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TECH NEWS

Video Just In: Specialized Allez E5 Sport

An aluminium road bike with a Shimano Sora 9-speed groupset for £750

Specialized’s Allez E5 Sport is a £750 aluminium road bike with a carbon-fibre fork and a largely Shimano Sora 9-speed groupset, and it looks like great value for money.

This is the most affordable road bike that we’ve had in for review at road.cc lately, although the Raleigh Criterium Sport that we tested recently was just £50 more expensive at £800. Like the Allez E5 Sport, the Raleigh is built around an aluminium frame and carbon-fibre fork but it has a full Shimano Tiagra groupset, Tiagra being a level higher than the Allez’s Sora and 10-speed rather than 9-speed.

Specialized Allez E5 - head tube.jpg

Dave described the Raleigh Criterium Sport as “a cracking bike for the money, and one that isn't easily embarrassed by more expensive rivals”.

Specialized Allez E5 - drivetrain.jpg

The Dolan L’Etape 105 that we reviewed is more expensive again at £949.98. It’s a full carbon-fibre road bike with a Shimano 105 groupset – another step up in the Shimano hierarchy. 

We said, “If you really crave a carbon fibre bike but don't want to spend a fortune, this is one of the best affordable carbon bikes you are likely to find anywhere.”

Specialized Allez E5 - down tube.jpg

The Specialized Allez E5 Sport bike weighs in at 9.44kg (20.8lb).

Specialized Allez E5 - sdaddle.jpg

It looks like you get plenty of bike for your £750. We’re going to take it out on road to see if its performance matches the impressive spec sheet.

For more info go to www.specialized.com.

Mat has been in cycling media since 1996, on titles including BikeRadar, Total Bike, Total Mountain Bike, What Mountain Bike and Mountain Biking UK, and he has been editor of 220 Triathlon and Cycling Plus. Mat has been road.cc technical editor for over a decade, testing bikes, fettling the latest kit, and trying out the most up-to-the-minute clothing. We send him off around the world to get all the news from launches and shows too. He has won his category in Ironman UK 70.3 and finished on the podium in both marathons he has run. Mat is a Cambridge graduate who did a post-grad in magazine journalism, and he is a winner of the Cycling Media Award for Specialist Online Writer. Now over 50, he's riding road and gravel bikes most days for fun and fitness rather than training for competitions.

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5 comments

Avatar
redspear999 | 6 years ago
4 likes

Nothing wrong with sora. I've got bikes with sora and ultegra and although ultegra is 'slicker', sora does a perfectly good job. 

Avatar
Grahamd | 6 years ago
1 like

Settle for Sora, no thanks I'll save for a bit longer...

Avatar
flobble | 6 years ago
3 likes

Just flopping about under the top tube. Ruins the aesthetic for me.  2

Avatar
check12 | 6 years ago
0 likes

"High end value for money" what does that mean? (From the video commentary)

 

Avatar
Matt Howes replied to check12 | 6 years ago
0 likes

check12 wrote:

"High end value for money" what does that mean? (From the video commentary)

 

Unintended slip of the tongue that I hadn't noticed.... it should be high end. My bad

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