Heartbreaking as it was, I parted my black 2007 S-Works Tarmac SL and sold the components on e-bay. I had not planned to race on the bike at all last year, but spent another half-season racing it after a last-lap charlie foxtrot at BikeSlam put a crack in the toptube of my newer white Tarmac SL3. (That has since been repaired by Calfee.)
I still have the black 2007 S-Works frame, though. In a bittersweet turn of luck, the aluminum Ritchey Pro seatpost is bonded in the carbon seat tube. The fact that the bike is somewhat of a relic to me eases the uselessness of the frame. Maybe it'll become wall art more significant than that thing taking up space on the bike rack. Still, it's the bike I used in 58 races and nearly 20,000 miles of pedaling. For bike dork shills like me, that's a long relationship.
The components, along with other surplus cycling goods including two wheelsets, helped me recoup enough pennies from ebay and the MABRA black market to splurge on a new toy.
I did not entirely want to get rid of the S-works frame, but I was simply not using it (until my other frame was cracked). The transition from one bike to the other was a bit frustrating, too. At the Ride-Sally-Ride criterium, after only a pair of rides on the S-works again, I remember telling my teammate, "I don't know how to corner on this thing!"
To get picky, you see, the S-Works was a 54 cm frame with a short 130mm head tube and 172.5 cranks. When I bought the 2011 Tarmac SL, I shrunk to a 52 cm frame that had a 120mm head tube and 170mm cranks. It was a twitchy switch, but I loved it. The 2007 S-Works had Shimano; the 2011 SL3 had SRAM. I just couldn't alternate riding both bikes without SNAFUing a shift with trained muscle memory, straining my back, and battling just enough knee/muscle strain to be noticeable (which is too much).
Eventually I bit the bullet. As a racer, I want the security of a second bike; I don't want to miss a race because of a dent or crack in a tube. As a thrifty boy scout that lives in an apartment, I did not want the wasted goods, either. So I doubled down and picked up the 2012 Specialized Allez Evo.
I am super happy with this bike.
The bike itself has the same geometry and component sizes (re: crank/bars) as the Tarmac SL3. That was priority #1. The other perks are that the bike is Aluminum; the frame itself costs less than a Calfee carbon repair. Lastly, the Allez comes with SRAM Rival and a BB30 crankset. Between SRAM Rival and SRAM Red, I really can't tell the difference in performance. That's awesome. I can now switch between bikes with little more to worry about than switching my Garmin. For the weight, well, I drink too much beer and eat too many cookies to worry about the grams. Screw it.
There has been a rather virginal trend of purity and whiteness when it comes to bikes and kits in the past few years. From FDJeux's famous clover-leaf white kits where names like Chavanel and Gilbert emerged, to the white Look frames under the former Credit Agricole team and the Cervelo Test Team's all-white kits, there was something clean about white. It was that influence, probably, as I grew into a cycling fanatic, that led me to lust for white bicycles. That influenced me to get the white Tarmac SL3 last year.
I could have gotten a very similarly painted 2012 Allez. But then there's an Evil Black paint job too, with red accents. There's just something sexy about the combination of black - the unknown, with an aggressive red. It's a combination I love. The black is back. As my teammates and I are convinced, so is Aluminum.
The Allez itself is one sweet ride for the investment. Naturally, it handles like the more expensive carbon Tarmac and the tube shapes are made to be similar, too. In those punchy uphills that suit me, a guy under a buck-fifty in mass, you will not feel any loss in response or stiffness. It's exactly what I wanted. It's a bona fide race bike at a fraction of the cost of my carbon steed, sacrificing nearly nothing. Holy hell, I'm happy.
There were a few places that, in my opinion, Specialized's thriftiness had too much influence. The seatpost is generic, and the Apex brakes do not have the response and power that, ironically, Ultegra 6700 brakes have on my SRAM Red-equipped SL3. The wheels are entry-level, as well. That all being said, I switched to a Thomson post, lengthened to a 100mm stem from a stock 90, threw lighter wheels on, and have enjoyed the rides. If the black Apex brakes start to irk me I will use some old Ultegras I have lying around, but they're silver. They just won't match.
As I have it set up, the Allez with Rival and an FSA K-Light BB30 crank weighs 17.2 pounds with two-year-old Shimano Ultegra pedals, Specialized Rib Cages, Garmin Edge, and Roval Fusee SL wheels. It's everything you need and nothing you don't. It screams race ready to me, and the black and red should scream it at you.
See you on the road, thanks for reading.
