FWIW, they're calling it 8000 rather than 6900. Availability is spotty in the US but better in the UK, for instance from Merlin.

No kidding, an entirely new prefix and era. Ultegra R8000, R8050, & R8070. A bit hard to see from a consumer standpoint given the massive run of 7xxx DA and 6xxx Ultegra naming conventions all held the same basic design language except 7900/6700. Changes from 6800 to R8000 hardly required retooling much less re-imagining. Or say something massive like 10>11 speed.

Just built up an Allez Sprint...grumbles to himself about internal cables...wishing Force eTap was a thing...

Mine's about done, I thought the internal cables were relatively painless. Of course, I have to re-do the FD cable because I forgot to add an in-line barrel adjuster. It's always something...

Overall they weren't bad. Just didn't account for the lengths I ended up needing.
The Jagwire Race kit wasn't long enough for the full-length rear-brake run. And the chainstay stop-to-rear derailleur housing was longer than I had left over, so I had to scrounge to find some long enough.

I also think where the derailleur cables exit the downtube is kinda tacky. Plus, having eTap on my Propel makes me wish every bike I owned was that easy to set up and tune. But Red eTap is way too spendy for my 'backup' bike.

--- unrelated but related ---
I did an hour on the Allez Sprint yesterday. I know I'm in the honeymoon phase, but I think I might like it better than my Propel. It feels faster and more comfortable. It wasn't noticeably any more harsh of a ride, but that might be helped by recently converting my carbon wheelset to tubeless and running 85/90psi as opposed to the 100/110psi I used to run. As I get more miles on it, maybe I'll swap over the eTap and make the Propel the 'backup' bike. :)

Getting the shift housing the right length was a PIA for me. It would be too long, cut some, too long, cut some, too long, cut some, too short.

We used the Specialized/Retül X-Y tool to transfer the fit from my Allez Comp Race to the Allez Sprint, that's the first time we used it since we bought the tool. All that remains is cutting the steerer and wrapping the bars and it's done. I'm on a restricted riding schedule due to my recovery from the broken femur, so I probably won't ride it until Saturday's shop ride, and then only for an hour and a half or so. Looking forward to it. :)

Good luck, Chuck

I was really hoping the big s would put out an allez sprint with disc's this year. I love the look and design of that frame, just don't want to buy another rim brake bike.

Also it's so hard to find a used 52 or a 50 for sale online in that frame.

I found this existed after I knew I had problem....

The Allez Sprint runs small. Check the geometry as a 54 might actually fit you okay.

So just got my CLX50s, after replacing the tape with the supplied tubeless plugs they come in at 1370 for the pair. Not too shabby for a set of semi-deep carbon clinchers.

This is true. My Gen 1 DSW (Allez Comp Race) is a 58 and I'm on the upper edge of fitting on it (6'2"). I've got 2cm left on the seatpost to the "do not raise above this line" mark. My Sprint is a 58 too, and I had to go from a 110 to a 120 stem and have 25mm of spacers under the -10 stem using a 15mm riser bar, compared to a 10mm spacer under the -6 stem on the Comp Race. I might have done better with a 61.

NSD

mid-sole cleat mounts on these. I'm old. My feet hurt.

http://i.imgur.com/fEPWPSJl.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/36czZw1l.jpg

So jelly. What's the brand? I've been setting cleats up as far back as Shimano shoes will allow, initially trying to make the feet feel better but noticed I could go harder longer w/ lower HR. Not missing anything from top end power as many would suggest but I did notice some rocking on seated sustained climbs. Perhaps less leverage? I was also fried so take that with a grain of salt.

Cleat placement .. I have always had my cleats pretty far back, the physical sensation I am used to is feeling like the balls of my feet are sort of hooking over the pedal. On shimano shoes that ends up being almost but not quite as far back as the cleats can go. To improve sprint power I've been trying to ease the position slightly forward this year, but it doesn't really seem to have helped any and it is not as comfortable a sensation. I've hit some power PRs in training but race numbers have been down, if anything. Hard to disentangle from being somewhat undertrained and getting older too, though.

It's funny, the soles of my Riivos are way more trashed than yours - and I've had to have them replaced two or three times because I cracked them. I'm really not sure how. The uppers look pretty similar to my older pair.

yeah, dunno. Mine are ground down around the edge from a crash but otherwise, outside some surface scratching, totally solid.

the plugs are nice; it as nice to see them move those over from the MTB wheel line-up.

are you running them tubeless? which tires? which sealant?

ran mine tubeless ~6mo then have been using tubes. there were lots of tire iterations during testing. i don't think i've seen the production TLR tires.

i'm of 2 minds about the TL thing for road. my bias is that i live in an area where flats are uncommon, as are little cuts--that makes a huge difference.

when one does flat on the road it's super messy getting a tube in, and it's also appreciably harder to get that tire over the rim in any event.

OTOH if one suffers lots of flats, i can see more value.

Coincidentally, I just had my first tubeless flat a couple of days ago. Putting in a tube wasn't that messy. Of course, if I hadn't let the Stan's dry out, I probably wouldn't have flatted from that little hole. :rolleyes:

That wheel/tire combination, Ultegra 6800/IRC Roadlite, wasn't too bad to get the tire over the rim. Using two tire levers helped getting it off. For me, the bigger issue is breaking the bead loose from the rim, which again wasn't bad the other day. With another combination, Ardennes +/S-Works Turbo tubeless, I was unable to break the bead loose when changing a tire due to screwing up the sidewall, and had to get a young, strong friend to break it loose for me. I'm back to tubes on that wheelset.

I was gifted a set of barely-used Roubaix tubeless tires and will use those on the Ultegra wheelset when the IRCs wear out. After that set's finished, it'll be back to tubes. Like [MENTION=99188]tetonrider[/MENTION], flats are rare enough where I live that tubeless isn't worth the hassle and expense.

What tubes are you running in your CLX's? I'm using the conti race tubes with 60mm stem and have had more flats (one in a race) since using them then I had on my alum rims with performance bike forte tubes. Tires are conti 4000sII on both set ups.

OMG. Running Schwalbe Pro One tires on my November RFSC58s was a ***** to mount. I nearly broke my levers before switching to a bead jack to get them on.
So far pretty happy with the tubeless setup though. Been through some gnarly gravel and broken roads and no issues.

I do not look forward to fixing a flat if the sealant won't fix it. I'll probably be calling a sag...

Surprised to hear that. The Pro One's are easy as far as tubeless goes, in fact I found them to be about the same as regular clinchers (actually better than some). Those rims must run a little big, you'll probably have much more trouble if you ever try to mount something like the Corsa Speeds on them.

Actually running tubes at the moment. My plan is to install some Vittoria Corsa Speed tubeless tires before GMSR with some Stan's. I have to say, these wheels definitely feel more impacted by cross winds than my CLX64s, definitely feel more squirrely.

was at the LBS yesterday for some new socks (super-pro white Specialized), and they showed me a new “ultra-light” Tarmac. Maybe it’s not new but I hadn’t heard of it.

It weighs like 13 lbs - they said the new paint job saves 1.5 lbs?? Anyway, not something I need, I’d still go slow up hills. But it felt like a paperweight!