Allied Ready evaluate: The way forward for gravel race bikes, but it surely's a little bit too reliant on its occasion trick

The Allied Ready has lengthy been a motorcycle I’ve yearned to journey. The unique iteration was a wild conception that instantly turned heads, albeit not all the time for the proper causes, with its raised driveside chainstay.

It boasted a progressive-for-its-time tyre clearance of 43mm, sharp dealing with, and a deal with racing.

And whereas most bikes are an evolution of their predecessor – see the not too long ago leaked 2025 Specialised Diverge for proof – the whole redesign of the 2025 Allied Ready is a mirrored image of the step change that has occurred within the gravel driving and racing house for the reason that unique launched.

Racing has gotten quicker and a complete lot extra severe. Most manufacturers have launched a second gravel bike (some even a 3rd) to dial of their choices for racers and adventurers alike. Huge tyre clearance has transitioned from a function reserved for ‘journey’ bikes to a non-negotiable for racers, to the purpose that these days, most elite athletes are working cross-country tyres.

And though time trial bars are banned at races like Unbound and The Traka, aerodynamic optimisation will get ever extra ubiquitous, with racers repeatedly turning up in skinsuits and time trial helmets. A unusual few even run tailored disc wheels – I am you, Chase Wark – as seen in our Unbound tech gallery.

Over the previous yr, I actually have turned to gravel racing too. I not too long ago certified to journey on the UCI World Championships later this yr (age group class solely, I am not that good, however congratulations to me nonetheless), and I did so aboard the brand new Allied Ready.

The body is out there in three builds, every with a SRAM wi-fi groupset, plus a frameset, and I used to be kindly loaned a evaluate pattern within the top-tier hero spec, outfitted with SRAM Crimson XPLR AXS groupset and a 38cm Enve SES AR street handlebar. Since my pattern bike arrived with no wheels, I’ve tried it with each the 3T Discus and Zipp 303 XPLR SW wheels, with quite a lot of tyres in sizes starting from 40mm slicks to 2.4in mountain bike tyres.

Design, aesthetics and specification

Beginning with probably the most seen distinction from its predecessor, the aesthetically divisive elevated driveside chainstay is gone. It has been changed with dropped chainstays on each driveside and non-driveside to maximise clearance with out interfering with the cranks, limiting chainring dimension or resulting in insanely lengthy chainstays.

That is just the start of a boatload of updates that the most recent Ready has been given, although.

The opposite large one, a minimum of by way of assembly market demand, is the numerous enhance in tyre clearance, which has grown to an formally quoted 57mm each entrance and rear. Allied is at pains to make clear that that is because the tyre is measured, slightly than as printed on the sidewall, since completely different tyre-rim mixtures can vastly modify the precise width as soon as fitted and inflated.

In actual phrases, that equates to a 2.2in mountain bike tyre on a large rim such because the Zipp 303 XPLR wheels, however as my testing proves, you may go even wider up entrance with out difficulty. I will get into the main points of that under, however my tyre inventory maxed out at a 2.4in Vittoria Terreno Dry, and I nonetheless had room to spare.

Considerably much less visibly, the 2025 Allied Ready’s geometry has seen a reasonably wholesale overhaul, too. I would describe it as a secure platform, each within the geo numbers and the journey expertise, however with racy intention that places you in a comparatively new-school ahead place.

The top angle has been slackened a smidge to 70.5°, whereas the fork rake sits at 55mm. In comparison with the earlier mannequin, the attain has been elevated, and my dimension L/58 boasts a protracted and low attain and stack of 410mm and 595mm respectively. This further attain has been offset considerably by a shorter specced stem, however stretches the front-centre out to extend wheelbase and stability, with the great aspect impact of lowering the possibility of toe overlap.

Whereas lengthening the entrance of the bike like it is a nice technique to enhance stability at excessive speeds, particularly over tough terrain, one draw back is that it places your weight additional rearward on the bike.

To stability issues out once more, Allied has given the Ready longer chainstays, which at 435mm throughout the vary, are a little bit longer than the predecessor and rivals such because the Specialised Crux (at 425mm). In actuality, my place on the bike felt ahead and aggressive, most likely considerably a results of the lengthy stem and slammed cockpit I used to be given, however even nonetheless, it felt balanced.

