Looking at specialized sirrus limited 2012...any good?

[MacB]

Cheers Mac!
I do have a lot of thinking to do. I've looked at roads, cyclocross and also hybrid.
One day I'll settle on what best suits me!
What do you ride?

dangerous, how long have you got?

For crashing around offroad, and some on road - Surly Karate Monkey 29er with a 9 speed hub gear fully rigid with Salsa Cromoto Grande steel forks. This bike has On-One Mary handlebars with stubby bar ends inboard of the grips.

Allround touring commuting and training - custom Burls Ti frame which is basically a 29er with a longer headtube so clearance up to about a 700x50 tyre, fully rigid with Surly LHT steel disc forks. Rohloff specific adjustable dropouts, Rohloff rear obviously and SON Delux dynamo front with Supernova front and rear dynamo lights. This bike has Jones Loop H-bars, the alu version, which give a lot of hand positions.

Weekend - custom Burls Ti frame which borrowed heavily in design from the Specialised Tricross and Roubaix ranges. Salsa La Cruz disc forks and the clearances allow up to about a 700x40 tyre. This is set up with derailleurs Shimano 105 triple and drop bar STI controls. The bars are Salsa Cowbell flared shallow drop cross style.

All 3 bikes have the same rims on the wheelsets all built up by the same wheelbuilder, flat pinned pedals, can take full mudguards, rear racks, run disc brakes and can accomodate my studded ice tyres if needed. All the frames have the same rear spacing so wheelsets are interchangeable. So that should tell you that I like to have backups to my backups and am maybe a bit anal!!!!

In respect to what you're looking at I'd be tempted to start with a good allrounder and see how it develops from there. I'm a fan of disc brakes and, before the latest Ti frame, I had a Salsa Vaya which would meet all your road and offroad needs. But there are lots more options out there, my eldest has a Specialised Crosstrail which I've been very impressed with. That's more at the MTB end of the hybrid range and has front suspension forks.

The beauty of getting a solid allrounder is that it can be tweaked to perform a variety of duties to match your needs. If you then decide you are into something more specific cycling wise, maybe an extreme MTB or a super fast road bike is needed. But the allrounder can then be sold to put towards the new purchase or kept for general use, commuting, shopping or just pootling.

 

[Crackle]

When I bought my flat bar bike last year the Sirrus Limited was my bike of choice, but in the end I settled for a Trek 7.7fx, mainly 'cos I was offered a better deal. Anyway, I had exactly the same dilemma - I live in a hilly area and was changing from my old bike with a triple to a double and didn't want to struggle. So, as some of the p!$$ taking so and so's on here will confirm I asked them to put a 36 "get out of jail" cog on the rear cassette. It meant that they had to change the rear mech as well and put a longer mountain bike one on but they didn't charge me for it. It's nice to have and comforting to know it's there, but tbh I rarely use the 36 now and can only think of one hill recently where I've had to grab for it in a hurry!!

I can personally confirm, that it is the largest rear sprocket I have ever seen and if he ever breaks the front one, he can swop it over. I never knew they made them that big, it must weigh the same as the bike! When engaged he can do 2.2mph, a fact I can again confirm from when I was walking up behind him... I thought he'd fall off but he didn't.

 

[Doseone]

I can personally confirm, that it is the largest rear sprocket I have ever seen and if he ever breaks the front one, he can swop it over. I never knew they made them that big, it must weigh the same as the bike! When engaged he can do 2.2mph, a fact I can again confirm from when I was walking up behind him... I thought he'd fall off but he didn't.

P!$$ taking so and so's....see what I have to put up with. I think when Crax was WALKING up behind me, while I was RIDING, he may actually have been catching me up!!

 

[Norm]

With regards to bars and hand positions, the bar / saddle / pedal geometry on my son's Sirrus is almost exactly the same (within about 10mm) as the set up I have on my "drop-bar" Tricross, which is probably why I find that bike some comfortable to 8-hour days.

