Advice for a beginner

My first advice would be - don't start. You'll get addicted very fast.
But since you've already bought a bike, and your saying that you're not specially skilled in mechanics, I'd suggest to go to service. Although the bike is new and you followed manual, in service you should get everything tip - topped. Every detail you might oversee.
Enjoy.

Using the right torque is very important if your bike has any carbon fiber components. Carbon fiber is strong, but it's not meant to withstand excessive clamping forces. If your bike has a carbon steerer I would take it to the shop unless you really know what you're doing.

Thank you for advice, I will take the bike for a service. I was looking to commute about 15 to work each day half of the journey I have a choice between dual carriageway or back roads. What would suggest is safest?

The choice between back road versus dual carriageway (I assume this is basically a fairly busy road, with one lane in each direction?) probably depends most on whether either has a defined bike lane on it, or, lacking that, on the width of the paved shoulder on the side of the road. A busy road with a decent shoulder area is going to be safer, in my opinion, than a narrow back road, especially if the narrow back road is also twisty, with shorter/limited visibility.

On the issue of getting your new bike checked out at a shop:

I think it is really pretty straightforward to check for yourself if your bike is basically set-up right, even if it might be hard to correct (by yourself) any issues found. Ignoring the possibility of over-torquing on a carbon fiber part for a moment, you basically want to make sure that:

- seat post, stem, and handlebars are secure enough to not slip/move in use (but see below, about the over-torquing issue, also)
- clearance and centering of brake pads around the rims looks good (clearance on the order of 2mm or maybe 1/8 inch between pad and rim surface, even on both sides, with even application when brake lever is pressed - plus, shoes are aligned with rim surface. Brakes shouldn't squeek when applied - this may indicate the shoes aren't quite aligned properly.
- wheels spin freely, and when spinning, you don't see side-to-side wobble, nor any evidence of "out of round" - if this is the case your shop will need to do some truing (adjusting of spoke tension). It is also potentially useful to "ping" each spoke with your fingernail - most of the spokes should make a somewhat similar sound, although some variation is possibly intentional, as part of the original truing of the wheel. But you shouldn't have any obviously dead-sounding or loose spokes (note that on the rear wheel, the spokes on the drive/cassette side may well be at a different average tension than the spokes on the non-drive side, and therefore "ping" a bit differently).
- front wheel/fork should turn freely from side to side, without binding or friction. But, at the same time, you shouldn't feel/see any knocking/clunking when braking the front wheel, nor if you hold both brakes, and try rocking front-to-back. If either is true, your shop should adjust the headset.
- as for the derailleurs, the basic check is to make sure that shifts are basically smooth and relatively quiet, and that you don't have chain-rub (against the derailleur cages) when in any gear. (With the possible exception of extreme cross-chain situations, such as the large chain ring with the largest rear cog, and vice-versa.) You can also simply look to see that the chain is reasonably centered within the derailleur cages. Any noise/rubbing issues, take it in to the shop.
- Any other knocking/clunking/groaning sounds during peddling, may indicate an issue with the crank, pedals, etc.

As for torque settings - I think you said that your bike was an Allez. So I don't think you have too much carbon to worry that much about over-torquing. Probably the main thing would be to not clamp the seatpost clamp (which might be carbon, or perhaps carbon over aluminum) - you really don't need it to be that tight to prevent the seatpost from slipping. The little bolts holding the actual saddle to the seatpost, on the other hand, should be tightened fairly tight. The stem and handlebars are also aluminum, I assume, and should also be reasonably tight. (Actually, the ones holding the rear of the stem to the steerer don't really need to be that tight, since they don't have to resist twisting forces. I THINK that your Allez has an aluminum steerer, even though the fork blades are carbon. But in any case, the bolts on the rear of the stem shouldn't be over-tightened.)

