ALLIED CYCLE WORKS


MADE HERE IN THE USA

Allied Cycle Works was created with the immediate goal of building custom and semi-custom high-performance carbon bikes in the USA. While this isn’t immediately unique (there are a few other notable custom carbon frame builders in the US), what sets Allied apart is their dedication to disrupting the bicycle marketplace by keeping all production and development in the US.

We are excited to add Allied Cycle Works to our curated list of brands in the shop. Each bike is impressively light, tuned for high performance, and built exactly to the rider’s specs. Allied offers them in both frameset-only and complete bicycle configurations.

Allied Able

ALLIED ABLE

The Dirty Kanza Conqueror

The Dirty Kanza is one of the world’s most-demanding gravel bike races, attracting ProTour-level riders, ultra-endurance riders, and enthusiasts alike. Outside of a capable athlete, races like the Dirty Kanza require a bike that isn’t just capable of a wide tire but can be ridden quickly through myriad surfaces. The Allied Able gravel bike does just that, with two impressive overall wins in 2019.

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Allied’s newest gravel bike panders toward the “mountain skinny” side of gravel bikes. It’s built for a big tire, but stuffs it in a stubby 420 mm rear end – the same as the Alfa Allroad. The key to this is the elevated drive side chainstay.

The brand claims that an elevated (instead of dropped) chainstay adds stiffness to the rear triangle where they want it, to ensure the bike responds to pedal input with verve. Other frame details unique to the Able include three bottle mounts, a top tube bento box mount, and fender mounts front and rear. The frame is 1x-specific.

Outside of a few outliers, every bike gets a 71-degree angle with a 73.25 or 74-degree seat tube angle. The stack and reach numbers reflect that of a modern XC bike, with the end result being a bike that places the rider in a good climbing position while maintaining a front end that is calm over rough terrain. All said and done, the Able can fit a 700 x 47c tire up front and a 700 x 43c tire in the back with room to spare.

The Able is available as a frameset or complete bicycle, built to your specifications.

Allied Alfa

ALLIED ALFA AND ALFA DISC

The Start of a Renaissance

The Allied Alfa may not look particularly unique, but it starts with a vision: make a carbon frameset that is designed and hand-crafted in the United States that competes with the best in performance, but exceeds them in customization. The Alfa and the Alfa Disc are designed to be a race bike that can be ridden all day long, and is built to last.

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There are a few key tenets of Allied Cycle Works, and they extend to the Alfa and Alfa Disc: personalization, build quality, and riding performance. Complete or frameset, Allied offers their frames in seven different colorways, as well as custom paint options to get exactly the frame you want. Besides that, there are a total of twelve frame sizes, with capability to run mechanical cabling, electronic, and wireless shifting options with ease. Allied also believes in proper build quality; besides every frame being made in the USA, each frame comes with a BSA threaded bottom bracket for greater durability and reliability. They also incorporate Innegra S fibers to improve impact resistance and greatly reduces the chance of catastrophic failure.

Now, to the big question: how does it ride? In short, very well. The bike feels like just about any other high-end race road bike, which is a complement in and of itself. What is most remarkable is how well it absorbs road vibration. Innegra is applied to add stiffness where necessary, but it also surprisingly dampens road vibration. It also has the added benefit of making the frame much more durable to hits and fatigue. As such, the Alfa has great head tube stiffness, and absolutely rewards riders for aggressive inputs and high speeds. With clearance for a 28c tire, race bike geometry, and smooth ride quality, it can be just as good in a sprint as it is during a century ride.

Alfa Allroad

ALLIED ALFA ALLROAD

High Performance for the Road Less Travelled

The newest addition to the line of Allied bikes is the Allied Alfa Allroad. While it looks just like another entry into the quickly-growing gravel bike genre, the mindset in designing the bike is completely different. They wanted a road bike that is just as good on fast road rides as it is on gravel trails or smooth singletrack. As such, they took their Alfa road bike geometry and tweaked it just enough to comfortably fit 38c tires. The result is exactly as they intended: a high-performance road bike that can be ridden almost anywhere, over any surface.

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Allied started with their Alfa road bike. The front triangle is the same as the road bike, meaning it shares carbon layup as well as geometry. Weight is extremely low, like the Alfa, and at just 960 grams for a size 56 cm, it is lighter than many other bikes of this ilk. Further, sharing a front triangle means that the Alfa All Road largely shares geometry with the Alfa; similarly, Allied offers two head tube lengths, a threaded bottom bracket for the sake of simplicity and reliability, and swappable cable management modules. Chainstays and wheelbase are kept tight, allowing riders to move from their current road bike and experience the same thrilling feel that a great road bike provides.

There isn’t much this frameset can’t do. Gravel, cyclocross, road racing, and everything in between: the Alfa Allroad can move seamless through the gamut of riding. It preserves the high performance ride characteristics of the Alfa while accommodating up to 38c tires, with the same fit and largely the same ride quality between the two bikes.


ALL IT TAKES IS ONE RIDE

COME TALK TO ONE OF OUR ALLIED EXPERTS TODAY

At Contender Bicycles, our best tools for selling bikes are the people who ride them. Everyone at Contender Bicycles has extensive experience riding bikes across many brands. Ryan Littlefield is our resident Allied Cycle Works expert. If you have any questions regarding an Allied or want to discuss build options, email him at info@contenderbicycles.com or by phone at Contact Us.