Specialized, Marin, or?
 

Hello,
I'm 60, reasonably fit, and getting into biking semi-seriously. Have worked up to 15-20 milers several days a week on our local paved trails and am looking for something more fun (fast but still comfortable) than my early 90s Schwinn Crosscut. The flat bar road bike is most appealing to me, with the Marin Lucas Valley and the Specialized Sirrus Sport looking like good candidates in my price range- but I am open to other suggestions. Anyone with experience on these bikes? Which has the better components? I note that the gearsets are quite different too. (See attachment for specs). Your advice is welcome!

Billydonn of Omaha

I have the regular Sirrus and I think it's a great bike for 15-20 miles. I wish I had gone with a drop-bar bike, but if you're looking for a flat-bar bike then I see no issues. The bike is great on nice surfaces, and you can get some good speed going on it. I've had no issues with comfort, though I wish I could use more hand positions. If you're riding on rough surfaces this bike will punish you for it. When I hit big cracks in pavement I'll cringe because the vibrations are going throughout my entire body. If you have specific questions about the bike I'd be happy to answer. Keep in mind the Sport is a step up from mine.

I have the Specialized Sirrus Comp, and I love it. I thought it was worth the extra $400 for several upgrades. I put a set of 105 derailleurs on it that I had from another bike.
I have a road bike also.
I use the Sirrus for fast/power riding on a neighborhood loop.
I use the roadie for faster, longer rides. It is a Specialized also.
For the amount of miles you are doing now, I recommend at least the Sirrus Sport, because it has the carbon seatstay.
I use Specialized Gel gloves and hang my hands over the bar-ends for a different hand position.
Obviously, I am a Specialized guy.
Good luck.

Slackerprince

Any other buying advice?
 

Thanks much to ducksa and slackerprince for their input... anyone else with thoughts on a good flat bar roady? I'm also looking at Treks.

I have a Sirrus A1, which is (I guess) the "bottom-of-the-line" Sirrus (Acera & Nexave components, etc). But I like the bike a lot, and don't hesitate to take it on long rides (may max so far this year is 30 miles).

The one thing I don't like about it is the straight handlebars. At the time I bought the bike, I thought this would be a good thing, because I was mostly riding around town, but after only a week or so of riding, I decided I need more hand positions, so so I changed to time-trial-ish bars the bike shop had gathering dust in the back room. I would have liked drops, but that would have meant getting (at least) new shifters/brake levers, and probably also new brakes and front derailleur. The replacement bars have worked out pretty well, though I've recent.y begun to consider other alternatives (maybe trekking/butterfly bars?).

So, if I knew then what I didn't know now (about how uncomfortable the flat bars would be for me), I'd probably have gotten a more standard road bike. But I do like my Sirrus a lot, and changing the handlebars (which cost me all of $20) has made it a bike I enjoy riding long distances, for hours on end.

Me: 45; I was an avid rider in my teens and 20s, just recently started getting back into it again.

I also have a sirrus. I have found it to be a very comfortable bike. Most of my rides are in the 10 - 20 mile range. I am thinking about adding bar ends to give me an alternate hand position.

I rode both the sirrus and trek 7.3 and just like the feel of the sirrus better

Funny you (and ducksa) should bring that up, as I've been gravitating toward more of a road bike in doing my test rides and research. I rode a Specialized Sequoia today and it just may be the one! It's very similar to the Sirrus in frame and fork geometry but with drop bars and perhaps somewhat different gearing. More hand positions is a very good thing and I found the Sequoia to be fast and very comfortable. And nice looking too! "Recreational, Endurance, Road" is how they describe it- yeah that sounds like me!

Thanks for the replys guys!

I'd stay away from Marin, ( posted something awhile ago, can't find it now) Succinctly, Marin is like how Coors beer was, geographically somehow popular, good when smaller operation, and now watered down...I had many problems with Marin rather recently. Poorly trued wheel ( maybe 60 percent of spokes even tight) poor assembly, service, three attempts to fix but only after some web visibility, went ot new LBS finally. I'd avoid Marin.

Thanks everyone for your advice. Slowly it dawned on me that flat bars actually reduce hand position options, so I drifted toward a "comfortable" road bike. I bought the Specialized Sequoia. It is similar in frame geometry and componentry to the Sirrus (higher gears) but with drop bars and "idiot" brake handles. So far, I love it.... very fast and good for longer rides.

On the second ride on her yesterday, I crashed pretty hard. Forced by construction on one of our local paved trails to take a street detour, I spaced off an innocent looking small pothole and did a pretty fancy faceplant- onto some grass luckily. Glad I was wearing my helmet, for sure! I am going to have to be more cautious on a thin wheeled bike, especially when I am tired due to riding many days in a row. Surprisingly there was no apparent harm to the new steed. Thanks again to those who responded to my post.