The Ben Delaney video, and the BicycleStation video were the two that popped up in my Youtube feed. I ignored Delaney’s as I can’t stand his speech pattern and cadence. (Question mark, Exclamation Point)… And I made it about two minutes through the other after seeing his pedal stroke with what is clearly too high of a saddle, on what is likely too large of a bike, thereby invalidating any credible ride reflections he had afterwards… Which I’m sure was hype. Wait until they learn that Taiwan is not in fact part of China, nor where these bikes are made, despite Allied doing their best to scrub any mention of the C word from their press and socials, instead, have begun simply saying made in Asia… which is a continent made up of over 50 countries, some of which are less en vogue than others.
Mine is ~3.5mm rear, 4-4.5 in the front (but only at the 45 degree corner, much more space elsewhere). 25mm IW Rims. Haven’t measured with my other rims yet.
Agreed not sticky mud-capable with that tire though.
With all the tariff misdirection going on right now, it’s hard to predict where things are heading. I like to think that the current shock and awe campaign is 90% short-term negotiation tactic, but I think the China stuff could be ugly for a while. I’m seriously considering pulling the trigger on a Seigla frame for ~$2300 before that price goes up. Lauf is very clear that the frames are made in China.
Allied does have the advantage of having a good portion of the COGS on the frame added in the US. They are only getting rough/raw carbon frames from china, not finished frames. I have no idea what they pay for a raw frame, but I’d bet it’s a small fraction of the retail price. Still painful, but not as painful as a company like Lauf that’s buying finished frames. And yeah, I hate the general “Asia” marketing spin, but I’d probably do the same if I was in their marketing department. My Trek is made in Cambodia, I honestly don’t know if that’s a good or bad thing. As long as you have a strong company/brand behind the design and quality control and it’s not being made with slave/child labor, I don’t care that much about where it’s made.
China is the one country that can call Trump’s bluff…and right now we are in a death spiral with them. Neither side is backing down and both keep upping the ante.
Tariffs are based on the price listed on the Commercial Invoice which accompanies every shipment. There are a number of valuation methods that are used to calculate that amount, but I have zero insight into which one Allied is using since the frame is essentially being imported as a component and not a finished good. SO yes, the number on the Commerical INvoice is much lower than any retail price you see…but with the current tariffs at 124%, it is still gonna be brutal. I only hope the partner they chose is a Taiwanese-owned facility and has the capability to produce on the island. Or if it is Chinese-owned, they at least have facilities in other countries. No goods coming out of China are going to be affordable right now.
Semi-related side note: If you want to get an excellent overview of how the tariffs have the potential to absolutely nuke some companies, and how they cannot possibly drive manufacturing to the US, listen to the most recent Marginal Gains podcast. Josh spends an hour going over the situation and explaining just how reckless both the strategy and the implementation of it is. He makes a lot of the same points I have been saying for months…
Reading the specs on the 3T website it seems that crank length, stem length and handlebar width are fixed based on the frame size. That seems like an odd choice for such a premium bike. And there is no way I would buy such an expensive frame or bike just to replace 3 parts to make it fit.
not sure why they didnt run a slanted top tube and dropped stays which are faster.
Sam Pittman, who led he product development, is a horizontal top tube guy.
Have not seen anything as to why they did not use dropped seatstays, but if you are running anything over 2.0 tires, I think it is pretty hard to say that any part of a bike feels “stiff”. Way too many other things are going to mask over how the frame feels.
^ I wouldn’t agree with that completely. An extra 10mm or 15mm of seatpost deflection from a more exposed seatpost drastically improves the comfort and plushness of the “travel” you’re getting from the tire. By saying that anything over a 2.0 masks frame feel is way to generous… Go ride an alloy hardtail with 2.4" tires, and then a carbon equivalent with identical build and geometry and tires. You’re going to feel every bump quite a bit differently.
Of the several Able builds I’ve seen built up across the internet, they’ve all been running what I would call “too low” of a seatpost to get any sort of simple compliance out of it. I think this is a major miss by the designer, in building a gravel bike aimed at gravel racing, of which the biggest is a 10 hour effort, but frequently a 4+ hour effort. (see James Huang’s build, or even Ben Delaney’s. Very different heights, same “issue”)
Yeah, I agree on the backend. I’ve had multiple Trek bikes (road and gravel) with the rear isospeed thingy and the compliance of a long flexy seat tube (along with seat post) makes a big difference in the ride. Sure, larger tires can help, but why not add some rear compliance in the frame as well? I’d want to ride the bike before passing too much judgement, but dropped stays and sloped top tubes have become popular because they work. It might also come down to preference. I like a plush bike. But there are people who still like hard tails for XC racing, so opinions vary.
Lauren on a new GS1 it appears.
Probably 95% of the bikes mentioned in this thread all have those components fixed based on size..
Seatpost deflection and dropped seatstays is up for debate: see peak torques video here: Do dropped seat stays improve comfort? No.
If you need comfort, you could always run a comfort post, a la canyon with the split design.
The new Yoeleo Altera seems to tick all of the boxes - if you aren’t subject to excessive tariffs, of course.
Nice, an iteration on the G21.
- Slacker HTA and therefore longer front center (625 in a 56 instead of 604)
- Frame storage both top tube and downtube
- Flexy seatpost? And round instead of D-shaped on the old one.
- Better BB shell
Great to see! I know not everyone cares about toe overlap but the extremely short FC on the G21 was definitely something that made me look elsewhere.
This looks like an iteration on what was already a great bike. Would have liked them to also increase chainring clearance - it’s still 44T wide, if you can squeeze in a 46T then I’m very interested. Also narrower handlebars would be nice, but you can get that from elsewhere.
Actually not. At least the 3T frameset comes with stem and handlebar while most (all) other do not. It is nice that the cockpit is included for the price but its not much help if the size is not right.
The Lauf comes with bars, but sized based on frame. The only frame/bike I’ve ever bought that allowed me to choose stem/bar size is a Trek P1 frame many years ago.
When I get a new bike, it’s almost a guarantee that the crank, bars, and saddle will be swapped out before it’s ridden.
DoublePost
There is no debate on seatpost deflection, it’s just physics. I can see why someone would doubt dropped seat stays being a comfort benefit, and likely often done for an aesthetic or aero purpose. And my point is further made that even a Canyon/Ergon seatpost wouldn’t do much in this case as you’re not getting enough leverage to actuate the “spring” like feature. A Redshift or CaneCreek would help, but those are heavy and hideous. Back to my original post, this stems from the horizontal top tube more than anything.
Yeah that Yoeleo looks actually pretty nice. Perhaps not as an all-out race frame (no aero considerations) but super versatile with good tire clearance, tons of frame storage, mounts for legit fenders, fully or partially integrated cables, round seat post and threaded BB. It’s make a great gravel bike, winter road bike, travel bike etc.
If the geo works for you….it is a very short and tall frame. Literally not a frame size I could ride. In order to get the stack I need, I’d have to use a ridiculously long stem and to get the reach I need, i would be on an XL frame and the stack would be 3cm too high.