The Allez SE in blue that you show was made at Miyata. The red bike was made by 3Rensho. Both were very nice bikes but not appreciated in the day.
In 1985 (I think this is correct), I got an entry to ride the big national race put on by Sutour, Kanabe cup. I had one of the blue Allez SE over there and rode it in my age group. As this was a very important race in Japan Mr. Kawai had invited Eddy Merkx to give a speech to the riders. He had his manager with him, but other than that we were the only non Japanese people in this small mountain village. So I had dinner with them and Mr. Kawai (President of Suntour) the night before the race. This village was not set up for anything other than Japanese style hospitality, so we sat on tatami mats and ate great traditional food. We all had a wonderful time, Eddy was quite compelling. The next day Eddy gave his speech in suit and tie. He did not have a bike or gear but wanted to ride around the course. He was exactly my size so borrowed my Allez SE and Sidi shoes, just rolled his trouser leg up. One funny detail is he had to cover the Sidi logo up with tape as he was still under contract with Adidus.
Jim Merz Big Sur CA
-----Original Message----- From: classicrendezvous-bounces@bikelist.org [mailto:classicrendezvous-bounces@bikelist.org] On Behalf Of Daniel Gonzalez Sent: Tuesday, February 03, 2009 7:38 PM To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org Subject: [CR] A question about the early '84 Specialized Allez SE
I've been doing off hand research on the Specialized Allez and the 3Rensho connection for a good while now and I've come up with a new conundrum that I'd love to have settled. Seems to me that the introduction in 1984 of the Allez SE describes a bike that perfectly resembles the 3Rensho Katana serie s. Here's a link to 4 pages of info on the 84 Allez SE:
http://tinyurl.com/
At this point in Specialized history, the Allez has been confirmed by a num ber of people whom worked at the factory as having been made by 3Rensho. A link to Randy Dugan's 3Rensho '84 Allez gallery:
http://tinyurl.com/
The Allez SE though, is widely thought to have been made by Miyata under th e tutelage of Jim Merz. In looking over the some photos of my what I think to be '85 Allez SE and comparing it to photos I've found of a Katana on Woo l Jersey, it seems to me that these frame are extraordinarily close in bull d. Enough so that I'm thinking it's obvious that the 3Rensho connection had n't ended the early 90's. Here's six photos for direct comparison (the Shim ano 6400 rear der on the Allez is later added):
http://tinyurl.com/
http://tinyurl.com/
http://tinyurl.com/
The brake bridge, Stay cap and seat lug treatments are very different betwe en these two frames, but all in all, I suspect they're brothers. Thoughts?
Danny Gonzalez NY, NY USA
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