Touring - Specialized Sirrus/Bianchi Boardwalk for Loaded Touring?

Hello

Anyone have experience w/ either one of the two bikes, esp.
in regards to whether they would be suitable for loaded touring?

I am ~180 Lbs + b/w 10-30 lbs of gear.

Thank you.
Have a great day.

Umm...instead of touring on a hybrid, why not try a touring bike?? Trek make the 520, C'Dale makes the T-800, Jamis makes a touring bike, etc., etc. Sure sounds like a better idea than trying to tour on a commuter bike.
A hybrid isn't likely to have hubs capable of handling the extra weight, the rack mounts aren't going to be strong enough for a good, heavy-duty rack, and there is often heel clearance problems with panniers on hybrids, too. I'd say the Sirrus is marginally acceptable for a short tour, but the Boardwalk is not.

I'm with D*Alex on this one. Hybrids are useful critters, for sure, and many of them share features with touring bikes, but for real loaded touring a purpose-designed bike will serve better.

Some people shy from any kind of road bike because they believe drop handlebars will make the bike uncomfortable, but if the bike is properly fit to the rider and the bars are set at a reasonable height (with the tops of the bars up around the same height as the saddle) they are superior. They offer more hand and wrist positions, which is critical on long rides, and the availability of drops can make a big difference on days when you just *have* to do the next 60 miles and you're riding into a stiff headwind.

Fuji and Novara (REI) make reasonably priced (~$800) touring bikes, and the Trek 520 (~$1000) is highly regarded. Bruce Gordon (www.bgcycles.com) makes bikes optimized solely for loaded touring, and is worth checking out even if only to read what he has to say on the subject. REI's new version of the Safari looks good if you want a fat-tire bike and have an REI store with a good bike department manager near you.

As for the Sirrus, I'd be concerned that the wheels are too light-duty for touring, and the ones with carbon forks can't be used with front panniers. The gearing is much, much too high for loaded touring. And the chainstays are much too short for heel clearance with large panniers in back.

The Bianchi is a bit closer to touring geometry and gearing, and would be an admirable commuter -- rack mounts, clearance for fenders, reasonable gearing, cro-mo fork (no low-rider braze-ons, but you could use clamps). But the components are of a lower level (not horrible, just more entry-level) than I'd prefer on a bike that had to perform for many unsupported miles in potentially adverse conditions.

The Boardwalk is exactly the sort of bike I'd suggest a Fuji Touring or a Trek 520 as an alternative to. The touring bikes will be much more versatile, and stand up better to hard use.

RichC

I initially thought of hybrid like sirrus/boardwalk b/c I would want one for riding around town/campus most of the time, and would be used for loaded touring only very tiny portion of the year, like 2 weeks. Thank you for the advice, that was very helpful.

Touring bikes make excellent general purpose utility bikes, and are much more fun to ride. Many people do serious touring on hybrid bikes, and as long as the wheels are built strongly, they can do the job, but a touring bike will do it better.
Dont think of tourers as versions of road racing bikes. The are completely different, and those drop bars do not mean you have to ride hunched down low. Most tourers set the bars high enough for comfortable cruising all day long. This is an important consideration if your bike has a threadless headset , make sure that the fork steerer tube is not cut short. The Trek 520 on Treks website is cut too short.
Many tourers are also specked with too high gearing. The Bruce Gorden BLT should be your model for the ideal touring machine.