ and should make the bike handle quicker. Though it is a couple mm’s shorter and about a cm taller.

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Was in similar shoes. Sold the allez, kept my emonda slr. Don’t regret it one bit. My emonda is the h1 and it’s as slammed as it can go with a -10* stem as well.

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I built it up last week and managed to sell the aeroad frame within two days.

Couldn’t be happier, it fits like a glove and is an incredibly fun bike to ride.

image
image1992×1403 1.59 MB

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NOICE!

That is a sweet looking bike. Have yet to see one built in that colour way.

Enjoy the ride cause its going to give you lots of smiles in the future.

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That is absolutely beautiful. I’m in love with those wheels. Are they mavics? Enjoy riding and racing on that gorgeous bike.

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