LBS has a great price on Specialized bikes. Right now I'm thinking of going for a Sirrus. Does anyone have any gotchya's or horror stories using these for 100/200M tours?

Does anyone with Sirrus experience have suggestions on Sirrus Vs. Sport Vs. Elite?

I just picked up a 2011 Sirrus Expert about a month ago, and am slowly racking up miles and getting used to it. No complaints at all yet. I will probably just be day touring this summer (some centuries+), but in the future I have plans to do some overnighters too. Probably nothing ever along the lines of being out for weeks at a time, so I'm thinking this bike will suit me well. I'll try and post some more updates as the summer progresses and I continue adding miles. Good luck!

One thing to watch out for if you're planning on doing touring - some of the Sirrus models come with a carbon fork. This means that you can't (easily) put racks on the front. You might want to get a model that has some other kind of fork. I have a mid-range Sirrus that I've had for a couple of years. I works great. I'm planning on a longer tour after retirement.

my wife has a Vita, the womens version of this bike. Pluses-light, quite comfortable for a alu frame, nice lowish gearing that is well suited for steep hills, and bike can fit panniers perfectly well.
minuses-hers from a few years ago had twist grip shifters (pain in the ass in my opinion, but my wife liked them, now wishes they were triggers--all new ones have triggers), I suspect that the wheelset isnt that strong regarding bike being loaded.

all in all, good little bike that works well and being light, is great for my wife , especially when we are on steep stuff. The low 28 granny and 32 rear cassette is ampley low for varying degrees of rider ability and if you put some bags of stuff on it too.

FYI the Sport and Elite have metal forks.

The components on the Elite 2011 looks a little better than the Sport to me. Both have triples with wider cassettes, which should be good for touring.

There's also a version of the Elite with disc brakes. That could work out really well if you plan to use the bike for commuting and/or for riding on mud or dirt.

I hadn't thought about the disk breaks being that much of a benefit but I also noticed the Elite Disk has carbon fork AND eyelets for a rack and for only $770 it still looks like a steal.

Since weight of the forks alone isn't enough to make or break a touring bike is there any downside to having carbon forks? It's my assumption the "perfect touring fork" would be steel & bent (or ample rake) rather than carbon and straight.

carbon forks have a limit of what weight to put on them (loading wise) My bike has a carbon fork, with rack eyelets and mounting hole for rack and I have been told different amounts by diff people for total weight allowed (10 lbs by bike store) so in the end, I am not sure what to believe and will look into it more clearly when I actually get around to putting bags and rack on the front.
and yes, a carbon fork will always have some possible issues like if after a collision or mishandling, its hard to know if structural damage has occurred. Before getting this bike, I thought of the possbile downsides to a carbon fork and in the end didnt allow the possibilities of negative issues to override the slim chances of stuff happening. I guess if you are really rough with your bike, perhaps a steel fork would make you feel better, but carbon forks are very much common nowadays, so unless a thalydamide or asbestos sort of thing happens, they are likely to be around more and more.

Out of curiosity, is it reasonable to buy a Sirrus and later (if needed/wanted) - add disk breaks? I'm still unsure of the usefulness over the Sirrus' stock linear pull breaks.

I doubt you can add disc brakes later; you need special tabs on the frame to accomodate discs. So if the idea interests you, I'd start with that up front.

The main advantage is that discs will work better in bad weather and require a little bit less maintenance overall. That's about it.

Offhand I don't think there is a huge need for fear over carbon forks, but I would agree that if you plan to tour with front racks, you're probably a little better off with a metal fork.

if you really want disk brakes in this sort of bike (flat bar etc) then there are numerous other bikes similar to this, perhaps cheaper (Giant, MEC if in Canada, etc)

I'm not too worried about the disks. I was just curious. I will agree with Bacciagalupe on the forks though. Just in case - let's say next year I decide to do a week long camping ride - I may need to have a front rack and I'd rather not be limited to (for example) 10lbs on the front rack.

Thanks for the input all. Now, can anyone figure out a way to make sure I don't have a seizure on my tour? LOL

The Sirrus (plain one), the Sport and Elite Disc have metal forks...with eyelets for front rack. The Elite (nondisc) has a carbon fork with aluminum steerer. Not a good choice for touring.

The frame would be a good platform to build into a touring bike. As others have pointed out, the upper levels have carbon forks which aren't that good for touring. Other issues are the flat bars, the low end parts on any of the bikes that would be useful as a touring bike, the 32 hole wheels and, in my opinion, the integrated headset. The high end bikes have better components but they also have more carbon parts which make them either less useful or absolutely useless as a vehicle for carrying a touring load.

On the upside, they are cheap so you can afford upgrades.

Noted. I'm pretty sure I've ruled out everything but the Sirrus and Sirrus Sport.

I was also reviewing the Allez however the extra savings on the Sirrus and the simple addition of some bar ends seemed to outweigh the benefits of the Allez - esp. when considering the upgrades needed to make it tour-ready.

