General Cycling Discussion - Kona Dew Deluxe or Specialized Sirrus

Newbie here to this forum.

I currently do a lot of cross country/trail riding, but have recently got into road biking. I live in Monterey, Ca so riding on the trails next to the Pacific Ocean makes for a great ride. We also just had the SeaOtter Classic this past weekend. :)

I have owned a hard tail in the past and currently own a full suspension bike which I use for trail and road biking at the moment. The big down side to my bike is its weight. With that side, I am in the market for a road bike and have narrowed it down to these two (Im on a budget, hence why I chose the two listed below):

Kona Dew Deluxe at $599
Specialized Sirrus at $550

I am leaning more towards the Kona since it comes with front and rear disc brakes. However, in my area, I see a lot of riders use Specialized road bikes versus Kona.

I really need your help as I am stuck between the two. I will most likely be purchasing one of the two next Friday. Which bike would you prefer? Any help is greatly appreciated.

Thank you,
Michael

I started with an ATB type bike, doing short rides and whatnot. As my fitness level increased, I started looking at road bikes (especially for a commute.) Being most familiar with ATB "style" bikes, I checked the flat-bar road models.

After a while of riding, a fair amount of time and effort was spent converting it to a drop bar road bike. There's a moral to that story.

Disc brakes?

To me it sounds like you're not really looking for a "road" bike...just a more road friendly ATB. But I may be wrong.

Yeah, Im not a serious "road biker..." yet... I've been doing MTB for over a year now, so my fitness level is up there and have built my legs to become muscular.

After doing cross country and get back on the road, I see everyone just zoom pass me so fast on their road bikes. I'm just looking for something that's an entry level road bike and go from there. I think I'll eventually move to a drop bar once I become more hardcore into it.

Thanks for the feedback though.

That sounds exactly like my story. On my commute, I got a bit tired of people zooming by me on their road bikes. I also thought I wanted something entry level, and that a flat-bar road bike was it.

What I didn't know is that drop bars don't have to have an aggressive "racing" stance. Touring bikes, "fitness" or "sport" bikes, cyclocross bikes...all have a more relaxed geometry while utilizing drop bars. The time put into my formerly flat bar road bike has essentially yielded a touring bike.

Drops aren't necessarily "hardcore". A drop bar bike can be more relaxed, while still giving you the multiple hand and body positions for long rides, as well as a much needed refuge from the wind. It's the overall stance and geometry of a true racing bike that you are probably wary of...and you should be, for your purposes.

If you insist on a flat bar roadie, I would recommend the Sirrus. However, I highly suggest test riding a drop bar road bike with a more casual geometry...something with room for slightly larger tires than skinny racers, and maybe a bit of fender clearance, where the handlebars are level with the saddle...not 4 inches below it.

And while it may seem odd at first, once you go to drops, you may never go back.

The Sirrus is more of a road bike than the Dew. They have the same front chainrings but the Sirrus is 12-26 and the Dew is 11-34; that's a mtb. cassette. The Dew has a greater gear range but bigger jumps between the gears. The Sirrus has 700 x 28 tires compared to 700 x 37's on the Dew.

Other bikes in this category include the Trek 7.3 FX($490), the Giant FCR 3($500), Marin Muirwoods($490), Jamis Coda ($440).

The disc brakes aren't really needed; regular brakes work quite well.

Have you test ridden these bikes? The Dew will feel more comfortable with the fatter tires, the Sirrus may go a bit faster, for trail riding it won't be any faster. The wide cassette on the Dew may or may not bother you. You'll have fewer duplicated gears overall but the jumps from cog to cog while in the same front ring may be an annoyance. On the other hand, that 34 bailout gear may be greatly appreciated.

Flat bars give you more control/stability in steering; for some people drop bars are too twitchy. But as stated above, drop bars provide more places to put your hands which keeps you comfortable on long rides. More hand positions is why people put bar ends on flat bars. There's a handlebar that looks like a flattened figure 8 that gives you the stability of a flat bar plus loads of additional hand positions. For speed on the roads, getting into the drops is the way to go.

It can get pretty expensive swapping a flat bar for a drop bar. Shifters and brake levers don't migrate well.

I'd get the Dew Deluxe if choosing between the two and maybe later grab a different cassette once you get a feel for what cogs would suit your riding best.

Have you test ridden bikes with a true or compact road geometry? What made you decide on the Sirrus and the Dew?

^^ I'll have to look into the other bikes you listed above. Your post is of great help to me! I have test ridden the Dew, which is quite comfortable. I plan to test the Sirrus this weekend, so long as it doesnt rain.

I have ridden my cousins bike with drops, but only for a good mile and that was it. Very light and very fast. It did feel awkward with the drops and that is probably because its something Im not quite used to... yet. All my bikes have been flat bars.