That helped the journey high quality when descending, however the bike’s climbing capability wasn’t ignored. Allied shaved an unlimited quantity from the body weight, with a fairly spectacular claimed weight for a dimension medium of 950g.

My full bike construct with SRAM Crimson XPLR, Zipp 303 XPLR SW rims, empty bottle cages, Favero Assioma SPD pedals, and a pair of.25in Continental Race King tyres tipped my scales at a powerful 8.4kg.

The S-Works Crux continues to be onerous to beat on this regard, with a claimed body weight of 725g and equal builds at 7.25kg, however given the additional clearance on provide right here and the addition of the storage door, it is onerous to complain.

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With regards to the storage door, Allied has taken a novel strategy of putting it proper on the base of the down tube, slightly than beneath the bottle cage mounts. It makes use of a easy magnetic closure, and whereas the model does not say as a lot, there is a good probability that not having to help the burden of a 1kg water bottle helped the model to maintain the burden of this to a minimal. I respect the concept right here, in addition to the advantage of placing further weight as low on the body as attainable, however sadly, it is not with out some pitfalls, which I will get to under.

Up entrance, the 2025 Ready is specced with inside cabling through Allied’s proprietary stem. This cleverly comes with an adjustable angle shim, which lets you modify your match between -8 and 0 levels.

It can be eliminated totally with out disconnecting brake hoses, permitting you to swap stem size with out recabling. This does imply it is suitable with digital groupsets solely, however that is changing into a typical theme on framesets of this degree.

Do you have to want to run cables externally previous the headset, the small eagle badge on the down tube simply behind the pinnacle tube may be eliminated to disclose a cable entry port.

Elsewhere, the brand new Allied Ready has a threaded backside bracket, with 68mm English threads and spacing for Vast cranks. That is good for the house mechanics, and though there are completely different colleges of thought on vast cranks versus the narrower Q issue of street cranks, it is not one thing I can say I had any points with. I will surely choose the broader Q issue to get the larger clearance, and in reality, some gravel racers – Zach Calton springs to thoughts – run vast Q-factor pedals for consolation, so narrower is not all the time higher.

The body is suitable with 1x groupsets solely, with the dropped chainstays providing house for chainrings as much as 50T in dimension.

It’s UDH and direct-mount suitable on the rear, and suspension-fork suitable on the entrance, though Allied is cautious to remind potential patrons that this can seemingly scale back the accessible tyre clearance.

The seatpost is spherical, with the broadly accepted commonplace of 27.2mm diameter, secured by an easy-access wedge clamp that’s adjusted from the entrance, on prime of the highest tube. This additionally means a 27.2mm dropper put up can be suitable, and that cable port talked about simply now, hidden behind the eagle badge, can be used to run your dropper’s cable internally.

The Allied Ready is out there in no fewer than 13 completely different inventory colors, every with a selection of as much as 4 brand colors. If that is not sufficient selection, you may alternatively go full customized, though the price of this “depends upon the complexity of the design.”

Efficiency

To place it merely, the Allied Ready is without doubt one of the greatest gravel race bikes available on the market proper now.

The aggressive journey place paired with the lengthy wheelbase makes it a little bit one-dimensional, however hey, that is no dangerous factor, given it does that factor so exceptionally. That’d be a bit like deriding a Trek Madone for being dangerous off-road. And do not get me fallacious, it is not sad being flicked about on twisty trails, however there are higher bikes on the market if that is your goal.

What it does very well goes quick on rocky, chunky hearth roads; precisely the terrain discovered on the Gralloch race in Scotland, for which I used the bike full with a 2.2in tyre on the rear and a 2.4in (measured at 60mm on Zipp’s 303 XPLR SW rim) on the entrance.

For a lot of that race, the course is double-track fireroad with two compacted tyre channels on both aspect and a rocky mound up the center. For many riders, when you’re in a kind of two channels, you do not need to depart for worry of hitting greater rocks and puncturing. On the Ready, the massive tyres ate up washboard surfaces for enjoyable, and the secure platform frequently urges you to hop into the opposite lane and acquire a number of locations.

