Takeaway: Upstart brand BlackHeart impressed us with the Allroad AL. This aluminum-framed bike has a stealthy appearance and loads of versatility. It's a modern road bike but without headache-inducing integration or unneeded proprietary parts. The dependable and value-packed 105/Ultegra RX build kit is loaded with aftermarket components.
- Aluminum all-road frame with a carbon fork.
- Shimano 105 drivetrain with Ultegra RX derailleur.
- Hunt 4 Season All-Road alloy tubeless wheels.
- Balanced ride quality.
Price: $3,000
Weight: 21.3 lbs. (58cm)
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BlackHeart BlackHeart Allroad AL 105/Ultegra RX
BlackHeart BlackHeart Allroad AL 105/Ultegra RX
Pros
- Extremely well-balanced all-road bike.
- Dependable aftermarket parts selection.
- Easy to upgrade and personalize.
Cons
- Not for heavy-duty gravel riding.
Style: Road/Gravel
Wheel Size: 700c
Fork: Carbon, 12x100mm thru-axle, flat-mount disc
Frame: 7005 aluminum, internal cable routing, 12x142mm thru-axle, flat-mount disc
Drivetrain: Shimano 105 ST-R7025 shifters w/ Ultegra RX RD-RX700 rear derailleur, 11-speed
Crankset: Shimano 105, FC-R7000, 50/34T
Cassette: Shimano CS-HG700, 11-34T, 11-speed
Brakes: Shimano 105, BR-R7070, hydraulic, 160mm SM-RT70 rotors (front & rear) rotors
Wheels: Hunt 4 Season All-Road alloy, 12mm thru-axle (front & rear)
Tires: Pirelli Cinturato Gravel H, 700c x 40mm, Tubeless Ready
Saddle: Ergon SM Comp
Seatpost: FSA Energy
Handlebar: FSA Energy Compact w/ Supacaz Super Sticky Kush tape
Stem: Zipp Service Course
Headset: Cane Creek 40 IS42/IS52
Extras: Wolf Tooth seat clamp and thru-axles (front & rear)
Black evokes emotion and carries strong symbolism. It represents darkness and conveys thoughts of the unknown. But black also represents formality. It has elegance and sophistication. Black is bold and exudes power and strength. Black is mysterious.
One of the newest bike brands out there, BlackHeart only began shipping its first frames in early 2020. But in that short time, it has already breathed some fresh air into cycling with its unique business model and practical product offerings. Plus, BlackHeart has been mindful of inclusion from its start, not trying to shoehorn it into the brand years down the line. Suddenly lots of people around bike culture were talking about this upstart brand.
As with many recent small startups, founder Zach Lambert launched BlackHeart with a strong cultural presence, selling consumer-direct and through select dealers. But in a move atypical for a bike brand, Lambert also offered investment shares in the company alongside the products available for purchase on BlackHeart’s site. You could buy your own slice of the company for under $250, frameset for $1,375, or a complete bike starting at $3,000.
BlackHeart is still a small operation, tiny compared to the scale of many of its competitors. Lambert runs the brand from Luft, the small Venice, California, bike shop he co-owns with his partner, Kristen Kuzemko, and friend Cody Chouinard. Along with BlackHeart frames and bikes, the small Luft storefront carries a curated selection of cycling and running apparel, parts, and accessories (with a focus on local and hard-to-find brands). The shop also offers a full service program, demos of BlackHeart bikes and Hunt wheels, and—of course—free coffee.
Together, BlackHeart and Luft have an air of California cool but without the pretentious vibe or glitzy facade that jumps to mind when one thinks about high-end bikes and boutique shops. Looking through BlackHeart’s social media, you see lots of photos with blue skies and mountains—they are in California, after all—but you don’t see numbers pinned to pro-team jerseys. You also see women, Black and Brown faces, and queer folks. BlackHeart shows its bikes being used by regular riders around its Los Angeles home base, not in some far-flung destinations. It’s very open and approachable.
The origins of BlackHeart began in 2013 when Lambert discovered gravel riding. He quickly found the limitations of his Cannondale CAAD10 road bike on dirt. Unable to find the type of bike he was seeking, one that could easily transition from road to gravel riding, Lambert set out to design his own.
This experience led him to found BlackHeart and source frames from Asia. He went through several iterations of prototypes, test-riding and providing feedback on samples as he traveled throughout the U.S. and Canada in his converted Sprinter van. After more than two years of development, BlackHeart launched its first frame, a titanium Allroad model, to the public in January 2020.
BlackHeart’s launch couldn’t have happened at a better time, as interest in cycling soon hit unprecedented levels. The brand was selling its new titanium bike, but from the outset, it wanted to offer a lower-priced, aluminum-framed version so more riders could experience the bike. After a long wait, that aluminum Allroad has finally hit U.S. shores.
Some road bikes impress with aerodynamic trickery; others dazzle with integration or electronic wizardry. There are ones that awe with featherlike weights or marvel with feats of carbon-fiber engineering. Certain bikes are honed for a specific task or are carefully calibrated for peak performance. Other bikes grab your eyes, visually stunning with beautiful paint or novel graphic elements. A few rare bikes do many of these things at once.
The BlackHeart Allroad AL does none of them. That is precisely why it’s great.
The Allroad AL has forthright plainness. It isn’t flashy or aerodynamic. The newest technologies it applies are hydraulic disc brakes and thru-axle wheels. The frame utilizes butted 7005 aluminum tubes. The bottom bracket has threads, the tapered headset can be found in most shops, the seatpost is round, and the only things integrated are the internally routed cables and brake hoses at the front of the bike (they exit near the BB and are external the rest of the way). And, at a little over 21 pounds, the complete bike isn’t super lightweight. In some ways, it’s reminiscent of cyclocross bikes from the late-00s, but with updated standards to fit modern components.
