Spesh Allez or Tricross??

[Hawk]

The allez is a bit lighter but only has a double chainring up front iirc (I borrowed a friend's for a while). Steep hills are much more difficult and it is geared for the road.

TriCross was ideal for commuting for me when I got it, now I've started getting a bit faster - just swapped the cassette for a 'harder' one at the end of it's natural working life and I'm sorted now!

The riding position is very similar indeed.

Tricross feels quite at home on canal towpaths even when hauling lots of heavy stuff.

I have the data sheet for the spec bikes...

Tricross - luggage limit 25kg, total weight limit 109kg for the 'comp' or 125kg for the sport/base models

Allez - luggage limit 14kg (except 'steel' version - 25kg), total weight limit, 125kg (all models)

They are both listed as "high performance road" so TECHNICALLY are for smooth tarmac but from experience, I would happily take my tricross on the canal towpath at 25mph but would think twice about doing so on an allez.

The allez is less heavy but if you're carrying lots of baggage (workhorse idea) then the tricross will be better more of the time.

I can take off my panniers and racks and enjoy moderate-fast club runs without too much difficulty!

I used snow-studs on my bike over winter, really very effective. The TriCross rim's datasheet says that actually it's only meant to take up to a 36mm tire iirc (the snow tires are 38) but I didn't have any problems with them

 

[2wd]

I own both(,my Allez is a triple btw) and the Tricross is the 2011 model with Tiagra

I have had the Allez for about 8 months and love the bike

I bought the Tricross yesterday

Bought the tricross because the roads are very poor where i live and I spent more time concentrating on avoiding pot holes than enjoying riding.

To compare the two

Allez is Sora and Tricross is Tiagra

My Allez has 25mm conti gatorskins on and the Tricross has big fat 32mm Borough CX tyres on

For me the main difference I have noticed is

Tiagra against Sora sti, with Tiagra being far superior

The Tricross absorbs poor surfaces with ease and is great as a go anywere bike

But the fat tyres are hard work on the road

If I can find the right tyres then for me the Tricross would be my choice between the two

 

[Psyclist]

The Tricross absorbs poor surfaces with ease and is great as a go anywere bike

But the fat tyres are hard work on the road

If I can find the right tyres then for me the Tricross would be my choice between the two

All good points so far, but I'd like to add. Spesh' Allez should have a 28c clearance front and rear, so could be good as a summer and winter trainer bike.

Speccy mentioned the Tricross which has 2300 on it, the Allez 16 does too. I had 2300 on my Giant Defy, very smooth shifting and responsive groupset, decided to sell it as an upgrade for a lighter and better quality one. Although I know a rider who owns 2300 and it has outlasted his higher level Shimano groupos too, and still going.

28c is fine and good enough for comfort and taking hits from potholes as long as your wheels aren't cheese, which Alex rims aren't. You can get 28c mudguard clearance too.

32c CX tyres are better as you'll be able put knobby tyres on for snow, but how often do we get snow?
The Allez and the Tricross are different bikes, road bike and a cross bike have different handling and geo, but this won't matter if you're not a serious road cyclist i.e racing and are just commuting, unless you like fast acceleration and climbing.

 

[Globalti]

I reckon there's 1mph difference between mine and the Secteur on the average commute, most of that is the etra weight of the bike (rack/panier/guards) and the difference in tyre widths 35's compared with 25's on the Secteur.

Same here. My Tricross with 32mm Boroughs is about 1 mph slower on average than my Roubaix with 23 mm Michelin Pro 3s, according to my records of all my rides. That is probably a combination of the weight and the slightly slower tyres.

The Roubaix is more fun for blasting around on but the Tricross is an excellent all-round bike.

 

[2pies]

Just finished my second Sportive (86km last week, 75km today) on my Tricross. Finished both in the top 25 of 200 riders and would routinely breeze past riders on carbon and titanium road bikes.

Admitedly, I am in the process of buying something slightly lighter, better groupset and 23mm tyres rather than 32mm on the Tricross. But the Tricorss isn't slow. It is more about having another bike just for weekend rides and the N+1 line of thnking.

Its the perfect commuter and first drop handle bar bike

 

[Psyclist]

Just finished my second Sportive (86km last week, 75km today) on my Tricross. Finished both in the top 25 of 200 riders and would routinely breeze past riders on carbon and titanium road bikes.

Sportives aren't necessarily races though

 

[2pies]

Sportives aren't necessarily races though

Of course not, but the fact that they are timed and often award Gold/Silver/Bronze standards by age and sex suggests that they appeal to many people's competitive nature. I certainly don't drag my sorry arse out of bed at 7am on a Sunday morning to pootle along

The point I was trying to make was the difference between an out-and-out road bike like the Allez and the Tricross (or any Cyclocross bike) is fairly small, a handful of minutes on ride of this length. I'd imagine that a hybrid or a mountain bike would be 10's of minutes slower.