00:00Like any kid working in a bike shop, being surrounded by all the latest bling meant that the desire to upgrade my own bike
00:06occupied more of my mind than arguably it should have done.
00:10Sadly, the amount of money you can earn when you're working in a bike shop
00:14doesn't really lend itself to being able to buy all the shiny things that surround you every single day.
00:20However, that was never going to discourage me. After plenty of waiting and hunting around for the right bike, a
00:26Specialized S-Works Alley came up for sale in my size on Facebook Marketplace.
00:32It was being sold by a local lad, a local racer actually, and he was wanting to move it on to make space for
00:38next season's rig. To me,
00:40this was absolutely ideal.
00:42Buying a second-hand aluminium bike did not worry me at all, and the ability to buy into the S-Works moniker for a discount price,
00:49well, it was a done deal.
00:51After a meet-up at the local Sunday circuit race and an envelope of 50s handed over later,
00:57my new bike was grabbed out the back of their team van. Of course,
01:01the bike went straight to the shop where I was working to allow the modifications to begin.
01:06Little did I know at the time that this bike would go on to join me for countless
01:10adventures and become the one bike that I have vowed to never, ever sell.
01:22The
01:24frameset is what made me fall in love. The satin finish on the paint was the perfect balance between gloss and matte, and the
01:32satin chrome decals set it off
01:35incredibly well. And the virtually invisible welds tricked the eye into thinking that it could be carbon fibre.
01:42Specialized fitted an S-Works level fork which utilised their top-level carbon at the time, and the aluminium,
01:48well, that was hydroformed, meaning that they could replicate the shape of the tarmac again at the time.
01:55But it also meant the weight was kept down to a minimum. The overall weight of the frame by itself
02:00hovers around that thousand gram mark, which actually is pretty good.
02:06The bike predominantly plays host to an Ultegra 6800 groupset, as this is what the bike came with when I bought it.
02:13However, in my eyes, the Dura-Ace 9000 groupset is probably the prettiest groupset ever made.
02:19So I decided to take the plunge and buy the chainset and the rear mech.
02:24Since these components are arguably the most visible parts of a groupset,
02:28I think they do a really good job of increasing the bike's kerb appeal. And quite frankly, the chrome details on the components paired with
02:35the frame itself, it's just a match made in heaven. When I did change the chainset,
02:40it did also provide the opportunity to revise the gear ratios. The bike came with a 53-39.
02:47However, I was finding that my little chicken legs were struggling, so I opted for a 52-38.
02:53Now, it may not seem like a huge change, and granted, it's not. But out on the road,
02:58I found that turning the cranks just felt so much better.
03:02And when I paired that with an 11-28 cassette, the ratios, for me, they just fell into place.
03:08The Roval CLX 40s that the bike came with are sadly no longer with me. After six months of use,
03:15I decided to sell them before the value either dropped out of them because, you know,
03:19road disc brake bikes were finally coming onto the market.
03:22But I was also wary of the fact that if I kept using them, I was going to wear through that brake track and again,
03:27they would end up essentially
03:29valueless. As a young lad in a bike shop,
03:32I wasn't really in the position to lose that kind of money over an extra couple of watts.
03:38So I hunted down on the web a set of just cheap Chinese carbon wheels for about 300 quid.
03:44And say what you will about them, but actually, these Chinese knockoffs have actually been pretty decent.
03:51They're easy to service with their sealed cartridge bearings.
03:54They've never needed truing. And actually, when you pair them with a set of Swiss stock Black Prince carbon pads, when you pull on the levers,
04:01you will definitely stop. I've always run the same tires on this bike, a set of 28c S-Works Turbo tires.
04:08For me, they provide a great balance between comfort, grip, and just downright speed.
04:14The qualities of the S-Works Turbos are also helped by the fact that I've been running the Turbo tubes,
04:19which are a lightweight butyl inner tube, but they're also pre-tout,
04:23meaning that that helps them lower their rolling resistance ever so slightly.
04:28The other thing that I really like about those tubes, and it is a bit of a bike nerdy weight weenie thing,
04:32but they're also about 40 grams lighter compared to a standard butyl inner tube.
04:36So when you do that over both wheels, you're saving nearly 80 grams, which I'll take.
04:41The finishing kit was actually the first things that I did change on the bike.
04:45And that's because I wanted to get the fit dialed in.
04:48I nabbed some 38 centimeter Pro-Vibe alloy bars, and I paired it with a 100 millimeter S-Works stem.
04:55Now, while I was tempted by an integrated carbon setup,
04:59my typically stingy self was never really going to stretch that far. And quite frankly,
05:04I love how easy this bike is to recable.
05:07The seat post is actually one of the few things that has stayed original throughout my entire tenure with the bike, but the saddle,
05:14well, that has changed. I started off with a specialized S-Works tube saddle, which I had for nearly a decade.
05:20But after those near 10 years, well, it was looking a little worse for wear.
05:25So I have recently actually upgraded and embraced some modern technology in the shape of the Fizik Vento Argo Double Zero saddle.
05:33Now, while this saddle is ever so slightly lighter, the real gain is the incredibly grippy surface and the increased comfort,
05:42no thanks to the super wide wings that it's got. Sadly, the bike isn't without its faults, or
05:48should I say quirks? One thing that I wish Specialized had done with this bike was to give it a thread in bottom bracket.
05:55Sadly, though, this bike came out when BB30s were in their heyday.
06:00The months and years that I have spent trying to make this bike be creak free,
06:04well, quite frankly, it's just not worth thinking about. Luckily, though, I have now found a solution that does work pretty well,
06:11but it does include putting some Loctite on the outer race of the bearings. But you've got to do what you've got to do.
06:18Also, some of the bottle cage bolts now spin within the frame, meaning that they can't be undone.
06:24Now, before you all start telling me that I can have this fixed, quite frankly,
06:28I don't care. One bottle is fine for me and the rides that I show this bike.
06:33And really, I don't want to risk losing the oh-so-cool S-Works bolts. Quite frankly,
06:38they're worth the pizzazz.
06:40I do also have to be fairly careful with the red paint on this bike.
06:45It comes off incredibly easily due to not having a protective clear coat to encapsulate it.
06:51But nearly after eight years of ownership, I think it's held up pretty well considering.
06:57As I mentioned previously, I'm never going to sell this bike. So,
07:01what does the future hold for it? Well, being aluminium, I have no doubt that this bike will outlast me,
07:08so long as we don't get acquainted with the underside of a lorry.
07:12One thing I've always wanted to upgrade, though, are the brake calipers. Switching over to some matching Dura-Ace
07:189000 calipers would be brilliant, and it would just add that extra little bit of bling to the setup.
07:23Once worn down, I will then also be replacing the tyres for the latest S-Works turbos that got released at the back end of last year.
07:32And lastly, I'd also like to fit a new S-Works seat post.
07:35The current one has been pretty beaten up over winter rides, and when I've been attaching a rear light to the saddle,
07:42it's been chewing up the lacquer, so it's just looking a little bit tired. But overall,
07:47I don't really see this bike changing too much more. To me,
07:51it's pretty close to being perfect for what I want from this bike.
07:56That's my dream road bike and how it came to be, and also
08:00why I am never, ever going to sell it. Let me know down in the comments, though.
08:05Tell me about the bikes that you are never going to sell and why. I'd be really interested to hear about them.
08:12If you enjoyed the video, then please do drop it a like, subscribe to the channel for more content, and I'll see you again very soon.
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