What should I be looking out for when dealing with/fitting the headset and what's the concern with 32 hole wheels?

That's part of my reasoning. I can spend a little less on the base and a little more on getting it tour-ready and outfitted.

not to mention perhaps some camping stuff if you need that sort of thing too.
(cant help with seizures, except to say keep track of your blood level of the medication to make sure everything is constant. I sincerely hope that they are not regular, as I can appreciate the worry that comes with that)

cheers/salut
est-ce que t'es francophone?

Nope

An integrated headset just is. There's not too much you can do to change it. A 32 hole wheel's strength isn't ideal for touring. A 36 hole or more is better. You can use...and abuse... them but if you start to break spokes, look for new wheels with more spokes. I wouldn't replace them right away but just be aware that you might have issues.

You can touring on flat bars and barends but you might be prone to cyclist's palsy with them. A drop bar offer more hand positions but changing to a drop bar would require a number of changes that might not be economical. A trekking bar could use the existing levers and shifters and offers more hand position choices than a flat bar/barend combination. A J-bar is another option but those aren't cheap.

+1 Plus the geometry is useful in multiple roles. You can sport tour on it, commute, and I'd go as far as road race on it when fitted out with drops.

Knowing that I'd be radically upgrading I'd go with either the base model, Sport, Or Elite Disc depending on what my initial budget is. I have no use for carbon so that rules out the upper end models with the alloy and carbon forks.

Which ever of these models you go with, the first thing I'd get rid of are the wheels. My '07 came with Joytech hubs and they used dust sealing as sophisticated as a rubber test tube stopper. Perceptibly draggy when spun off the bike. I'm not sure about current production, but my '07 uses 130mm rear hub. I had set of wheels made up on Ultegra hubs and Mavic CXP33 hoops whech have worked great for commuting.

A rubber test tube stopper gets the job done and doesn't have to be sophisticated.

The hubs on the other hand....

Considering the OP is talking about 200 mile tours, I'd say just about anything with the right gearing and that can take reasonably wide tires will work just fine. Discs, integrated head sets, 32 spoke wheels, flat bars, carbon fork, whatever.

I've done longer tours on less suitable bikes than the Sirrus without the world crashing down about my head.

Baccia-that just about sums it up, it (and other similar bikes) will be fine, may he go forth and have fun on his bike.

Word brotha.

The distance makes little difference. A 200 mile trip or a 2000 mile trip put about the same stress on the bike...which isn't much. It's the long term usage of the bike that I was looking at. The bike is cheap. Even the better models still aren't all that expensive.* However a proper touring bike can last for years and years. So long, in fact, that companies can't make money off them and have stopped making what few they made before...Thanks Cannondale

Carbon forks with rubber inserts in them aren't going to be all that conducive to mounting racks on them. Logistically, short trips of 3 to 5 days are harder to plan for and less conducive to going light than longer trips, especially trips of about 5 days. Unless you want to spend all your time doing laundry, a 5 day trip almost requires carrying enough clothes for the entire trip. It's a short trip, who wants to spend the time each night washing clothes?

Other issues are things like integrated headsets aren't going to last as long as replaceable cups and bearings. Lower spoke count wheels might need eventual replacing. Flat bars can cause hand issues...even on short trips...that can take weeks to recover from (been there, got the t-shirt) All of this adds up over time and can result in actually spending more money on making a touring bike out of something that isn't one than biting the bullet and buying a bike that is designed for touring from the ground up.

I really don't have a problem with some of the Sirrus bikes. Like I said, they could be a good platform for an inexpensive touring bike.

*Although if you were looking at the Comp or Expert, you'd be better off looking at a 'real' touring bike like the LHT Complete. Similar price with much better spec and no funky suspension.

liked that one!

Cycc-all you say is true, the long term use, better parts , flat bars. I guess I come at this from two angles. Here we are, someone we dont see face to face asking opinions, people he doesnt see face to face or know at all giving suggestions. I laugh because a few summers ago my wife wanted a new bike and I worked like the dickens giving her opinions, what from my experience would work better for her (for instance, she has had wrist problems due to flat bars in the past) trying to suggest drop bars, this that and the other thing. She knows me (hopefully, somewhat, maybe ;-)) but in the end, she wanted the Spec Vita, flat bars, twist grips et al. Her decision was made, and that was it, shes a big girl so I just let it go. Two years down the road, and after speaking with more serious women cyclists, she is now open to a drop bar bike,and frankly for the components side of things, she cant be bothered so an upgrade that I know is better for the long term really doesnt mean much to her.

I guess what Im saying here is that in the end, one can give opinions on things, but folks can take advice or not (strangers or someone who knows you well) and in the big picture, if a given bike gets someone out there and biking more, well thats a good thing. Hopefully with biking more and trying out touring, then they can figure out what works for them and see what would improve their riding comfort/enjoyment etc.

given how car centric and the car-mentality there is in N. America is, one more person out is a good thing.