Carbon frame manufacturers Allied Cycle Works have launched the new Echo All-Road Bike, tuneable for road and gravel riding. Tune-able? Yes! You can adjust both the geometry and tire clearance on this frame via flip chips at the dropouts, converting it from a bike that goes fast on the tarmac, to a bike that goes fast on gravel. Here’s how it works.
Allied Cycle Works Echo
When we think of All-Road bikes, we tend to think of a road bike frame that simply has above average tire clearance. You simply swap out your slick tires for some higher volume knobbly ones and boom, you’re ready for a gravel adventure. The Allied Cycle Works Echo is no ordinary All-Road bike, however.
By virtue of a flip chip at the fork and rear wheel dropouts, this carbon frameset can actually transform from a flat out road racing machine into a gravel grinder. In the road geometry, chainstays are short at 415mm, permitting clearance for up to 30mm tires. Similarly, the fork length is shortest at 368mm.
With the chips flipped, the gravel geometry gives you a chainstay length of 425mm and a fork length of 378mm. Now, you have clearance for up to 40mm tires. The taller front end slackens the bike’s geometry by 0.5°, putting the head angle at 72.5° and the seat tube angle at 73° (size large).
The Allied Cycle Works Echo is available in sizes XXS-XL. The road position gives a slightly longer reach than the gravel position, spanning a range of 372mm to 409mm.
A highlight component of the Echo is its fully integrated stem. Designed in tandem with the fork, it completely conceals cables while still using a standard headset. It works with a growing list of handlebars designed with integrated cables in mind.
The cables run into a channel on the top of the stem which is concealed by a combination face plate-top cap and through the steerer tube. The headset adjustment is moved from the traditional position at the top of the stem to a threaded portion on the bottom of the stem that effectively increases the steerer clamp length to provide headset preload, much like a threaded headset.
The Echo stem comes in five sizes from 90mm-130mm in 10mm increments and is a -6 degree. As with the Echo frameset, the stem is made in the Allied Cycle Works factory in Bentonville.
Pricing & Availability
Echo Rival AXS Complete: $6,430 (USD)
Echo Force AXS Complete: $7,900 (USD)
Echo Red AXS Complete: $10,575 (USD)
For complete information on the build specs, head to the Allied Cycle Works website.
AlliedCycleWorks.com