My Secteur (the same geometry as the Roubaix mentioned earlier) has bars which are a few inches lower and further forward, and that's after I've flipped the stem to raise the bars, and I've never found that to be uncomfortable, just not as pleasurable as the Tricross / Sirrus.

On the other hand, my old steel MTB has bars which are lower and a top tube which is shorter than any of the above, and that's immense fun to ride but very responsive (i.e. twitchy).

 

[lukesdad]

If your going to do a lot off road forget the road bike, go for a rigid mtb.

 

[lukesdad]

P!$$ taking so and so's....see what I have to put up with. I think when Crax was WALKING up behind me, while I was RIDING, he may actually have been catching me up!!

Dinner plate of a rear sprocket that was

 

[lukesdad]

Dinner plate of a rear sprocket that was

Mind you it would have been more suited to Craxs' dinner !!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Crackle]

Mind you it would have been more suited to Craxs' dinner !!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Part time cyclist]

I have a basic Sirrus 2011 model and I can't rate it highly enough it's the best bike I have ever riden , I have made a few mods like the tiagra triple front crank to give me a bigger top ring but maintain the bottom ring for hills, I don't think the carbon forks made a lot of difference and after I crashed it I changed back to the steel forks.

 

[raggydoll]

dangerous, how long have you got?

For crashing around offroad, and some on road - Surly Karate Monkey 29er with a 9 speed hub gear fully rigid with Salsa Cromoto Grande steel forks. This bike has On-One Mary handlebars with stubby bar ends inboard of the grips.

Allround touring commuting and training - custom Burls Ti frame which is basically a 29er with a longer headtube so clearance up to about a 700x50 tyre, fully rigid with Surly LHT steel disc forks. Rohloff specific adjustable dropouts, Rohloff rear obviously and SON Delux dynamo front with Supernova front and rear dynamo lights. This bike has Jones Loop H-bars, the alu version, which give a lot of hand positions.

Weekend - custom Burls Ti frame which borrowed heavily in design from the Specialised Tricross and Roubaix ranges. Salsa La Cruz disc forks and the clearances allow up to about a 700x40 tyre. This is set up with derailleurs Shimano 105 triple and drop bar STI controls. The bars are Salsa Cowbell flared shallow drop cross style.

All 3 bikes have the same rims on the wheelsets all built up by the same wheelbuilder, flat pinned pedals, can take full mudguards, rear racks, run disc brakes and can accomodate my studded ice tyres if needed. All the frames have the same rear spacing so wheelsets are interchangeable. So that should tell you that I like to have backups to my backups and am maybe a bit anal!!!!

In respect to what you're looking at I'd be tempted to start with a good allrounder and see how it develops from there. I'm a fan of disc brakes and, before the latest Ti frame, I had a Salsa Vaya which would meet all your road and offroad needs. But there are lots more options out there, my eldest has a Specialised Crosstrail which I've been very impressed with. That's more at the MTB end of the hybrid range and has front suspension forks.

The beauty of getting a solid allrounder is that it can be tweaked to perform a variety of duties to match your needs. If you then decide you are into something more specific cycling wise, maybe an extreme MTB or a super fast road bike is needed. But the allrounder can then be sold to put towards the new purchase or kept for general use, commuting, shopping or just pootling.

So what your saying is I'm going to end up with way more than 1 bike?
You'r bikes sound cool, you obviously know what you want!
My problem is I don't!

Yet!

 

[Crackle]

This may not be your thing as you will have to build it or have it built up. It's a new Frame and forks from Kinesis, who have an excellent reputation but as a do anything go anywhere bike, it looks good and it will make an interesting read anyway.

http://road.cc/content/review/59634-kinesis-decade-tripster-frame-and-fork

 

[raggydoll]

That bike does look cool Crackle!
I'm getting so bogged down reading specs that I just don't understand. I think I'm gonna go to evans in the next couple of weeks and try out a few.

Anyone know if they let you test ride them?
If I notice a major difference between models then I'll go for whatever feels the best.
If I don't notice much difference between a £500 bike and a £1500 bike I'd be best to go for the £500, at least till I know the benefits!

