spectastic

I'm looking for a speed oriented road bike that's not ridiculously pricey, and have it narrowed down to these 2, with potential consideration for a caad12 or 13 disc.

My priorities are speed, price, disc brakes, 12 mm thru axles, and a bb that doesn't talk.

Im looking for feedback from people who have ridden/raced/owned both of these bikes and have opinions or observations on either of these bikes that aren't listed on the websites.

smashndash

well... I don't meet your criteria, but I have a rim brake allez sprint. I'll remain objective.
1) the front mech hanger is soft aluminum and not replaceable. Be careful with it.
2) The headset is proprietary and specialized has already discontinued the rim brake version. However, the disc brake version uses a different headset.
3) The ride is fairly rough, mainly due to the aero seatpost. The seat rail (NOT seatpost) clamp mechanism also tends to slip. You'll need to use some sort of grit paste.
4) The bottom bracket is BB30. IME there's nothing bad about it as long as you use a thread-together or one piece BB. The OE praxis got rough really quickly so I went to hambini. I'd recommend that on any pressfit bike.

Less relevant:
5) The praxis crank that came with my allez sprint had serious shifting issues. I was told by the shop to get a shimano crank (and that worked). The disc brake model seems to come with a different praxis crank, though.
6) The spokes that came with my wheels were so flexy that they would touch the rear mech under high torque. The shop's solution was to put a spacer behind my 11 speed cassette (ie, a bodge). I ended up replacing the rear wheel. Again, the disc brake version has different rims so maybe the spokes are also different.

SapInMyBlood

That's a lot of **** ups on a new high end bike 👀

smashndash

you're telling me. I almost got into a fight with the mechanic at the shop because he basically brushed me off saying "this is what you get at this price".

I've replaced literally every part on this bike besides the fork, frame, headset bearings and shifters. And the headset bearings are going once I get my hands on a replacement.

spectastic

wow wtf. and the bikes these days aren't even in stock. I think 2022 prices are going to be even more ridiculous. might just get the tcr that's you can actually find

topflightpro

My wife loves her TCR Disc. I would fully recommend.

I have a rim brake Allez Sprint. The headset issue is real. My headset imploded even though the bike spends 95% of its time on the trainer. I was annoyed to have to buy a complete headset to replace just the stupid lower bearing for it.

smashndash

Yeah I have (at least) 2 friends with last-gen TCRs. They have no complaints that I know of.

the new one seems to be a minor evolution over the old

Iride01 

It must have been quite awhile since you've been to a bike shop.

Speed is all on you. Though lighter and aero will help, but at some point there is even a tradeoff between them as aero usually requires more material and therefore a few ounces more weight.

The two in your title have the lower stack heights that will let you get in a more aero position than the other mentioned.

spectastic

Was this a tolerance issue on the frame head tube? I'm struggling with how a headset bearing in 2021 just goes kaput. I'd hate to see how long the BB bearings last. My understanding is specialized has better manufacturing tolerance than most other huge bike companies, but it doesn't sound like that's the case, especially with them going back to the BSA BB for the SL7.

smashndash

The lower bearing has 0 sealing, basically. The balls are super tiny too. If you get an allez sprint, I would service the headset regularly.

Also the allez sprint has a BB30 shell, which is a dead standard. Nobody actually uses direct fit 6806 bearings with a narrow crank (ie S-Works, original cannondale etc) anymore.

TiHabanero

As terrible as this sounds, the Allez Sprint is a bargain racer. Every item outside the drive train is spec'd to hit the price point. I know as I have been servicing Specialized bikes at a Specialized dealer for decades. FWIW, Specialized is no more tolerance savvy than any other bike brand.
The frame is a great go faster frame. Building a go faster bike around that frame is doable and will result in a nice performer.

topflightpro

I can't really say what the issue was. When I built the bike, I left the steer tube long, to make sure I was happy with everything before cutting it too much. After a year or two, I pulled the fork to cut it, and when I did, half of the lower headset bearing came out with the fork. The bearing itself had just come apart. I've never seen anything like it. It just fell apart.

I'll also add that the lower headset bearing came installed in the frame. I originally thought that Specialized had forgot to include it when I got the frameset because it sits fairly high in the headtube.

And because it is an odd size, I had to buy a replacement from Specialized, and they only sell complete headsets.

spectastic

well hopefully specialized listens to their customers. maybe they'll go with BSA with the next gen allez sprint. I hope so. But there will also likely to be a price hike, in which case it might just be better to get a tcr now.