Haptown

There's a guy on CL selling a 1990 or 1991 Specialized Sirrus (pre-brifters?), he says it's in excellent shape but needs a tune up. He's asking $175. There is no picture and I'm going to look at it tonight so I wanted to ask you all if this seems like a fair price and what else can you tell me about this make and model from that time period. I haven't found much of anything by Googling, anyone here know alot about old Specialized bikes?
Hope this post fits in with Classic & Vintage.

Andy

T-Mar

The 1990 sold for $550 US and came equipped with Shimano 105SC. There was also a Sirrus Triple for the same price that used RX100. The 1991 Sirrus Sport sold for $470 US and came with SunTour Blaze.

Both the 1990 models use the same CrMo butted frameset with 73 degree parallel angles, so they would be suitable for a novice racer or fast day rides. Both use CrMo forks, but the Sirrus is Unicrown while the Sirrus triple is conventional. The Triple has a third, granny chainring, making it suitable for cyclists who live or like to ride in very hilly terrain. Both have dual bottle bosses and a pump peg, use 32 hole Wolber GTX rims, 7 sp HG cogs and have down tube shift levers. The only real difference in the minor components is the Selle Italia Turbo Gel saddle on the Sirrus versus the SBI Lambda Blob on the Sirrus Triple. Oh yeah, the Sirrus was red and the Sirrus triple was blue.

I don't have detailed specs on the 1991 model, but I imagine the frame is similar. Personally, I tend to avoid bicycles with the SunTour AccuShift groups. The group itself is good, but there can be a problem finding parts if you need them. The SunTour index system was not compatible with anything else, so if you need to replace the levers, derailleurs or cogs, you cannot substittute. On the other hand, Shimano 7sp index components are still readily available.

Haptown

Thanks T-Mar - the Sirrus in question is red so I guess it's not the triple. I have not seen the bike yet - I was just too tired to go anywhere after work today. I'm meeting the seller on Saturday morning. I don't know if he has upgraded any of the components, I find out on Saturday. This is part 2 of my search for a commuter bike.
Do you know when Specialized introduced the Sirrus model? And do you know what the difference is between the 1990 models and those made in the 80's, assuming that they made them in the 80's.

T-Mar

I'm not sure exactly when the Sirrus was introduced. The oldest reference I have for it is 1987. At that time it was a CrMo butted framest (tube wall gauge equivalent to Columbus SL), Shimano 105 equipped and $449 US. Still had two sets of bottle bosses and a pump peg, though the frame was slightly steeper with 74 degree angles. Other than the angles, it looks like very little changed excpet for incremental developments in the 105 group (i.e. 6 to 7 speeds, Hyperglide, etc.).

Haptown

Thanks again T-Mar, how do you find all of this information? I have been unable to find any info on old Specialized bikes via Google.
It seems as though Specialized is not really represented well on the Vintage & Classic forum. Are they not considered collectible? Haven't they been around just as long as Trek?

Thanks for your help,

Andy

T-Mar

I've got a huge collection of cycling catalogs, magazines and books that I've collected over the past 35+ years. In this particular case, I just happened to have the 1990 Specialized catalog and a 1987 road test. Basically, you got lucky.

Relatively speaking, Specialized is a modern company. Mike Sinyard started the company in 1974 to import European bicycle components. In 1978 they introduced their first product, the Turbo, the first folding, high performance tire. It was followed by the Allez road and Sequoia touring bicycles. In 1981 they introduced the legendary Stumpjumper, which was the first mass produced ATB and virtually singlehandedly, started the ATB craze. While they had road models prior to the Stumpjumper, it was the Stumpjumper that caused the fuss and drew attention to the company and consequently their road bicycles.

The vintage Specialized road bicycles were excellent values. They were good bicycles and relatively inexpensive. I recommended the Allez to many novice road racers in the early 1980s. The Sequoia and later Expidition were great grand touring models. However, they did not gain immediate market share. First off, they were not European or Japanese (though many were built there) and second, many people resisted going with a relatively new company with a limited model range. It was the Stumpjumper that really drew attention to the company, but at that point everybody was jumping on the ATB bandwagon, taking away sales from the road bike market and bicycles like the Sirrus and Allez. So while the road bicycles were great, they were a relatively small portion of the marketplace and just don't surface in the kind of quantities that their merits justify.

While there is no definitve definition of vintage and classic, for most members it is somewhere in the 1980s. Some people cut things off in 1983 with the death of Tullio Camapgnolo, while others use Shimano's mid-1980s introduction of indexed shifting as the cut-off. Regardless, this is just about the time when Specialized were really beginning to make a name for themselves.

The bottom line is that the old Specialized road bicycles are borderline vintage and don't turn up in the quantity because they werer being overshaowed by ATBs. Perhaps Specialized slogan of "innovate or die" is also subconciously preying on some minds. After all, a C&V crowd is not exactly into innovation.

Regardless of whether they are C&V material or not, nobody will rant on you for posting here. As for some of my persoanal opinions, that's another story.

Haptown

Thanks again T-Mar!!

bigbossman 

The only other point I would add is that, while the Suntour Accushift system is hard to replacements for and doesn't play nice with other systems, the shift lever does have a "friction mode" setting that works quite well. I had a Bridgestone with a bad Accushift RD. I replaced it with a Shimano, set the shifter to friction, and it worked very well. Also, you can change out a drivetrain fairly easily and inexpensively, (assuming you have a bit of bike mechanic in you).

So, if the bike fits you, is in good repair, and you like the way it rides, you might be able to use the Accushift spares issue as a bargaining point to shave some $$ off of the asking price. Although, $175 for a clean, ready-to -ride decent road bike that fits you isn't too bad a price.

Haptown

And the saga continues . . .

This is unbelievable, I called the seller this morning to tell him I was on my way and he told me he has decided to take the bike to a lbs and have them do a tune up and clean it up (glad I called first). This is a good thing; however, he said to call him back in about three or four weeks - darn it. My gut instinct tells me that he's either going to be firm on his $175 price or he's going to raise the price once the bike is tuned up, lubed and clean. I wonder if he is a poster here on the Bike Forum or if he has a friend on here who linked him to the thread. Or maybe I'm being paranoid. Although, I did post this question in three different forums on here - hmmmm. Nah, I'm being paranoid.
Maybe I'll find a better deal between now whenever this guy decides to sell his bike.

Tom Jennings

Hello,

I am also looking for a 56 cm Sirrus Road bike (Triple) from about 1991. Did you ever find any other people willing to sell one?

I had one but gave it to my son. He loves it.

Thank you,

Tom