I'm not disagreeing with the idea of having your local shop do any work that might be needed. But I am suggesting that it is not that hard to at least be able to identify that a problem exists in the first place. Even if you just bring your bike in for an initial go-over, knowing what to watch out for as you put miles/kilometers on is pretty important.

genedan said:

Using the right torque is very important if your bike has any carbon fiber components. Carbon fiber is strong, but it's not meant to withstand excessive clamping forces. If your bike has a carbon steerer I would take it to the shop unless you really know what you're doing.

B0ll0cks to that - get down the local car/auto parts store an buy a half way desent torque wrench and a set of allen wrench sockets and a small tube of locktite thread locker.

Sure, if you go down a pothole the size of that meteor crater in Arizona and you end up with a nicely notched headset then a visit to the local bike shop (or dealer where you got the bike/frame from) might be in order. But ar$ing around taking the bike to the LBS in order to have a carbon seat post adjusted or a new set of carbon bars put on is just pure laziness.

Bikes aint rocket science and if you can't figure out how to turn the handle at the bottom of a torque wrench and then twist the locking ring once you have the correct setting then one could argue that you really shouldn't be riding a bike in a busy street...

If the settings seem 'not that tight' and it says "use threadlocking compound" in the instructions, then use it - otherwise you might be pulling your teeth out from the asphalt. 😉

Little Nat said:

Hi I'm starting off as a road biker and have just bought a Specialized Allez Elite. The bike has arrived and I've fitted the front wheel as the instructions / websites adviced. Next I read the manual which contains a lot of "make sure this is tightened according to the torque setting in appendix D or you may crash and cause serious injury or death". So do I take the bike for a service (as I'm not over confident in the mechanics yet as only just beginning and want to ride the bike sooner rather than later), or should everything be ok as the bike is new? I did notice that once the front wheel was attached the brake pads could be better aligned so wondered what else could be improved. Any advice is much appreciated. 😄

Shimano have lots of tech tips here:
Tech Tips

Go here: Shimano for Tech Docs, such as installation instructions and cool parts diagrams.

Enjoy.

swampy1970 said:

Shimano have lots of tech tips here:
Tech Tips

Go here: Shimano for Tech Docs, such as installation instructions and cool parts diagrams.

Enjoy.

Also check out the tips at the Park Tool website:
Welcome to Park Tool Company

swampy1970 said:

Bikes aint rocket science and if you can't figure out how to turn the handle at the bottom of a torque wrench and then twist the locking ring once you have the correct setting then one could argue that you really shouldn't be riding a bike in a busy street...
😉

Just when we thought we had them all fooled, you had to come out with a statement like this! Now you're gonna have a bunch of starving wrenches out there🙄.

I've just looked your bike in the Specialized's web and it seems that you only have carbon fiber in the fork (but the head tube, which is the part the stem embraces, might be made of aluminum) and a layer (might be only cosmetic) around the seat post tube.

It is possible that all bikes come with the same manual both aluminum and carbon fiber models, and that some warnings are specially directed to the last. Refer to the proper appendix and follow the instructions.

The critical points are the seat post clamp, and the joints between the stem and the handlebar and fork head tube. In case of any of these items are made of carbon fiber: seat post, stem, handlebar or fork tube, they are overtorque sensitive.

Anyway if doubts arise get the bike to the shop or get a torque wrench if you need to: for example if you have Shimano cranks the left one is attached to the axle with 2 bolts that "should be equally and evenly tightened to 12-15 N-m" Also if you repeatedly tighten too much your brakes to your aluminum frame or fork they could crack in the long term: once riding an old bike, my front brake became hanging from the cable after I stopped behind a car; the steel fork was cracked and suddenly my handlebar was resting only on the right leg of the fork.

Bikes are not rocket science but after many years of professional, Richard Virenque had a serious accident just because he forgot to tighten his front quick release before a mountain-bike race.

Be alert and enjoy .

If youi're not confident about riding it then go get it checked out. As a previous poster said you will become addicted to it once you start. Don't worry about your mechanical ignorance, we are all born without knowledge and we all have to learn. Invest in a good bike maintenaance manual and learn about how your bike works and learn how to repair and maintain it yourself. It'll take a while but you'll get there in the end. We all do.

Good Luck
Paul