Road Cycling - I did it...now a lot of questions.

Ok, so after months of looking around, budgeting big dollars, looking some more, re-learning all of this stuff, etc, I finally settled on going small-time and picked up a used road bike, it's an old Specialized Sirrus found at a shop for $250, it's got a full Shimano RX100 group on it, a nice HR/Cyclometer (that's worth about half of what I paid). It's a little rough looking, but considering it's probably at least 6-7 years old (still has downtube shifters) it's not to bad. So this marks the first time back on the bike in a good 10 years or so and now that I'm ready to roll I have a few questions.

First is that damn saddle, giving the bike a little test ride last night when I got home and my butt hurt even for a little 5 minute ride around the block. I don't remember this happening in the past, but then again in the past I had pretty much always been on a bike since I could first ride one as a kid. So is this normal? Or should I go look for a better seat? Any recommendations?

Pedals, way back when I was just getting into riding on a set of LOOK's, but never really got used to them (since I had been riding clipped pedals for a good 10yrs before then), the bike now has a set of beat up SPD's on it, but should I skip picking up a set of clipless pedals and go for clips until I get used to the feel of riding again? Any thoughts? I figured this would be a good time to get used to going clipless right from the start since my body doesn't really remember the situation from the past.

Tires, the bike came with a set of those airless tires, evidently the bike was owned by a fat-ass type person (like myself) and was tired of dealing with flats. I can understand this obviously, but I don't remember having a big flat problem in the past, granted I'm a little heavier now (except now it's fat and not muscle) than back then but not that much. Is this a problem for bigger riders? I haven't ridden enough to really comment on the ride of the bike yet, although it did feel a little wierd (but again, last time I rode a semi-high performance road bike was many, many years ago). Anyways, I like the idea of never having a flat, but not at the expense of comfort and performance. It's not a big deal to switch back to normal tires, just need to buy tires/tubes/strips and a good pump (and a toolkit to fix flats).

Thanks for the help.
Andrew

Seat? Try a few until one you like. You got to give them time.

Tires? Have a shop dump those tubeless and put conventional tires and tubes.

Pedals? Buy what you like and are used to.

Well Andrew,
We've disagreed on other topics in the past, but it seems we agree on this one. I also have an older Specialized Sirrus, that I got used from my LBS. Mine is full RX-100 also. I got mine a bit cheaper than you did, but I had to buy tires right away, a computer and pedals. So it seems to be about the same deal.

I found that I got used to the saddle very quickly. A pair of padded bike shorts has helped out greatly. What type saddle do you have on it now?

I'd personally throw a set of flats on the bike until I was comfortable with everything else, then decide on the pedals. That's what I did anyway.

I guess you'll need to decide how much more comfortable you'll be on new tires. I have Conti. Gatorskins and have had no flats since I got them. (knock on wood) I keep the pressure around 90psi. I DID have a couple of flats with the last tires, I dont remember what they were.
Oh, and I am a "fat-a$$" type person as well. The bike hauls me around nicely.

try some saddle time and seat adjustment before spending money.Get rid of the nor more flats tires,they cause broken spokes.

Well a little political disagreement never hurt anybody, makes the world diverse, and I never take it personally (although in a heated debate it could be taken that way I suppose). Anyways, I'm pretty happy with the decision, the price was a little higher than I would have liked for a used bike, but I don't have the time to hit every pawn shop in S. Florida, nor hitting Garage sales, I do get the benefits of the shop standing behind the product at least a little bit (usual free adjustment/tune up type thing), plus the other stuff like the HR/cyclometer.

I have no idea what type of seat it is, although it has a bike shops name embroidered on it, so it's certainly nothing high quality. It feels like some leather/vinyl stretched over steel, and it's a little wider than I'd like. I'll have to take a look at some other choices I think.

The tires I guess have to go, just to many horror stories I've read about these things rolling off, broken spokes, etc. Plus I just don't see how it's going to perform the same as a good "normal" tire, so with no trust in the tires I'll never push the bike to any kind of limit.

Man, I'm going to spend a fortune accesorizing, pump, tires, tubes, rim strips, helmet, gloves, water bottle/cage, pedals, shoes, new bar tape. That should get me going at least.

Andrew

If you rode extensively before, it'll all come back. It's like... riding a bike!

Saddles? It's normal. For anyone who's been "off the bike" for any amount of time, there's a break-in period for your butt. Give it a few weeks, IMO. If height and position are adjusted well, and the pain remains, consider a replacement.

