Geriatric MTB to Specialized Sirrus Elite 2008??

heavymtb
heavymtb Posts: 62
edited August 2008 in Commuting chat
2 months into my 4 mile each way urban commute and starting to kill myself on a MTB nearly as old as I am and have decided to upgrade as I am desperate to start doing some serious mileage and getting uber fit but am unsure on the afforementioned hybrid.

I have only test riden a few hybrids and the Sirrus is definately the best one (for around £500) that I have mounted so far, can anyone suggest a faster/lighter/betterlooking than my current favourite.

Please bear in ming that I am using the ride2work scheme so I think I have to use a main stream retailer (Evans Cycles) please tell me other wise!

Any views welcome!

Thanks
The bicycle is the most civilized conveyance known to man. Other forms of transport grow daily more nightmarish. Only the bicycle remains pure in heart ~Iris Murdoch

Mama always said I was SPECIALIZED ;-)

Comments

  • heavymtb
    heavymtb Posts: 62
    :oops: wow this is embarassing, 60 views and no responses...was is something I said? :oops:
    The bicycle is the most civilized conveyance known to man. Other forms of transport grow daily more nightmarish. Only the bicycle remains pure in heart ~Iris Murdoch

    Mama always said I was SPECIALIZED ;-)
  • Underscore
    Underscore Posts: 730
    heavymtb wrote:
    :oops: wow this is embarassing, 60 views and no responses...was is something I said? :oops:

    Don't worry; it's nothing personal.

    FWIW, a few of us on here ride Sirrus' of one spec level or another and most owners seem to like them. I've got the base model from ~6 years ago and it's been great - though I wish I'd spent a bit more on a model with carbon forks and a road, rather than MTB, drive train.

    If I were replacing it, however, I might consider a drop bar bike instead of flat bars...

    _
  • ride_whenever
    ride_whenever Posts: 13,279
    why not a road bike?
    Neeermad
    Carbon 456
    456 lefty
    Pompino
    White Inbred
  • bedraggled
    bedraggled Posts: 140
    I don't know if there is a better alternative to the Sirrus but you won't go far wrong with a Sirrus, I have been using mine every day for the last 3 years and its still going strong after thousands of miles in all weathers.
  • heavymtb
    heavymtb Posts: 62
    ride_whenever wrote:
    why not a road bike?

    I want to build byself up to that status and not go the whole hog straight off. Plus I love the idea of zooming past my boss every morning with out looking too professional! :wink:

    RIDE_WHENEVER, would you seriously jump from my wreck of a machine onto a roadie without an inbetween? Especially with english autumn/winter rapidly approaching!!! :(
    The bicycle is the most civilized conveyance known to man. Other forms of transport grow daily more nightmarish. Only the bicycle remains pure in heart ~Iris Murdoch

    Mama always said I was SPECIALIZED ;-)
  • ride_whenever
    ride_whenever Posts: 13,279
    TBH yes i would, possibly onto a winter hack style bike rather than a 6k CF dream machine but the main difference between your mtb and a hybrid will be the speed, wheras when you move to a roadie from there it'll be speed and position. You might as well do the whole thing in one go!

    You mentioned effortlessly sailing past your boss, road bike is the way to go... You'll need to work much less hard!
    Neeermad
    Carbon 456
    456 lefty
    Pompino
    White Inbred
  • heavymtb
    heavymtb Posts: 62
    ride_whenever
    I may have to go for a wee peddle around at the weekend on a roadie then!

    Watch this space!

    Thanks for your views so far!
    The bicycle is the most civilized conveyance known to man. Other forms of transport grow daily more nightmarish. Only the bicycle remains pure in heart ~Iris Murdoch

    Mama always said I was SPECIALIZED ;-)
  • roger_merriman
    roger_merriman Posts: 6,165
    do a road bike is a lot less effort, ie roll up to work mearly gently glowing rather than a puddle of sweat...
  • heavymtb
    heavymtb Posts: 62
    roger merriman wrote:
    puddle of sweat...

    Do you know me by any chance!?!?! if you come up Hammersmith Road towards high street kensington just after 8:45am be carefull of the stream I leave behind me!