 

[MacB]

So what your saying is I'm going to end up with way more than 1 bike?
You'r bikes sound cool, you obviously know what you want!
My problem is I don't!

Yet!

Yep, which is where the formula N+1 comes from where N is the number of bikes you currently have and N+1 is the number you need.

Knowing what you want/need is the first step and is where advice is really hard to give as we all vary so much. For example none of the bikes, and particularly the handlebar choices and setups, I currently have would have been on the menu when I bought my first bike. At that time I had no concept of leisure cycling, beyond a bimble with the kids, and it was all about taking on a long(40 mile round trip) commute which included some unmade road and track. The evolution of that was:-

bought Giant CRS Alliance, ticked all the boxes for rack, guards, tyre clearance and fairly light and fast. First thing I realised was that flat bars weren't all that comfy over distance so went with butterfly bars which completely solved that. Next thing I realised was that a big guy, new to cycling, can be a bit harsh on low spoke count wheels, I kept pinging spokes. I realised that the bike was lovely unladen on tarmac but not so good with luggage and offroad. Just because a frame has rack fittings doesn't meant it's necessarily going to handle luggage well. I also realised that I had little use, on a regular repeated ride, for the vast array of gears a 3x9 setup gave.

then bought a Surly Crosscheck frame and forks which was built up with the 9 speed hub gear, 36h handbuilt wheels, tougher rack, Brooks saddle, 700x35 Marathon plus tyres. This created a much heavier machine by about 10lbs, tanklike would be a fair description. But it was comfier on the commute, needed very little maintenance and soaked up abuse. At this time I was also getting keen on leisure cycling so the first bike became a weekend fun bike.

The rest is just evolution on a theme, a decision to try disc brakes(mainly based on disliking grinding away expensive rims) led to the Salsa Vaya replacing the Xcheck. Then that just upgraded to a relatively similar Ti frame but with Rohloff specific fittings and the ability to tour if I ever want to. The first weekend bike evolved to a Ti frame and got the addition of disc brakes as well. The 29er came about because my neighbour got into MTBing and I needed something to ride if I wanted to join him. The Karate Monkey was chosen because I knew and liked Surly frames and it can accomodate racks and hub gears so it brings versatility as well as off road capability.

Given it all to do again, and my original budget, then my first purchase would have ignored 'hybrids' and gone straight to a solid steel framed allrounder that could accept hub gears, disc brakes, bigger tyres and had decent luggage capacity. Chuck on some swept back bars in a configuration to offer multiple hand positions and it's effectively a modern day roadster. But that's with the knowledge of what it's like to cycle 200 miles a week, with luggage, just to get from AtoB in all weathers.

 

[Crackle]

That bike does look cool Crackle!
I'm getting so bogged down reading specs that I just don't understand. I think I'm gonna go to evans in the next couple of weeks and try out a few.

Anyone know if they let you test ride them?
If I notice a major difference between models then I'll go for whatever feels the best.
If I don't notice much difference between a £500 bike and a £1500 bike I'd be best to go for the £500, at least till I know the benefits!

Test riding is a great idea but in your situation I'd temper it with some caution. What may feel comfortable now may not when you've some miles in your legs. Concentrate on fit, take your time, ride a variety, brew on it and then try them again. Any decent bike shop will let you test ride a bike, if they don't, don't bother with them.

Also with drop bars, the type of drop will make a huge difference to feel. Don't be put off if the drop feels lousy but the top position feels good. That can be sorted by changing the bars.

 

[vickster]

Planet X do a rather lush looking carbon flat bar bike with SRAM Force (next up from the Apex I think)

Choice of 4 colours, yum in red (not sure you'll want pink), and you can tweak the spec in terms of the gearing et, takes 25mm tyres so a little wider than the Sirrus

http://www.planet-x-bikes.co.uk/i/q/CBPXSLPFBFOR/planet_x_pro_carbon_sram_force_hybrid_bike