I want to make a short disclaimer here: I did work for NeilPryde in 2011. But, here at Glory we are fiercely independent and get to sell and ride whatever we want.
What's the big deal about the aero road frame? In a nut shell it's designed for everyone - but has the biggest benefit for the 180lbs (80Kg) masters racer like myself. For years weight was the one thing that qualified a bike's performance, but when you weigh as much as me going from 16lbs to 14lbs has very little affect on overall package weight and thus does not do much for performance. If I ride a road race or crit with a high average speed the aero advantage is a real benefit. The watt savings can be enough to help you make the break or in my case hold on to the back of the chasing group.
It's hard to qualify aero advantage but it is obvious when you have a true aero bike and you ride in a group. You feel the advantage pretty much the same way you feel the added speed from a good pair of aero wheels. It's perhaps hard to quantify but equally hard to deny. When you combine the Alize with say Zipp 404 Firecrest wheels it's a real eye opener - you roll on the rider in front of you and you can make up places on any downhill without pedaling.
Alize is the brainchild of Mike Pryde who is Neil Pryde's son and has been a dedicated cyclist almost his entire life. When the Pryde group got into cycling Mike had a clear road before him and all the tools anyone could ask for to create a bike. Combining the design talents of BMW Design Works and one of the world's best manufactures in Asia, and then refining the design in the A2 wind tunnel in North Carolina. The Alize has it's origins in Asia, it's designed in the West and is an example of the way the top bike companies do business in 2012. Mike set out to create aero road bike with no compromise to ride quality and he hit the bulls eye. Not only that but Alize comes in at a great weight for an aero bike (1060 grams) and looks great and rides as good as it looks.
On the road the Alize is really smooth, reasonably stiff and handles very very well. The fork is stiff and has a oversize 1 1/2 inch headset bottom bearing which is one of the most significant differences between Alize and most other aero road frames. There is no penalty to ride quality, the Alize rides as well or perhaps better than many non aero frames. Out of the saddle Alize is no rocket, it's acceleration is fair but not disappointing. Carving corners on a decent it is super stable and smooth. I think Alize is best suited for a long road race with rolling hills and rough roads.
Real world aero. This is where the Alize stands out. Some of the most popular aero road bikes look really fast from the front in magazine ads with their slimmed down headtubes and minimal frontal area but most of us ride outdoors not in wind tunnels, so the wind comes from everywhere. Neilpryde has been working the wind for more than 40 years, their engineers have been considering aerodynamics and fashioning carbon way back when the bike industry was using brightly painted steel tubes and some help from the chemist to gain speed. The Alize is designed to manage cross winds as well as headwinds, front the side the downtube and toptube allow wind to pass over smoothly and create less turbulence. The added advantage of this is that Alize is very stable in crosswinds. The video below explains this a bit better.
Features
Alize is a pretty standard road bike in many ways, it's made in a facility that makes some of the world's best known brands. Internal brake and shifter cables, standard English thread BB, FSA 1 1/8 - 1 1/2 inch internal bearings. High modulus UD carbon blend with a braze on front derailleur clamp that is really stiff. It has it's own aero seatpost and Pryde designed clamp that has a rubber cover to keep dirt out and finishes the frame shape beautifully. Paint is thick and lush and the stock blue is a real standout. The stock matte black has a deep sheen that accentuates the frame shape. Nothing out of place, NeilPryde have come to the bike game with all guns blazing and caught up to the leading group while some more renowned brands are getting dropped.
My video here: Thank you for reading.
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