ThomasV

Last week I had the LBS tune the bike and true the wheels on my Specialized Allez Elite. Now the bike seems to have a strange "gyro" effect to the steering that I don't remember it having before. It seems to want to resist the initial effort to turn and then when it breaks that resistance, it then turns easily. There's no bind in the steering at all. It feels exactly like holding a gyro in your hand and then turning it. Overall the steering seems less stable than before. Tonight I'm going to check to see if the Mr. Tuffy tire liners are still installed. That's the only thing I can think of right now. Am I losing my mind? What's going on here? I'm thinking of going back to the LBS and riding a new Allez Elite to see if it's the same.

same time

Take a look at the cables - make sure they're not binding anywhere when you turn the handlebars. Sounds like a derailleur cable might be catching on the headset or something.

HolyInstantRice

Go check out the headset - I'm pretty sure it's loose.

Lucky07

I had a problem with steering on my Allez Elite '05. It turns out that the Allez has a shim under the headset that you can turn to adjust the angle of the stem. It's a nice feature, but if the the shim isn't seated properly when you tighten the headset, it affects the steering. Check that out, as well as any cable binding. But I'd bet money it's the shim...

Disco Stu

this might sound silly, but is the wheel in the forks properly?

Most shops work with bike stands, and I've seen wheels put back on bikes
on stands incorrectly. They'll put the wheel on, take the bike off the stand,
then undo the quick release, and 'oops', the wheel moves up the drops a little more.

I like to put my front wheel with the bike on the ground, and my rear wheel
with the bike upside down .....very fussy