u/Lucidmike78

I just wanted to share some good news for anyone still riding an older rim brake Allez.

I have a 2016 Specialized Allez E5, and for years I believed I could not fit anything wider than 28c tires. I had heard of some people squeezing in 30c tires with the right rim and tire combination, but I always assumed 32c was completely impossible on this frame.

Turns out, at least on my setup, that is not true.

Even earlier in the day today, I tried swapping a wheel from my commuter bike that already had a Ultra Sport III 32c tire mounted to it. That wheel had a 25 mm external rim width, and it did not fit at all to my Allez. Literally zero clearance.

But I tried a 32c Continental GP4000 tire on my H Plus Son Archetype rims, which I believe are about 23 mm external width, and somehow that combination gave me around 2 to 3 mm of clearance both front and rear on the Allez.

That was the part that surprised me. I had mistakenly thought that a wider rim would make fitting a wider tire easier, but in this case, the opposite seems to be true. The slightly narrower external rim appears to keep the inflated tire profile narrow enough to clear the fork, stays, and brake calipers.

Obviously, this does not mean every 2016 Allez E5 will clear 32c tires. But if you have a 2016 Allez E5 or a similar rim brake frame, and you are using rims around 23 mm external width or narrower, it may be worth testing.

I went from a 2016 Specialized Allez E5 Sport, which I had slowly upgraded to 11-speed Shimano 105, H+Son Archetype wheelset, GP5000 tires, TPU tubes, Aerofly-style carbon handlebars, and a Power Mirror Expert saddle. The works.

It was a light bike, not much heavier than a carbon bike built with the same components. I thought it was a great-looking bike. People say stiff is good, so what could I be missing?

I felt like challenging myself on learning how to build more advanced bikes, since building bikes had turned into a separate hobby for me, so I built a custom fully integrated full-carbon frame with a carbon wheelset, 32c tires, and Shimano 105.

At first, I was disappointed that the bike only weighed a few hundred grams less. When I rode it, my initial reaction was, “It feels exactly the same.” But then I noticed I was taking corners with a little more confidence, and climbing out of the saddle felt more natural, which I attribute to the 160mm cranks versus the 170mm cranks on my old bike.

Then I tried riding my aluminum frame bike again, and wow. It was like going from a luxury sports car to a shopping cart.

I’m sure half of that is because of the 32c tires, which can only go on disc brake bikes, compared with the 28c max on the Allez rim brake frame from that era. But now I understand why people are willing to pay so much more to upgrade to carbon. It’s for the comfort of not having every gap in the asphalt shoot straight up into your joints, which really accumulates as stress during long rides.

My aluminum bike has now been relegated to second-bike status, doubling as a commuter bike or a spare bike for a friend who is curious about cycling.