General Cycling Discussion - Specialized Sirrus Sport

Does anyone know anything about the Specialized Sirrus Sport '04? I am considering moving up to this hybrid in the spring and would like some advice. I am riding a hybrid now, and do not know if there is much difference in this particular model and a traditional road bike. The S_ Sport runs around $750, and has many high end components, so they tell me. (Riding around 80-100 miles a week, mainly on the road.)

For all the riding you do, I'd consider getting a road bike.

I have the Specialized Sirrus 02, and although I love it, I ride about 2- 3 times what you ride during the warmer months and about a little less than what you ride in the colder months. With all the riding I do, I regret not having a road bike.

I love my Specialized. It rides well, but it is limiting in terms of speed, and the geometry is difficult to relax with when doing longer rides. That, plus the straight handlebars, which limit hand changes, which makes my hands hurt after a while.

Seriously, I'd go for a road bike, especially if you plan on doing that many miles.

I really love my Specialized Sirrus, but I definitely will be upgrading to a road bike this year!

Koffee

Agree with Koffee. At your present weekly mileage a road bike would give you an hour a week extra to either ride more miles or do what you want. I have a Sirrus Pro and while I like the bike and it performs well, it didn't perform for my riding, 75 to 300 miles per week, depending on season, is not a good match for this bike. I ended up buying a road bike rather quickly when I began riding again because of the limitiations of the hybrid. The flat bar sucks for hand position on long rides, the seat is too soft at these distances, it's too heavy, harsh ride is noticable with the miles, and about a 2.5mph differnence between it and my roadie. Under 50 miles per week it's a great bike.

I'd echo the road bike comments, given that amount of riding. I use a Giant hybrid for commuting, but much prefer the comfort on my road bike - so many more hand positions and body positions available. They're lighter and faster too. I just recently purchased a new road bike, and did consider a higher-end hybrid. The components on a high-end hybrid are still low-end road bike.

Is there any particular reason why you're wanting a hybrid?

Thanks, all. These are the same sentiments I have heard from others lately; and it does make sense. I guess I don't see myself as a serious biker. I've only taken to serious miles on my current hybrid--a Gary Fisher--because my doctor advised me to get some serious exercise fast: fat levels in my blood were twice the 149 max--300. But after riding seriously for eight months now, it has become an addiction for more miles. Even with the bar extentions added, after an hour my hands become numb. How much will a nice entry level road bike cost me? Probably much more than the Sirrus, right?

First, just because you have a road bike, doesn't mean you have to be some serious hard core roadie. I don't think I am, yet here I am, shopping around for a road bike. I need performance and comfort, and if I just take that into consideration, I definitely need a road bike!

What you could do is go around to a few of the local shops and see what they have in stock and what the price is. Emphasize that you just want a entry level bike. I'm not sure, but I heard Fugi has nice entry level road bikes for a little less than what you're wanting to pay for the Sirrus.

I'd consider getting an '03 bike, since a lot of shops are trying to clear them out for the '04 bikes coming through. You'll catch a lot more bikes on sale, and seriously, for entry level road bikes, I don't see a difference in geometry or performance when you're just looking at a bike that's one year older.

Before you make any purchases, narrow down what you're looking for, then get back on here and let us know what you're looking at and ask for opinions. There are a lot of people here with experience with various types of road bikes, so you'll get the pros and cons before you plunk down the money and make your final choice. You do want to come out without a doubt that you've got the best bike you can afford that will give you what you need for the type of riding you do.

Good luck!

Koffee

Does anyone know anything about the Specialized Sirrus Sport '04? I am considering moving up to this hybrid in the spring and would like some advice. I am riding a hybrid now, and do not know if there is much difference in this particular model and a traditional road bike. The S_ Sport runs around $750, and has many high end components, so they tell me. (Riding around 80-100 miles a week, mainly on the road.)
I have a nice 03 felt SR71,59cm i'll sell ya for $550.

Not all "road" bikes are racing bikes.
Sport/touring bikes have raceing weight frames, but triple chainsets, lower gears, clearance for medium tyres and fenders and rack fittings.
Id recomend them for commuting, fitness, hostel touring, just about any riding you care to do.

Hi,
I am also a big guy; and my Doc made similar comments to me. I agree with everyone pretty much. Drop bars give you 4 or 5 places to move your hands to. I move my hands around a lot to cut down on the hand and wrist problems. I also use massive amounts of tape on the bar. This year, I am going to try Specialized's Phat wrap, with two additonal layers of shock tape on the top of the bar. This will really help. The Salsa Poco bar is one of the best ergo bars, it works for me and most drop bars simply do not. Definitely go for a sport/touring model. The Bianchi Volpe and Specialized Seqouia are examples of the type. My current object-de-lust is a Gunnar Sport. The saddles that come with bikes stink (usually). I have been trying a couple different different ones, each year, for years. Think I got lucky this year. I really like my new Selle Italia Trans Am, and I have had the Brooks B17 before. This is going to be a good year. I loath flats, so I also run the best tires I can find. You will find best is kinda personal, since when what is gained in one area (like toughness) tends to cost you in another area (like ride quality).
My current pick is the Rivendell Ruffy Tuffy and their Roly Poly for touring.
I think you should be looking at steel frames mostly. I would also add that yes, this is a hell of a lot of money. But its' also worth it, and then some.