The time period ‘confidence-inspiring’ will get bandied round for bike dealing with in critiques on a regular basis, but it surely’s a extremely applicable description right here. Positive, it was most likely a mixture of the geometry, the chunky tyres, the grippy Arundel Gecko bar tape fitted (genuinely game-changingly good), and my race day purple mist, however the Ready was very a lot dwelling as much as its identify when the street pointed down.

It wasn’t half dangerous when the street pointed up, both. The 8.4kg whole weight helped maintain issues responsive beneath energy, as did the moderately stiff pedalling platform.

This does lead me onto one of many bike’s barely extra unfavorable factors, although.

I will not lie that the horizontal prime tube makes the bike look bloomin’ pretty, but it surely additionally results in a reasonably minimal quantity of seatpost on present. Couple that with the nearly-in-line seatstays and spherical seatpost, and the result’s a fairly stiff journey.

I rode the bike with 40mm Pirelli P Zero Race TLR street tyres for some time, then some 45mm Panaracer Gravelkings for a number of lengthy gravel coaching rides earlier than I caught the fats race tyres on, and with out benefiting from further cushioning the larger tyres present, I used to be shocked at simply how a lot of the street I might really feel.

It wasn’t so dangerous that I might inform you which aspect of a coin I would ridden over, but it surely was instantly evident that Allied is counting on its customers to spec mountain bike tyres for consolation.

That is their prerogative, although. And in reality, Allied actively quotes a minimal really useful tyre width of 45mm; the primary I’ve seen of a model suggesting a minimal. I am unable to think about anybody planning to purchase the Ready not desiring to make the most of the progressive clearance on provide, and with the broader tyres, the journey was definitely higher.

Regardless, it is one thing to keep in mind, particularly when you’re hoping to double up your Ready as a street bike too, and to that time, whereas the earlier Ready got here outfitted with mudguard mounts, the brand new one doesn’t.

I would be actually intrigued to get it onto Silverstone Sports activities Engineering Hub’s pedalling effectivity rig and evaluate it to one thing like an S-Works Crux or a Trek Checkpoint SLR to match the frames. My expectation is that when you standardised wheels and tyre dimension to one thing that each one three bikes might deal with, ie 45mm, the Allied would evaluate fairly badly over rougher surfaces.

We frequently reward the advantages of wider tyres, but it surely’s essential to keep in mind that it is only one piece of the general puzzle. Body design, geometry, carbon layup, suspension, wheel compliance, tyres and extra all work collectively to create the journey high quality.

However, importantly, the Allied can deal with wider tyres than these and just about each different gravel bike available on the market. That is its occasion trick, and whereas it depends on that, I anticipate when you repeated the identical Silverstone take a look at, maximising the accessible tyre clearance on every bike, so 45mm on the Trek, 47mm on the Crux, and 57mm on the Ready, it might wipe the proverbial ground with the others.

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I respect how Allied has thought of the end-user expertise with the bike, too. Having the choice to route cables externally or match a dropper put up is likely to be a distinct segment requirement for a choose few house owners, however the truth that Allied has made it attainable actually confirms to me that the model is plugged in to what its potential clients need.

The trouble to design and manufacture a proprietary stem that permits angle adjustment most likely value a good period of time and vitality, but it surely’s one other occasion of including worth the place the model might have simply spec’d a one-piece cockpit from Enve and referred to as it executed.

It is this consideration to element that elevates the bike from simply one other gravel race bike to a premium product. It is a high quality that, a minimum of on my evaluate pattern and as broadly reported by house owners of different Allied bikes, the general construct high quality matches.

This could reassure anybody involved in regards to the model’s determination to maneuver manufacturing to Asia, and it continues via the entire bike.

In one other instance, there are two mounts on the highest tube for an easy-access bento field. Most bikes include commonplace 4mm hex bolts right here, similar to you’d discover in your bottle cage mounts, however to take care of the clear aesthetic of the bike and convey the burden down, the Ready comes with recessed rivet nuts which are neat and unobtrusive.

With all that mentioned, although, there may be one space the place the model’s determination to do one thing otherwise may need missed the mark, and that is the place of that storage door on the downtube.

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Firstly, I attempted a handful of bottle cages, and every one needed to be slid upward to the best accessible place to keep away from blocking the door from opening. This is not a dealbreaker, but it surely’s not excellent, and I can solely think about the issue worsens on frames smaller than my dimension L/58.

