The 2011 Specialized Allez Comp: A Strong, High Performance Touring Bike

If you are looking into an entry level racing bike, the Specialized 2011 Allez Comp is where you should start. Redesigned for 2011, the aluminum frame is shaped exactly like the Tarmac.

"After the Roubaix, the biggest news on the road side is the complete redesign of the Specialized Allez.  The new frames are 20% stiffer…they have the same torsional stiffness as the Pro Tour-proven Tarmac SL3…and they get the same tapered headtube design on the Elite models with bearings set further up the steerer tube for enhanced stiffness due to increased surface contact area (details are a bit sparse on that aspect, we’re working on it). The seat tube gets butted, swaged and formed into a squared shape at the bottom bracket, strengthening one of the highest stressed areas on the bike.

Being Specialized’s competitive but affordable road model, the Allez comes with both high performance builds and one version with SRAM’s new performance touring compact double Apex group. In addition to the same stiffness as the Tarmac SL3, the new Allez shares its racy geometry. In this comparison, the gray is the Allez A1, yellow is the Allez E5 and the red is the Tarmac SL3."(BikeRumor)