I don't understand your question about pedals... if it came w/SPDs, there's nothing better in terms of an all purpose clip-less. Typically, you can walk in the shoes, they have float, and are easy to clip into and get out of. You can get a decent, all purpose set of SPD-compatible shoes for about $40, maybe less.

And, yes. Lose the airless tires.

Ajay, ya silly fool,
You shoulda bought the bike a few weeks ago so everyone could've bought that stuff for ya. :D
Post a pic if you get one.

What color is it?

Mine's black with red stickers. Specialized on the tt, Sirrus on the DT. Direct Drive on the Chainstays.

It really is a pretty good bike, and with 1-1/2 full water bottles, 25mm tyres and a full tool kit, she weighs under 24 lbs. I think thats pretty decent for an older steel frame bike.

I like it enough that I already decided that, in a few months, when I've promised myself a new bike, I'm gonna keep the old bird for a spare. I also know that if I had to choose between my Sirrus and the almost brand new Cannondale I rented in Vegas last month, that I'd take my Sirrus any day.

Yeah, what everybody said.

Regarding the seat. What happens is that you buttock muscles are not used to supporting your weight in that area. It WILL take some time to strengthen these up.

My suggestion, go for a ride everyday for 15 to 30 minutes for the first week. After that, you should be good to go!

L8R

Well after a spendy lunch hour I should be good to go for at least a little while. Amazing though that buying all the other stuff needed costs more than the damn bike itself, granted I didn't have to buy the super expensive helmet, but...ahhhh well.

So two new tires, three tubes, couple rolls of rim tape, new bar tape, bottle and cage, floor pump, frame pump, patch kit, tire levers, pedals/toe-clips and probably a couple of other things I forgotten I should be good to go. I'll stick with the seat for now and see how I adjust to it before going that route, almost the same with the pedals.

Anyways, it sounds like it's a mirror image of your bike Chip, black with red decals. Black/red bar tape (cheap junk that's getting replaced), regular aero brake levers, balck handlebars, black stem, black seatpost.

Do you have any info on what these things were originally? RX100 was towards the low end for it's day if I'm not mistaken, somewhere around Tiagra these days.

Andrew

According to Sheldon Brown's website, in '97 it WAS considered the step below 105SC, which I guess would equal Tiagra now. All I know is it seems to work pretty good. I guess the DT shifters simplify it pretty well. Upgrading the shifters costs WAY more than I was going to spend on a bike I paid <200 bux for.

I asked the techies at Specialized, they told me to send a photo and they'd be able to tell me more about the bike. I don't know exactly what year mine is, so they couldn't give much info, and I've found very little info except about the newer flat-bar Sirrus. I do know that the guy that owned it before me was a pretty active duathloner that raced it.

Originally posted by Ajay213


Do you have any info on what these things were originally? RX100 was towards the low end for it's day if I'm not mistaken, somewhere around Tiagra these days.

Andrew 105 with a different,and thought by many to be a better finish,but it actually sold for a few bucks less.

Get rid of those awful airless tyres, and maybe your @$$ wont hurt as much. you may need cutting tools to get the #&$*ing things off, though.
FWIW, RX-100 was cheap stuff, so don't be surprised if a few things break fairly quickly.

Originally posted by D*Alex
[B
FWIW, RX-100 was cheap stuff, so don't be surprised if a few things break fairly quickly. [/B] More BS from MR. APPLESAUCE!

RX break? Non sense. All is good.

Geez! I am riding a cheap steel frame with mix match Veloce and I still managed to hold my own after bein gout of cometitive cycling for a few years. It is the rider not the parts.

Forget the comment about the RX. Parts are parts. It is the rider that makes the bike go.

People like that I laugh. They spend all their money on top of the line Dura Ace or Record and still wondering why no major improvement.

Originally posted by Xavier
RX break? Non sense. All is good.