The second difficulty was extra problematic, in that the place of the door so near the seat tube, and the size of the inner sleeve, do not actually play properly.

To take away the sleeve, it is advisable pull it out and round a nook. It is due to this fact solely actually helpful for storing a single inside tube. Something greater, or something strong, similar to a multi instrument, CO2 or a tyre plug instrument, will get caught as you attempt to pull it out. In most of my take a look at circumstances, it required quantity of cautious prying to recuperate, which is not one thing I would need to do within the warmth and stress of a mid-race puncture.

There’s a loop deal with on the top of the sleeve that can assist you pull it out, however mine ripped off in my hamfisted makes an attempt to launch it from its jail.

Worth

The Allied Ready is out there in 4 full builds.

The bottom mannequin is provided with SRAM Rival AXS in a ‘mullet’ construct with a GX mountain bike derailleur and Trade 9 1/1 GRCX wheels at $6,775.

Subsequent is a mannequin outfitted with the most recent SRAM Pressure XPLR groupset and Trade 9 1/1 Ultralite Carbon wheels at $8,300.

The subsequent step up is $8,500, with a mullet setup primarily based round SRAM Pressure with an X0 mech, paired with Trade 9 1/1 Ultralite Carbon wheels.

The highest-tier mannequin is priced at $11,500, full with SRAM’s Crimson XPLR AXS groupset and Trade 9 Solix SL AR40c wheels. You can even purchase the frameset alone at $4,500, with which you will get a fork and seatpost included, alongside the proprietary ST03 stem.

Describing any bike at this worth degree as ‘good worth’ is all the time fairly a jarring factor to do since it is a huge sum of money, but it surely’s onerous to disagree that the Allied Ready is without doubt one of the greatest gravel race bikes available on the market proper now.

In case you’re an American purchaser, the outlay is fairly effectively in step with current high-end gravel bikes. To check apples to apples as a lot as attainable, you possibly can purchase the Pressure XPLR-equipped Cannondale SuperX (non-Lab71) at $8,799; $499 greater than the equal Ready.

An S-Works Crux with Crimson XPLR will set you again $12,250, or a frameset is priced at $4,999.99. A Trek Checkmate SLR 9, with Crimson XPLR, is $12,999.99, with its $3,999.99 frameset excluding the seatpost and stem.

Not solely is the Ready cheaper for probably the most half than these three American rivals, I consider you would be getting a product that is higher outfitted for racing, extra succesful total, and extra futureproof in its design.

After all, these costs are right on the time of writing, however President Trump’s tariffs might have an effect on issues over the approaching months and years.

The pricing construction for European patrons is a bit more unsure at this stage, too. With no outstanding distributor in Europe or the UK, transport prices rely upon the top vacation spot, with some being quoted over $1000 for supply alone.

And frames are being shipped from Asia to the US to be painted and assembled, so it is fairly unlikely we’ll see European markets in a position to bypass these tariffs both.

Verdict

The 2025 Allied Ready just isn’t with out its faults, however as a gravel bike supposed for racing, it’s among the many greatest accessible in the intervening time.

It’s proper on the chopping fringe of what a gravel race bike must be, and it is maybe no shock that it’s an American model with its finger on the heart beat, given the recognition of the game within the nation.

I say ‘in the intervening time’ although, as a result of I’ve a sense the dam is about to interrupt on big-tyred gravel race bike launches. Late final yr, I mentioned related issues in regards to the Ridley ASTR RS, which supplied 53mm tyre clearance, a racy geometry and an aero profiled body. Dice’s Nuroad SLT has been propping up lots of our wider-tyre lab assessments with its 53mm clearance, Lauf’s Seigla has been round for years, providing room for 57mm tyres, and earlier this yr, the Argon 18 Darkish Matter launched with equally capacious clearance.

And simply final month at Unbound Gravel, I noticed near a dozen unreleased gravel bikes, and most of them had the same ‘wider clearance, extra aero’ playbook.

If you need what is well among the finest race bikes available on the market in the present day, the Ready must be excessive in your listing, however when you’re glad to attend some time, I would give the summer time a number of months to play out earlier than pulling the proverbial set off.

In the present day’s greatest Allied Ready 2025 offers