I've been doing 30-40 miles every Saturday for the past month with my full suspension bike and its quite hard to keep up with road bikers. I need to use much more energy just to keep up with them and after sometime I just loose steam.

30-40 miles on a full suspension bike every weekend, trying to run with roadies! Yikes! That's like Conan being shackled to the wheel of pain (or whatever it was) for all those years.

While you're maybe looking at the bikes bbattle suggested, perhaps also take for a spin a Fuji Newest, Trek 1000, or the Specialized Sequoia.

Sometimes asking a question on this forum can muddy the waters more than before...but that's not always bad.

^^ Believe me, it is a pain trying to keep up with roadies, especially on flats. I maybe able to keep up for a good 5 miles with them, but because Im exerting more energy on my heavy bike, my legs get tired much faster. Its just time that I try something new. Cross country is a great thrill, but I think its time I get into road biking/speed junkie.

I was taking a look at the Trek 7.3 FX (Disc) that bbattle suggested and that is something Im going to take a look at this weekend. I may take a look at the Trek 1000 you mentioned above. Hopefully they have a demo at the store. Online, its only going for $549!! The Sequioia is over my budget, but something I'll take a look at.

Decisions, decisions... I still have until next Friday (pay day). I'm hoping I can at least test out the demo's this weekend.

Update: I went and test rode the Sirrus and fell in love with it. It is very smooth and couldn't believe how easy it was to get it moving compared to my MTB. I was not able to test it on any hills though...

The other LBS would not let me test the Dew Deluxe, so I left and went to Aquarian Bikes (LBS) instead. Great deal on the bike and not to mention 3 years warranty with them, 1 year free tires/labor and some other goodies.

Cant wait to get it next week! (They only had the Silver one and I wanted the Gloss Black, which is why they had to do a special order).

Congratulations on your new bike! Be sure to give us a full ride report next week.

I just got the sirrus as well, its a fantastic bike. Excellent for my daily commute, and easy to load up with the "stuff" I need for work.

Update

I've had the Sirrus since Friday and it is def. a great fitness bike. Much much quicker then my FS MTB. I installed my computer the following day as well and its been pretty accurate so far.

On one of my descends, I hit 33.8 MPH. Very short descend, but was pretty impressed. Still not quite as fast as a real road bike, but Im happy thus far. My average speed so far is only 16.X MPH.

You do feel the bumps in the road with this bike but standing helps. I've been commuting with this bike to work and its much quicker than when I was riding my FS MTB.

Overall, great bike for its price. I probably could have gotten the Specialized Sequiao (drop bars), but opted for this being my first "road bike."

Update

I've had the Sirrus since Friday and it is def. a great fitness bike. Much much quicker then my FS MTB. I installed my computer the following day as well and its been pretty accurate so far.

On one of my descends, I hit 33.8 MPH. Very short descend, but was pretty impressed. Still not quite as fast as a real road bike, but Im happy thus far. My average speed so far is only 16.X MPH.

You do feel the bumps in the road with this bike but standing helps. I've been commuting with this bike to work and its much quicker than when I was riding my FS MTB.

Overall, great bike for its price. I probably could have gotten the Specialized Sequiao (drop bars), but opted for this being my first "road bike."

Got onto this late- but I was going to tell you that I am a Kona Fan and you cannot beat a Kona- However, I did a ride last year in which the Sirrus bike was by far the most popular bike on the ride. It was nearly a closed ride- as it was organised by the Police, and basically for police with a few guests. I was one of the guests. It may have been that in a small circle like this- one person influenced all the others but 7 of the owners were EX road riders that wanted a more casual bike that worked. They all understood bikes and came to their decisions independantly. I can tell you that the Sirrus works. For a first road bike you have made a very- "Professional" choice. I am a mountain biker and not into road bikes- but every time I see a Sirrus on the road- I am impressed- sounds as though you are too.

Great, you have a new bike. For anyone else considering a similar bike, I recommend the Jamis Coda line. They are steel and very smooth-riding.

^ I did consider the Jamis Coda, but couldnt find anly LBS that carried any. I think Sant Cruz, CA has a dealer, but did not want to drive up north.

If I did not end up purchasing the Sirrus, I would have either gone with the Dew Deluxe or the Trek 7.3X Disc. I'll see how long I can last with this Sirrus.

Within the last two years, I went from a hard tail, to a comfort bike, back to a full suspension and now the hybrid/fitness bike. Who knows, by X-mas I may have a tri-cross.

I love my Sirrus, and my Sequoia... former for commuting, latter for recreation.

But if I had to have ONLY one, it would be the Sequoia... the dro-bars give it more versatility.