People like that I laugh. They spend all their money on top of the line Dura Ace or Record and still wondering why no major improvement. You rock!:D

Originally posted by Ajay213
So two new tires, three tubes, couple rolls of rim tape, new bar tape, bottle and cage, floor pump, frame pump, patch kit, tire levers, pedals/toe-clips and probably a couple of other things I forgotten I should be good to go. I'll stick with the seat for now and see how I adjust to it before going that route, almost the same with the pedals.

you got enough to get you rolling, now get used to the bike and don't spend anymore on it... once you get a feel for things then you can decide what pedals & shoes you will need, or if you want a different saddle. I found that just getting used to the bike can do wonders for things that do not seem to work right off the bat. oh yeah enjoy riding :)

Well, other than the un-cooperative weather things are looking good, the bike does ride a bit better with regular tires. I'm a little unsure of the gearing, it has a 53/39 front and what looks like a 13-26 on the rear, and even now in my horrible state of shape I never get into the last 2 rear cogs, but I'll hold off on that one until I can start putting some miles on the bike. I'm still a bit undecided on the saddle yet, the only information on it says WTB and SST it also has a bike shops logo/name embroidered/sewn on to it. Reviews on the SST seat almost all say the same thing about being a pain in the ass, literally. So I'll give it a couple more weeks then pick up something a bit nicer and hopefully bask in the comfort. So overall I'm happy with everything, I got a bike that I'm happy with and I got all the other equipment one would need for just a little less money than most of the lowest end road bikes out there. Which was one of the goals of breaking back into the sport (although if the one guy would have come down just a lil more on that Pinarello.....).

Some pics attached as well.

Andrew

And one more.

Andrew

Rest assured Ajay, you are going to like this bike.

In case anyone was wondering what my bike looks like...

Swap out the black bar tape for a red, white and black speckled one and that's her.

ChipR

Swap out the black bar tape for a red, white and black speckled one and that's her.

If you only knew how close I was to buying that color tape....

Andrew

:D

Hey, Ajay!!

Well, how's she ridin?
The weather's been great, you should be out there tearin up the streets.
How about a "ride report"?

She rides pretty good, I'm pretty happy with it. I had to tweak the fit quite a bit as the frame is probably 1 size to big for me, but I have that squared away now. I've gotten semi-used to the saddle, but it's still a pain in the butt (literally). I love the new helmets, I barely know I'm wearing the damn thing, this as opposed to 10 years ago when I was riding and the things were still pretty heavy and ventilation was much more of a joke. The pedal issue hasn't been solved yet, but I'm more looking for a good deal now than anything.

In terms of riding, I'm a bit behind the schedule I set in my mind, the last 2 weekends I haven't gotten a chance to ride, the first weekend I was moving into a new apartment (got plenty of excercise that day), and last weekend I had a friend come down a visit from up north. Before that I made it a point to at least get out for 30-40 minutes a day on both days of the weekend which I manage to hit pretty well. The sun isn't out quite long enough yet to do an evening ride, by the time I get home from work it's a bit to dark to go riding. So lots of excuses, and not enough riding :D

On the other side, I do need to pick up a few things for the bike, the chain and cassette are in need of replacing, getting a lot of skipping in the "popular" gears. The seat, ugh...one of these days. The tires I bought are nice, but changing them, yikes. When I swapped out the airless things I bought some Specialized tires, and they absolutely won't get on the rim without a lot of swearing, sweating and at least drawing blood from somewhere on my hands. But on the plus side, I'm back to being an ace at patching tubes since I manage to punch a hole in them about 40% of the time I try and put a tire on the rim (I've only yanked them off and on a couple of times).

Fitness wise, I'm getting past the point of feeling like riding straight over to the hospital and straight to the de-fib machine, so the cardio side is getting past the initial shock. My legs are pretty strong, but have no stamina in them at all, plus I'm trying to change my old bad habits by "re-learning" to ride as I used to mash huge gears (I use to sping 60-70 rpm on average), I'm trying to spin a little faster now, which isn't helping. Weight wise I'm doing pretty good, but I think that's more from my new revolutionary fad diet called "Stay the hell away from junk food stupid", the excercise helps, but when I'm more consistant it should get even better.

So it's coming along, I didn't really set any hard goals for myself. I'd like to be able to do some lower level club rides by the middle/end of summer and that shouldn't be a problem, and I'd like to maybe do some short time trials by the fall but with no expectations of posting a "good" time.

Andrew

Don't get hung up on miles. You should make a hike down this way one weekend and ride a "moderate" pace ride with our club. We do em pretty regularly and newbies and re-newbies are always welcome. They are a really nice group, very friendly and helpful. PM me if you think you might be interested.

ChipR

PS we'll have to be careful if we ride together so we go home with the right bike!

That bike doesn't look like a $250 bike. Those are really nice pics. You got a pretty good deal. Hope you get some really enjoyable miles in on that nice looking bike.