Wrong tyres? Or wrong bike type?
 

Bit of background first: for most of my cycling life I have been riding various "mountain" bikes from lower/cheaper range, mostly in the city with occasional excursions to nearby forests, lakes and such.
My most recent bike was 29er Trekk Mamba with front suspension, but sadly it has been stolen 2 years ago. I wanted to get back into the cycling, so I thought this time I am going to give hybrid bike a go. Based on various articles, it seemed like it would fit my riding type. After long research, based on reviews I bought Specialized Men's Sirrus 2019 because it was praised in most of the articles I found.

Unfortunately after riding the first 2x 50km rides I found it very uncomfortable - specifically, I can feel every single bump of the road on my wrists, and obviously it is worse on non-tarmac surfaces.

Question is - what is the best way to mitigate some of it?

I was thinking about:

1. Changing tyres to something else? It currently has 700x32c stock tyres, pumped to 85 PSI - the label asks for 75-100. If that's the way - what type of tyres should I look for?
2. Installing suspension fork - is that good idea on a hybrid bike?
3. Just selling whole bike and buying something closer to MTB?

I would really appreciate any advice on what to do before I blow even more money on trying to get a comfortable yet light ride.

Apologies if this was already discussed, but I wasn't able to find anything relevant with a search.

thanks!

I've never been into anything but riding a road bike with drop bars since my early teen years. So I'm biased in that respect.

However for anything, I'd think in 2 rides that you just haven't gotten used to it yet. And perhaps your wrist and hands are in the wrong position. Now my bias is going to show, I don't think a flat bar will let you put your hands in a decent position. However, other's do it and apparently with success. And I see plenty of people on hybrids with flat bars that ride the 100 mile century rides.

While you are waiting for your body to get used to it, you can play with saddle position both fore and aft of where it's at now, and also play with bar height. For me, a lower bar height helps with weight on the wrists and hands. For others a higher bar helps, but for me that would put more weight on my butt and make it sore on my longer rides.

Tires can make a difference in ride, even in the same size. Typically I've found that puncture resistant tires are the worst. Inexpensive tires with some exceptions are harsh riding too. Probably won't be enough of a difference for what you are experiencing though. However if you are down toward the lighter end of the weight scale, you can get closer to the lower pressure spec'd for your tires.

If you are going to go to the trouble of installing a suspension fork, then consider if you ought to just get another bike with one. Like tires, I don't think it will materially affect your issue. A lot of us ride bikes with no suspension and no wrist problems.

Play with the fit of your bike some more. Assuming you bought one within a couple sizes of ideal, then you should be able to make it work for you. You'll also be surprised how muscles and joints will gripe when you've been off a bike for a seemingly short time.

Is there a chance your tire pressure is too high. The link has a tire pressure chart a bit over half way down the page from Bicycle Quarterly. https://bicycleuniverse.com/bike-tire-pressure/

I will definitely try few adjustments. Come to think of it, I only adjusted the saddle height after the purchase - maybe the bar height needs to be ajdusted too. I'll look up youtube on how to do it.

Looks like next natural step after fixing the position - what type of tyres would you recommend for riding in a parks and bike paths?

I didn't consider that, but excluding those 2 rides I was off bike for 2.5 years so that might be problem too...

Thanks for the link - I'm at 75kg (before Covid lockdown :-))) so according to that table, I should be able to safely drop to 70-75 PSI - will try that

Along with the above positioning advice, try to use it so that you can adopt a position where you lean forward more with bent elbows. Bent elbows are the key, the more bend in them the batter. It should be obvious at this will be very tiring if too much weight is on your hands. So fix that issue, then increase your reach so that you can comfortably bend your elbows. Your hands should be light on the bars, The bars are going to go up and down a bit, but your hands should hardly notice it. I ride a road bike with 23mm tires, the front at 80 lbs. No problem with vibration.

You should reduce the pressure in your tires, especially the front. 32mm tires at 85? Like I said, my 23mm is at 80. You're way too stiff in the front. The BQ chart lists one tire pressure for both tires. This is wrong. I run 20 psi more in my rear than in my front on my single road bike. Try 65 in that front. It's too low if cornering suffers or you get pinch flats.

Before messing with any bar height on that bike, make certain you have the spacers underneath to remove. If not, then don't even attempt. And don't be in a hurry to cut your steerer tube. Just put the spacers on top of the stem. You can cut the steerer tube when you are certain of where you want your bar height. Or... don't cut it at all. I don't know what the bike had that you rode previously, but with a threadless headset, when you change the stem height, you'll also be changing how loose or tight the headset bearings are. Easy when you are used to it, but can be an issue the first time or two. Especially if you aren't aware.

Probably, but Specialized makes a decent tire, And if those are the Nimbus II Sport Reflect they are probably good enough to ride till they wear out. And they also look reasonable for paved trails and streets. As I said, I don't think you'll find the ride difference between tires to have much of a difference for the issue you describe. Perhaps on long rides it may.

Typically, I think the more tpi in the casing, the more supple the tire. That's a good thing for both rolling resistance and comfort. So when it's time to change tires, perhaps consider that. However in the time it takes you to wear them out, there'll be more new models out there and some of our current favorites will be gone. Tire makers are changing up things frequently and even a slight change in the full name of a model might mean an entirely different tire in terms of ride and performance.