Advice anyone? Specialized Sirrus Pro or Raleigh Cadent FC??
 

Hello there! I am a new member of this board and have a few questions that I thought the experts on here may be able to help with. I have recently purchased my first bike since I was a kid, and it is a used Specialized Rockhopper that I got at a great price and have put Specialized Fatboy slicks on it. I absolutely love it considering I have $150 in it altogether. I have been researching some better bikes for my needs as I am riding about 12-14 miles a day on my rockhopper and it is all on a paved bike path. I have found the two bikes I mention in the title to fit my needs (basically wanting a flat bar road bike because of riding position, carbon frame and fork, etc.) My question is, can anyone tell me which of the two offer the better quality components? I have come to my conclusion that what I am looking for is a full carbon bike for the weight/speed advantages as well as the vibration dampening ability. Am I correct that this will be the best type of bike for me? How much lighter will these bikes be than say, their aluminum framed lower priced models and how much of a difference will the carbon frame make vs. aluminum? Also keep in mind that I am currently riding a chromoly frame and fork, and the bike seems pretty light to me. Any suggestions are certainly welcomed along with other bikes that fit the bill. Thanks again for your help, and enjoy your riding!!

Anyone??
 

Apparently, there aren't as many experts on here as I thought.

I think the Sirrus looks hot...

Great.

The only way to answer this is to go to your LBS that stocks the bikes in question and ride them. I happen to have a bottom of the line '07 Sirrus this is the model that is all Aluminum with no carbon fork or seat stay inserts. It's a nice riding bike; however, I really wish the had made a steel version of the same bike. Why? I'm a steel guy if there ever was one for one. Secondly, there are places on a frame that rendered in Aluminum will never have near the life of steel (The seat pinch clamp comes to mind). But I liked all aluminum more compared to the half CF of the higher end models.

To my line of thinking the 700c Hybrid Sirruses are work bikes. Carbon fiber which is what half of the upper end frames are made of tends to be a little more delicate than Aluminum (You can't clamp to it as any load not on either end can cause damage) The Clear coat on the CF breaks down over time. So I rather have an all metal frame even if the metal in question isn't the absolute best frame material. It will still outlast the CF. CF has it's place.. on racing bikes where ever ounce counts and other than training and racing it won't be "Beat on" that much.

http://i137.photobucket.com/albums/q...0Bikes/010.jpg

First off, thanks very much for taking the time to give your opinion. Secondly, my questions are as follows: Is your opinion on steel over aluminum pretty much based on the life expectancy of said parts of the bike or are there other factors involved? How much of a difference in weight is there between the all Carbon bikes and say an aluminum of the same bike? Remember, I am also curious of the vibration damping effects of the carbon as my chromoly frame passes every last pebble on to my hands and arms. And finally, in my original post, one of the things I was asking about was the difference in components on each of the two bikes I have narrowed it down (sort of) to; do you happen to know anything about component quality and what each of these is equipped with? Are they comparable? High end? Crap? Any help on this is certainly appreciated as is everything you've already given. Thanks again.

To answer your question I've seen it stated that we have been using steel for bicycle frames for over a hundred years, but using aluminum for less than 30. My preference originates out of my experiences with both metals. Aluminum tends to fail from bending long before steel does. Additionally, steel is far easier to repair than aluminum.

I don't think that there's much of a difference in the weight between the low end Sirrus and the upper end at least based on information from the specialized website. Other than specialized streaming in the use of carbon at the top end of the line the only other difference between the bikes is the componentry.

The entry level Sirrus uses Shimano Sora and the upper end uses Shimano 105. Performance wise the groups are nearly identical. My road racing bike happens to be a 1988 model Sirrus (which is all steel by the way). Yes, you read correctly and you can safely infer that the current 700C hybrid Sirrus is a direct descendant of a racing bike. The 1988 model was equipped with 105. The main difference with Sora is if you study it long enough you realize that it's made from aluminum castings and it's not as well machined or robust as the vintage 105 group; however, I will give it credit for having a heavier anodizing and the early 105 group. If you look at 1988 vintage 105 componentry wrong it'll start to oxidize. From a functional standpoint though they are identical; however, I would definitely take the Sora "V" Brakes over the Shimano 105 single pivots for the hills on the backside of Belleville.

On the whole, the 700C Hybrid Sirrus feels a lot like the '88 over the road for short distances with the added advantage of having mounts for front and rear racks. The geometry is a skidge loser but not excessively so. In fact, I'm inclined to believe if you put dropbars on one rendered in steel it would make one hell of a touring bike.