Blacked-out bikes have an intriguing allure and are mysterious with their absence of color. Virtually all components on the Allroad AL are black, with only the small white pops of parts logos or silver from wear items departing from the blackout theme. Even BlackHeart’s own logos are gloss black on the matte black frame. Discerning the bike’s identity from just a few feet away proved impossible for even our office’s most equipment-savvy staff. The BlackHeart stealthily flies under the radar.
Up close, however, BlackHeart’s attention to detail with component selection on the Allroad AL shines brightly. The precision-made Wolf Tooth seat clamp and thru-axles, clutched Shimano Ultegra RX derailleur, surefooted Pirelli Cinturato Gravel H 40mm tubeless tires, Hunt’s dependable 4 Season All-Road alloy wheelset, and FSA Adventure Compact bar wrapped with Supacaz Super Sticky Kush tape all demonstrate that BlackHeart had an eye for the fine points when it came to choosing parts for its complete build. Frame details like the third bottle mount, fender eyelets, and compatibility with 650b x 50mm tires also speak to the bike’s intended use.
If the blackout look isn't your thing, the Allroad AL can also be purchased in an off-white color called “chalk” or add a custom-painted fork starting at an extra $250. Furthermore, a SRAM Rival AXS-equipped Allroad AL (with Hunt carbon wheels) is available for $4,200.
To better evaluate the Allroad AL’s abilities on smooth pavement, as well as gravel, BlackHeart shipped our 58cm test bike with two wheelsets. For most road riding, we used Hunt carbon wheels paired with 30mm Pirelli tubeless tires. We ran the stock Hunt All-Road alloy wheels for testing on gravel and dirt roads (and some pavement as well). The road wheelset saved close to two pounds compared to the gravel setup. That weight savings was noticed going up long climbs and when riding in fast groups, but the stock wheels really didn’t hold us back in any meaningful way. If you ride exclusively on paved surfaces, we recommend downsizing to 30mm or 32mm tires to save a little weight and decrease rolling resistance.
With the Hunt All-Road alloy wheels and 40mm tires, the Allroad AL is well-equipped for rides on beat-up asphalt, dirt roads, or maintained gravel roads, but it’s out of its element in heavier-duty gravel rides. As one test rider found when using the bike at Grinduro Pennsylvania, the narrow (for gravel) tire width and bike geometry limit the bike’s capabilities on super rough and steep terrain.
Compared to road race-style bikes, the Allroad AL has slightly slacker head- and seat-tube angles, plus longer chainstays. But compared to some modern gravel bikes, the Allroad AL has steeper angles, a shorter reach, and shorter chainstays. This nets to the BlackHeart having a neutral yet road bike–like riding character. It’s stable on smooth paved and gravel descents and negotiated sharp turns without much additional input.
However, the geometry isn't all roses. Because it’s not a full-on gravel bike, it feels out of its element over rougher gravel or on the trail. In these situations, the top tube feels cramped and the bike doesn’t have the stability of a dedicated gravel bike. I also noticed some toe overlap when riding with 40mm tires and my cleats set up far back on gravel shoes.
The Allroad AL 105/Ultegra RX proved to be easy to live with and had no issues in two months of testing. After mainly riding drop bar bikes with electronic shifting in the months prior to my time with the BlackHeart, I forgot how easy it is to just get on and ride. There are no charging batteries or syncing of devices, just check tire pressure and head out. It was a refreshing change. I didn’t get along with the saddle, I swapped the stem for a longer one, and I didn’t love the bend of the bar. But those things are all personal preferences and are particularly easy to change on this bike because it lacks overly complicated integration.
At $3,000, the 105/Ultegra RX-equipped Allroad AL hits a sweet spot in the road bike market. It’s priced low enough for many riders to afford and doesn’t sacrifice utility or ride quality by cutting corners. It’s more expensive than 105-equipped aluminum road bikes from Giant, Trek, or Cannondale but the same price as a base-model Specialized Allez Sprint. However, none of those bikes can run 40mm tires and none come close to matching the BlackHeart’s aftermarket parts selection.
When Zach Lambert set out to replace his old CAAD10, he wanted an alloy bike that could be ridden in more places. He ended up creating the perfect bike for a whole lot of riders. That bike ends up being neither a race bike nor a gravel bike. It’s a road bike—but one that can be ridden on all types of roads. BlackHeart’s Allroad AL doesn’t use exotic materials, wild paint colors, or aero anything. It’s a modern bike with a classic approach to bike design in an age of sometimes forced innovation. Cycling needs more bikes like this.
BlackHeart Allroad AL Gallery
As Deputy Editor, Tara Seplavy leads Bicycling’s product test team; after having previously led product development and sourcing for multiple bike brands, run World Championship winning mountain bike teams, wrenched at renowned bicycle shops in Brooklyn, raced everything from criteriums to downhill, and ridden bikes on six different continents (landing herself in hospital emergency rooms in four countries and counting). Based in Easton, Pennsylvania, Tara spends tons of time on the road and trail testing products. A familiar face at cyclocross races, crits, and bike parks in the Mid Atlantic and New England, on weekends she can often be found racing for the New York City-based CRCA/KruisCX team. When not riding a bike, or talking about them, Tara listens to a lot of ska, punk, and emo music, and consumes too much social media.
