Allied has revamped its ABLE gravel bike, treating it to a lighter, more aerodynamically optimized frame with all of the industry’s latest trappings such as full cable integration, a UDH hanger, an internal storage compartment with a magnetic latch that’s built into the downtube, and naturally even more tire clearance.
“The ABLE is our premier gravel race bike, purposefully engineered to meet the demands of modern race courses. From the start, the original ABLE proved itself by dominating Unbound 200. We knew we were on the right track. Today, gravel racing is faster than ever, pack-oriented, and over even harsher terrain. The engineering behind the new ABLE is all about creating and controlling speed off-road to conquer those conditions. Keen eyes will pick up the lowered chainstay, compared to the raised stay on the original ABLE. Our engineers knew that fitting the largest tire possible on the new ABLE was essential—in this case, the max is a gargantuan 700x57mm wide—to give riders the performance to steamroll turtleheads and bigger rock gardens or, worse, take a pothole at 35mph without catastrophe. To maintain race-first geometry and high-speed stability, we lowered the chainstay to carve out the real estate for the 57mm wide tire. Our not-so-incognito, real-world testing resulted in this setup flatting zero times and snagging podiums to boot, proving wider is faster,” boats Allied.
Additionally, the new gravel grinder also gets Allied’s ST03 stem, which allows riders to flip the stem in order to adjust the rise without needing to disconnect the cables.
“Speed gains are made through the air, too, with a deeper headtube section and fully integrated cables for a streamlined front end and aerodynamic efficiency you’ll appreciate century after century. Typically, internal cabling limits fit adjustments, but on ABLE, you can change stem rise between two positions (-8 and 0 degrees) without re-cabling, thanks to our ST03 stem design. The ABLE is lightweight and visually lean, with complete builds as low as 16.25 lbs (RED XPLR with Industry Nine SOLIX wheels and Continental Race King 2.2” tires). Its low weight is due in no small part to the feathery-light SP02 seat post, which features user-friendly, two-way independent adjustability for tilt and fore/aft positioning. Ease-of-use extends to the new internal frame storage. The magnetic hatch is located lower to the bottom bracket interface, not directly under the bottle mounts, which we know endure utter carnage during gravel racing. We did this to save weight and add strength to the door, removing any hinge mechanisms that can fail under the load of a heavy bottle,” adds Allied.
The new ABLE can be purchased as a frameset only, or as a complete bike with the following build options.
- SRAM RED XPLR AXS with Industry Nine SOLIX SL AR40c carbon wheels for $11,500
- SRAM FORCE AXS MULLET with Industry Nine 1/1 Ultralite Carbon Gravel wheels for $8,400
- SRAM RIVAL AXS MULLET with Industry Nine 1/1 GRCX 700 Wheels – XDR for $6,775
- ABLE FRAMESET includes Allied’s carbon frame, the ST03 stem/headset and the SP02 seat post for $4,000
