It was a wonderfully sunny day on 7th Ave. as I walked to work, when out of the corner of my eye, I caught a splash of red on a carbon gray bike frame.  So, there is really nothing new about seeing bikes in NYC. I mean, it's so much more bike friendly than Long Island that it should be an embarrassment to L. I. legislators, but that is another story.  Anyway, for whatever reason, my eyes lingered on the frame longer than most when suddenly I read the word Allez which was the red patch that first attracted my eye.  There it was a beautiful 1992 Specialized Allez Carbon Fiber bike.

It's proud owner Roland was finishing up his cell phone call as he gazed quizzically at me with a kind of, "Yeah, who the ---- are you looking at?" Then I pointed to the bike and he smiled broadly!

After he finished, I introduced myself and questioned him regarding how happy he was with  his bike.  It was so pristine that it took a while to get around to the fact that it was a "Classic" We buzzed a bit and the basic distillation is as follows.

He got the bike as a hand-me-down and he rides it as a "special treat" on good days due to it's classic status.  His Saeco bike hat led me to question his preference betwixt aluminum and carbon and he acknowledged a much nicer ride with the carbon, although he also mentioned the fact that the early evolutions of the carbon frame had serious problems which led to Specialized discontinuing production for a while, but the bikes are back now without problems, and regardless of it's family history, Roland's Allez is a work of art!  Here it is!