Yes, the frame is pretty light. I have made no concessions to light weight on my ride, and it's a shade over 23 lbs. The fork was actually custom built for me by Joe Williams in Ephrata, PA, to match the geometry of the Allez and it works beautifully together. The original aluminum fork was a real POS, noodly all over the place and not worth the powder it would take to blast it to hell. OK, maybe not Viscount bad, but bad enough.

I worked for a Specialized dealer as a mech in the very late 80's, and the sales rep told me that the tubing was custom drawn for Specialized (I think it's OS and it has shaped stays) by Tange. I didn't get into metallurgy with the guy, but I think it's safe to assume that it's probably Prestige, probably not Ultimate.

The lugs are gorgeous -- nicely tapered long-points; the seat lug is nicest IMO, I really like the socketed stay joint. Anyway, yes, it's a great frame -- my wife has the same year, also repainted but with a Kestrel fork, in a 52cm -- and I wouldn't hesitate to pick one up if I were you.

Pete