General Cycling Discussion - Sirrus Mods that rock

Last August I got an 01 Sirrus Comp (the blue bomb with the blue Mavic wheels that match). I got the straight bar because of carpule tunnel and ulner nerve damage (from off road riding) and was advised that the position on a road bike could aggrivate it.

After riding it a while I decided that although I liked the straight bar I was sitting WAY TOO UPRIGHT for my hilly area because I couldn't get enough power into my stroke sitting that upright. I also found the rear cogs too MTB (way too low gearing) to get any speed out of the bike on the flats.

SO I made some mods that make it rock!!

First I went to the LBS and played with the "fit kit" steam until I got what felt best. It turned out to be a 130/85 which is the same length as the stock 130/17 posative rise that came on the bike, but a whole lot lower (I tried flipping the steam, but that just had me riding on my pubic synthasis OUCH!!!!!) I have the steam set negative. The closest I could get was a Ritche Pro 130/84 which gives 6 degrees of negative angle.

I then switched out the rear cacette and put an Ultegra 11/23 on. Man that thing makes the bike FLY!!!

The other mod I made was to add my old Durango Bars (early 90's bars that give lots of and positions) from my old MTB. I have them set with the angle a bit lower than would be used for climbing on a MTB which has them approximate riding on the hoods of a road bike. I wrapped the bar ends with chinelli cork tape to add some comfort.

Topping off with a Trail Rat II and a Specilized Speedzone Comp computer and I now have an ausome ride!!

Just thought I would share this in case anyone else out there has a Sirrus or comperable bike and was experiencing some of the same issues.

Thanks for the info.

Got any pictures?

Yeah, let's see some pix!

You have seen through the myth that
flat bars = upright position and
road bars = low-down position.
You can set up a bike in any position, using any style of bar you please. What road bars give you is a variety of positions.

Show us the pix....

Pix to com when I get a chance to do them. Rain in the forcast here for then next few days!!

Later...Bill

Hi wlevey, just got done with the latest mods to my '02 Sirrus A1 Sport.
I was also unhappy with the rear cogs, so my LBS put on a 12-25 cassette for me. They were also kind enough to adjust the derailleur for it and mentioned that a 12-23 cassette probably wouldn't have worked with the OEM derailleur. The mechanic showed me the clearances (just barely enough) with the upper adjustment screw backed almost all the way out.
It was an embarrassing experience as I had just had the bike tuned up and was talking with them about installing the 8-speed 12-23 cassette I had ordered from Nashbar (http://www.nashbar.com/profile.cfm?category=87&subcategory=1109&brand=&sku=8771&storetype=&estoreid=) to replace the OEM cassette. The mechanic looked at me kinda funny and asked if I was sure I wanted to downgrade from a 9-speed to an 8-speed. When I told him I was going from an 8 to an 8 with a little less hill climbing ability, he said wait a minute we'd better look over my bike and see what I really have...
We found out that my Sirrus came with a 9-speed 11-32 cassette. The shmucks at Specialized (http://www.specialized.com/SBCBkModel.jsp?san=02SirrusA1Sport) claim the cassette is an 8-speed 12-25 when it is in fact a 9-speed 11-32. Specialized also sez the Sirrus comes with 52-42-32 chainrings when it actually has a 48-38-28 (can't remember the exact numbers but they are nothing like the 52-42-30 claimed on the website).
I should have known better than to order before ground truthing the specs first.
Now, thanx to my LBS (who gave me a good deal on a proper road cassette and installed it free), I've got a bike that's better suited for the road, with parts that fit and parts that work! I really like being able to fine tune the gears to get the best performance when dealing with wind or hills. I lost a little top-end and bottom-end ability with the smaller/tighter tooth count, but I never used those gears at the extreme ends of the OEM cassette anyway.
Oh yeah, I also took off the OEM stem and replaced it with an adjustable ATB stem. Now the ride is much more comfortable.
To see a pix of my steed, click here (http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?s=&postid=164489#post164489).
Well that's all for now, hope you're having fun riding your Sirrus somewhere!

When I saw the thread title referred to mods that rock I thought you were talking about the moderators on BikeForums. Oh well.:D

Wow!

Thanks for passing on the modifications. I have the same bike, and I really do want to do something to upgrade my bike, but I had no idea where to start. Now I've got something to work with!

Thanks!

Koffee

You're quite welcome, Koffee.
BTW I'm enjoying reading your thread about touring Italy (http://www.bikeforums.net/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=168) for 22 days. That's pretty gutsy to have toured on a Sirrus, thoughtful to have kept a log for us armchair adventurers to follow, and wonderful that you had a great time to boot!

My 2002 Sirrus Pro came with 52-42-30 chainrings and a 11/26 or 12/26 9 speed cassette, I run a 12/23.
The first thing I did when the bike was new was to flip the stem. I also went to a Ritchey Pro, 115mm. Added Performance carbon bar ends and Terry Fly seat as I don't interface well with bodygeometry saddles. The Ritchey OCR rims with bladed spokes looked trick but proved unreliable, the rear rim failed with cracks around the spoke nipples after 1800 miles. Switched to Mavic MA3 rims with Dura-Ace hubs, 32h.