We’ve covered what makes Allied Cycle Works unique and how they build their race-winning bikes, we’ve even dug deep into their flashy Harlequin paint series. It’s now time to dive straight into what you’ve all been waiting for – the bikes themselves.
Go faster with Allied
As a UK partner of the US-based Allied Cycle Works, we offer a range of their bespoke and drop-dead gorgeous bike builds. There are several base models on offer, from the zippy Alfa to the dirt-munching All-Road, but where Allied’s builds come into their own is in the customisation department.
Each one of these stunning base models can be tweaked and customised entirely to your own specification, making the choices almost endless. If you’ve ever wanted to own a unique bike that would make even the most seasoned of pros drool in admiration, then an Allied bike is the one for you.
The Alfa
Allied’s first ever build, the Alfa, was the bike to really get the ball rolling. Combining simplicity with top-end performance, the Alfa had the classic look that everyone loves, but could also back it up with race-winning results – a feat that not many of the big race bike manufacturers have managed to achieve.
The Alfa’s frame design is simple yet intuitive, combining racing and sportive geometry to create a bike that can be ridden both seriously and leisurely. Allied use a material called INNEGRA in the Alfa’s frame and it’s this that gives the bike its incredibly durability. Small impacts and bumps on the road are absorbed into the Alfa’s frame like they’re nothing, vastly improving the overall ride quality.
The frame is available in a rim brake or disc brake base model. Which one will you choose as the base to your dream bike?
The All-Road
The clue is in the name with this model, the All-Road is a bike designed to ride anywhere and over just about anything.
Allied have channelled all the top-end performance characteristics of their Alfa into the All-Road frame, while also adding a few extra features to make it a little more suitable for off-road riding. The result is a bike that can shred both on the dirt and on the tarmac – we even think that the All-Road could be the answer to the age-old N+1 conundrum.
The All-Road comes with flat mounted disc brakes as default and some pretty wide tyre clearance, allowing you to fit anything from a 23mm to a 38mm tyre. The chainstays and wheelbase are kept tight and compact, like the Alfa, making the bike incredibly nippy over a variety of surfaces.
INNEGRA is also used in the All-Road’s frame, improving its durability and ride quality – perfect if you’re planning on sending it on day-long gravel adventures into the wilderness.
The Able
Allied’s Able takes the All-Road and steps it up a notch, the people who designed it describing it as a “highly capable performance off-road machine that tilts more towards the ‘mountain skinny’ side of the gravel segment.â€
The most striking feature of the Able, and perhaps the biggest feature that sets it apart from the All-Road, is the elevated drive side chainstay. This allows the bike to maintain an extremely short and nippy rear end, while accommodating more space for a larger tyre. If there’s one thing you’ll need for racing on gravel it’s wide and comfy tyres.
It’s an incredibly agile bike that feels at home on everything from tarmac to single-track, ripping at some incredible speeds as it tears up the surface underneath. This versatile aspect of the bike was on show at last weekend’s Dirty Kanza race in the US, an event that has gone from fringe hipster festival to a mainstream and incredibly prestigious event over the past few years.
Colin Strickland won the men’s race and Amity Rockwell the women’s, both sharing one thing in common – they rode Allied’s Able. If that isn’t testament enough to the brilliance of Allied and their bespoke bikes, then we don’t know what is!
If a bespoke, truly unique bike sounds like your kind of thing, then be sure to head down to one of our stores or send us a quick email to start planning your dream bike today.