I second the recommendation of a Bianchi Volpe or Specialized Sequoia. Although I'd prefer a Bianchi, the Sequoia comes with top mount 'cross brake levers so you can brake from the tops. The other major differences are the Sequoia comes with a carbon fork while the Volpe has a better drivetrain (9spd vs 8spd Sora), and the Volpe has cantilever brakes while the Sequoia has dual-pivot calipers.

You can take the Volpe off-road with it's stock 700x32c tires too.

I'm now looking at the Specialized Sequoia. It looks like a pretty good bike, upright and solid, although I don't know too much about its components. What does everyone think about this road bike? Koffee, you mentioned that you were shopping around for a bike. What are you looking for?

The Urbanmonk

I'm keeping my eye open for a bike, but I'm not sure yet what I want. I thought I wanted a Pinarello, but I'm just wondering now if I want a Fuji or even a Colnago. I'm not sure yet. I need to see how much money I have to spare, then decide what kind of riding I'd like to do this summer, then make a purchase. Plus, I want to make sure my LBS can get what I want too. If he can't get a bike I'm thinking about, then I won't even consider it. I like his service, I like his store, and I don't want to buy a bike from anyone else.

Koffee

I'm now looking at the Specialized Sequoia. It looks like a pretty good bike, upright and solid, although I don't know too much about its components. What does everyone think about this road bike? Koffee, you mentioned that you were shopping around for a bike. What are you looking for?

The Urbanmonk

If you're looking at the Sequoia series, you should also investigate the Trek "c" series (1000c, 1200c, 1800c), the Lemond Big Sky series and Cannondale's road comfort bikes. They are all =very= similar so you should find something that hits the sweet spot for your wallet, comfort, and component group.

I'm now looking at the Specialized Sequoia. It looks like a pretty good bike, upright and solid, although I don't know too much about its components. What does everyone think about this road bike? Koffee, you mentioned that you were shopping around for a bike. What are you looking for?

The Urbanmonk

If you like the sequoia, test ride an Elite. The stem has four position which offers a lot of flexibility. With a nice flexing carbon seat post and fork the "aluminum feeling" all but disappears (though the seat was bad).

I still ride my Trek 730 Hybrid (full chromoly) and the Elite is a much better ride. You will give up the heavy shock seat post, fully adjustable stem, and added brake levers (How often would you really use them?), but would be gaining a 105 group set and better wheels, (tires appear to be bullet proof, too). It also has rack mount.

I'd love to try there carbon seat stay bike (Robaix... sp?), but I'm afraid I'd like it too much.

Urbanmonk, if you want to take your bike off road sometimes, you might conisder a cyclocross bike. They are very versatile and usually have a more comfortable geometry than a road racing bike. The Kona Jake goes for $750. Lemond makes the Poprad which is expensive but has a nice Reynolds 853 frame and Shimano 105 components. I also like the Bianchi Volpe which somebody else mentioned.

http://www.konaworld.com/2k4bikes/2k4_jake.cfm
http://www.lemondbikes.com/2004_bikes/poprad.shtml
http://www.bianchiusa.com/volpe.html

Back in '99, I bought a Marin Point Reyes which is similar to the Specialized Sirrus. I feel the same as others here. It is a great bike, but I wish now I had purchased a more dedicated road bike with a steel frame and drop bars.

Er, back to the original topic of discussion.

I have an 04 Sirrus Sport that I purchased a couple of months ago, and I like it. I only ride about 70 miles a week, and I am a big fan of flat bars, so it works out well for me.

The only problem I've had is that of disk-brake-skewer-loosening, which was easily fixed by swapping out the cheesy specialized skewers for some older shimanos.

I've also ridden the 04 Sirrus Pro for about a week, due to my LBS putting together the wrong bike for me, and then letting me ride it anyway. I really prefered the carbon seatpost on the Pro over the suspension seatpost on the Sport (and the hydraulic disks, and the brushed aluminum finish) but it was out of my price range. By quite a bit.

I really like my Sirrus Sport though, and I don't regret buying it at all. I know the next bike I buy will probably be a touring bike, but I'll definitely keep the Sirrus around because it's just so fun to ride :)

A word of caution: although the bike has fender and rack braze-ons, it's impossible to mount fenders in the usual manner because the disk calipers get in the way. I have just a front fender mounted using the front rack eyelets (ugly) and a rear rack that is not perfectly horizontal (sad). The rack keeps most of the road spray off my back, but not the drivetrain.

I won't say a thing as i dont need to.80-100 a week without a roadbike then get a roadbike because that will increase with a better bike.Dont forget,getting a roadbike doesnt mean your in the drops all the time,heck i'm almost never in them.Dont limit yourself to one bikeshop because you like it,look around and ask questions.