Hi all. I have poked around on here in the past regarding this bike and promised to post up some pictures once I got it together. Well, I just got the pedals, clips and pannier rack for Christmas, so it's finally all together. I sloppily brush painted the frame (if I ever strip it down again, I'll get it painted professionally) and detailed the lugs with a silver paint pen. I also put on Specliazed's new Classic bar tape. It's so nice I put it on my newer Roubaix recently as well. I got the bar end shifter pods from Rivendale bike works and remounted all of the original 105 components. They're original and still going strong.

And before everyone freaks out about the way the rack is mounted, yes, I'm aware that it should be mounted on the seatpost. However, when I put it there, it was so ridiculously high up that all I could think about was putting any extra weight that high up on an already very geometrically aggressive bike. I figured if I could manage to get it through the seat stays and mount it on the seat tube, it would keep the weight low and be mounted on a stronger point as well. Once I get some bags, I may find my self constantly hitting them with my feet. If that's the case, I'll try mounting the rack back to the seat post and see how things go.

I had a Specialized Sirrus myself, it recently moved on to a new home. It was a nice bike, it left too soon as I was not able to get a good picture in decent lighting.

If a seat post rack is all you have "then run what you brung" For a temporary rack the way you have it is an elegant solution. The '80s Sirrus (Sirri?) are pure race machines and carrying a whole lot of weight is a tricky proposition and like you found out the closer the weight is to the CG the more stable the bike is going to be. The '87 are lovely with classic restrained color schemes. By '88 they went "loud and proud"

Here is an example of brush painted bike:

A VERY nice Sirrus you got there! Looks like an Allez in Specialized 'red'. There is rumor the Sirrus frames in the 80s were the same as Allez's. I'm restoring an 89 Sirrus that I was given by the original owner following a car accident. I need to prep a replacement fork to complete my Sirrus. I'm looking forward to throwing my leg over it. They are great rides.

They were. (Well, except for very early Allez which were made by 3rensho).

Yeah, I remember being told on here that this particular vintage were pure race frames. It's very, very true. As you can see, the front wheel can cross with the pedal clip if you're not careful maneuvering a tight turn, there are no fender/rack bosses to speak of and the 700X25's currently on the bike BARELY fit. If I had bought it as a commuter bike, I would have shopped around for something more relaxed, but this just happens to be the first road bike I ever bought, so after buying my carbon bike, I gave it a good going over to make it a comfy around town bike.

Good solution on the rack.