    Bring on the Base-layers!
    The bicycle is the most civilized conveyance known to man. Other forms of transport grow daily more nightmarish. Only the bicycle remains pure in heart ~Iris Murdoch

    Mama always said I was SPECIALIZED ;-)
  • gs3
    gs3 Posts: 249
    If you are planning on extending your use of the bike to do more leisure miles as well as the commute mileage, I would go the whole hog for a Dropped-bar bike of your choice.
    If, however, you are only using the bike for commuting, then it's the Sirrus all the way - guaranteed to take full mudguards for winter use and has mounts for racks etc if you plan to carry any serious (work-based) baggage. Easy to look after, comfortable, quick, good heads-up position for use in traffic...
    It's basically a road bike with flat bars after all.

    Need I go on?

    In case you were wondering, I currently run a Sirrus Pro on a 24 mile commute (total) but would definitely progress to drops if I planned more miles on the road. Most of my riding is off-road by MTB.
    BouncePlayCommute
  • TheBoyBilly
    TheBoyBilly Posts: 749
    A Sirrus is an excellent choice for the work you want from it and it has everything a commuter should have (i.e. rack and guard mounts, bottle mounts and a "heads-up" riding position. But if you are venturing further afield, and are considering a slightly off-road commute too, you might be better of with a Tricross Sport which is an excellent do-it-all bike. A bit of a Jack-of-all-trades machine really.
    To disagree with three-fourths of the British public is one of the first requisites of sanity - Oscar Wilde
  • Taita
    Taita Posts: 10
    FWIW I use a Sirrus bike, been commuting a few days now.

    Its this one here:
    http://www.evanscycles.com/product.jsp?style=86039

    I quite like it :)
  • heavymtb
    heavymtb Posts: 62
    Taita wrote:
    FWIW I use a Sirrus bike, been commuting a few days now.

    Its this one here:
    http://www.evanscycles.com/product.jsp?style=86039

    I quite like it :)

    I am looking at spenging a little more (£500) and getting the Elite ( http://www.evanscycles.com/products/spe ... e-ec001399 ) but it's good to hear that the entire range is keeping their master/mistresses happy :D
    The bicycle is the most civilized conveyance known to man. Other forms of transport grow daily more nightmarish. Only the bicycle remains pure in heart ~Iris Murdoch

    Mama always said I was SPECIALIZED ;-)
  • secretsam
    secretsam Posts: 5,120
    Another happy Sirrus owner here (base model 2005)

    Top tips:
    1. get the bars shortened, you'd need to be Michael Phelps to justify that much width, they are a real hassle in town
    2. Please get some guards, then I won't be the only Sirrus owner who's fitted them
    3. Watch the tail end, I often skid the rear wheel (it's a bit lively in an emergency stop :lol: )
    4. Consider better tyres

    Wish I had the carbon'ed up Elite, that would make the front end a nice bit lighter; still, really like mine, good choice (and although I like drops, in town I'd go for flats every time)
    It's just a hill. Get over it.
  • Underscore
    Underscore Posts: 730
    heavymtb wrote:
    I am looking at spenging a little more (£500) and getting the Elite
    That's what I wish I had done - I reckon it's worth the extra hundred notes...
    SecretSam wrote:
    1. get the bars shortened, you'd need to be Michael Phelps to justify that much width, they are a real hassle in town
    I've put Ergon grips with integrated bar-ends on mine and find the new hand position to be pretty much spot-on (probably about 50mm narrower than stock) plus the bar-ends give a comfy extra hand position for longer rides. However, very little of my riding is in town...
    SecretSam wrote:
    2. Please get some guards, then I won't be the only Sirrus owner who's fitted them
    No need to feel alone - I've got guards and a rack on mine. Doesn't look as nice as when it came from the shop but it did make it even more fun passing all those folk with there nice Bianchis, etc. but without the legs to match on the up-hill sections of the London-Cambridge recently... :D

    _
  • Tobiwan
    Tobiwan Posts: 28
    Another happy Sirrus (Elite 2008) owner here. I've added bar-ends and a rack, no mudguards but the rack does have a solid mid-section which takes off some of the worst of the spray.

    I've been very happy so far, I sometimes think the arm length is a little short but that could be tweaked with a longer T-stem thingy. It rides really well, seems pretty nippy and responsive, perhaps a little jittery at times (not helped by having a pannier on one side only) compared to an MTB but with thinner tires I guess that's no surprise.

    I'd agree with others and say the Elite's worth the extra cash if you can afford it, but the base model is fine too if the money is an issue.

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