Allied BC40 Review: Cross Country Bike With Downcountry Soul

Late last fall, I was given an opportunity to test Allied’s newest bike, BC40, a race-oriented short travel mountain bike, that’s billed as the next great cross country machine.  

The bike’s geometry is based, in part, on Specialized’s Epic Evo—not surprising when you learn Allied’s Director of Product and Engineering came directly from Specialized—one of my favorite bikes of all time. I was curious to see if Allied’s BC40 would live up to the hype. More specifically, how it handles rocky, technical, and steeper descents.

First, some context if you’re unfamiliar with Allied. 

Founded in 2016, Allied Cycle Works splashed onto the scene by winning both the men’s and women’s divisions at Unbound 2019 (then Dirty Kanza), the world’s most competitive gravel race. With a top-tier product and a little luck, it put the bike industry on notice almost overnight.

Allied has expanded since, now with three rigid bikes—Echo, Able, and Alfa—that form the holy trinity of road, gravel, and all-road. 

As a high-end, carbon-only manufacturer, Allied has blazed a unique trail, going head to head with industry titans such as Trek, Specialized, and Giant from the start. And it continues to hold its own.

To do so, the folks at Allied have developed a secret sauce. Not how they make bikes, but where they make them. Based in Bentonville, AR, Allied designs, tests, and builds all bikes in-house, challenging the industry norm of manufacturing in Taiwan. This allows the team to iterate faster and control quality much easier. The obvious downside is that, generally speaking, they aren’t cheap.

The Basics: What Is the Allied BC40?

The BC40, first and foremost, is a cross-country race bike. It’s made to be ridden fast. Allied repeatedly describes it as such, focusing on words like efficiency and speed, and how it will be used by pros at races like Leadville 100. With a history of really fast road and gravel bikes, this doesn’t come as a surprise.

Design-wise, the BC40 has 120mm travel front and rear (the components can be adjusted to 100/100) with a single-pivot rear system and a dropout flex-pivot, which saves weight through simplicity. By cutting sealed bearings and pivot bolts and replacing them with pliable pieces of carbon, the frame is a few hundred grams lighter. All in all, the BC40 is a high performance cross country mountain bike with five tiered builds, all of which are geared to the higher end of the market.

Our Testing Process: How We Reviewed the Allied BC40

After a few shipping hiccups, Allied delivered a fully loaded demo with (at the time of testing) top-of-the-line SRAM components just in time for mud season, a winter in the shed, and a spring full of ripping trails. 

For the last six sublime months, I’ve put over a thousand miles on the bike, setting a few KOMs along the way. Here’s my full review—no filter.

What Impressed the Most: Pros of Allied’s BC40

Allied does everything in-house. Layup carbon, paint frames, and machine aluminum components, too. This means the company controls all the variables from start to finish, from internal cable routing to replaceable brake mounts, and a frame that fits two water bottles inside it. The longer I tested the BC40, the more I noticed the impact of these small details on the overall ride.

That said, the biggest holy shit moment came in the first week of testing. The first thing you’ll notice is how quick it gets out of the gate. The bike wants to go. What impressed me more than that was how the top end speed doesn’t feel as fast as it really is. It has an effortless flow to it, especially on flats and rolling sections. The suspension platform provides support and a grounded feel with great rebound out of corners, offering more confidence and allowing me to ride it even faster.

The BC40 is fast and snappy, like you would expect from a race bike, but the more impressive part is how it handles rowdy descents. The suspension is responsive and stays high in the travel, which makes it ride like a trail bike. Thanks to a stable feel and a rear end with consistent ground contact, BC40 punches above its weight class on rocky sections, technical descents, and jump lines.

With just 120mm front and rear, you can still bottom it out on bigger obstacles, which takes a little learning—and sometimes a different line than full trail bikes. That said, the ride is predictable and firm, and with a 66.50-degree front angle, tight corners come easier than comparable cross country bikes. Overall it’s a wildly efficient bike with good traction and moderate forgiveness. You can’t have it all!

What Needs Improvement

As mentioned previously, the BC40 has five different build options. That may sound like enough, but I’d love to see a few more options, especially for budget buyers. The cheapest full bike build (if you can call it that), is north of $8,000. 

The top end with SRAM’s new transmission drivetrain is $12,550. Part of this comes down just to numbers. Hand-made in America, Allied makes only a few thousand each year. Its competitors make millions annually.

However, Allied does offer just the BC40 frame (still $4,995), which can be built up with Rockshox or Fox suspension, SRAM or Shimano cassettes, dropper posts, and brakes, a variety of different wheels and, of course, a custom paint job, if you’re willing to pay for it. 

For those with deep pockets, this is a great option to have. For many mountain bikers, the Allied BC40 might feel out of reach until they find a way to bring the base-level price point down, even a little.

The Final Verdict

The BC40 is undeniably fast and snappy, and with the right components (100/100mm) it would be one of the fastest cross country bikes in the world. There’s no denying the efficiency when you’re pedaling hard uphill, pushing it on the flats, or working it through tight corners where acceleration is key.

However, what’s truly special about the bike is how confident it feels on more challenging sections of trail, thanks to a responsive rear suspension that stays ground-bound, providing more traction and tighter cornering. On the whole, BC40 is predictable and still relaxed at top speed, which helps anyone have a lot more fun.

[From $4,995; alliedcycleworks.com]
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