Ugrades on my Specialized Sirrus

bugleboy21

I have a 2009 Sirrus that I want to gradually upgrade parts on. At 25.6 lbs, it's a bit heavy.

I'd like to start with a new fork, since this is a larger component. I'll work my way to handlebars and cranksets later.

Any suggestions on a good entry-level carbon fork?

What technical considerations should I keep in mind while doing this?

Bobbinogs

I know that budgets always dictate one's options but it might be worth thinking about what you are hoping to achieve from the process. If you intend to make the Sirrus into a nice light road bike then you would be better off looking at something like a secondhand Allez. You could end up spending a fortune on various components and at the end off it you will still have something that is less than what you want.

The Sirrus is a great hybrid, btw, but doesn't have suspension forks so you will save weight but not loads and loads (I went from suspension forks on my Dawes hybrid to some steel ones and still saved 1.5kg; it made the bike much nicer to ride but I do have 3 other road bikes that I would always choose first if going for a decent road ride).

What kind of riding do you do (commuting, road, pub runs, family trails, etc.) and what kind of mileage?

I know I haven't answered your original question

bugleboy21

Thanks for the comment.

I was also planning on building a road bike over the next year by piecing used parts off of ebay and such, starting with a used Allez frameset. I'm hoping to knock about 50% of the cost a new Allez.

I use the hybrid for training and plan on using the road bike for touring and amatuer races.

Right now, I get in about 100 miles a week with an average speed of 18.2 mpg (according to the CC)

We'll be moving to Belgium in Oct 2012, so I will definitely be touring with my wife, who rides a new Trek 1.2.

CarlosDSanchez

I'd go for wheels and tyres as the most bang for buck upgrade.

markshaw77

Having "been there, done that" on both the Sirrus upgrade and the ebay build-a-bike, I would echo the comments above.

While the sirrus is a very capable bike, no amount of upgrades will make it better than a road bike for longer-distances or racing

Upgrading the wheels and tires does make a big difference - it is def where I would start. I went from the stock Alex rims & 28c Armadillo tires to Mavic Aksiums and 23c Krylions and it made a massive difference to both speed and handling of the bike.

Beyond that, you can make weight savings elsewhere (fork, saddle, stem, bars, groupset), but the net result/gain probably isn't worth the investment. Also, replacing the fork potentially takes you into the territory of changing headsets which is a PITA for specialized bikes given their tendency to use proprietary ('mindset' I think) headsets - you can fit an aftermarket replacement, but you often have to make some "adjustments" to get it to work properly given the location of the integrated bearing mounts in the head tube (also a consideration for building an Allez)

When it comes to building up an ebay-bike, my experience (see my blog - link in sig) is that you will struggle to beat the price of an off-the-peg Allez unless you are willing to go for lower-level or well-used components. That is not to say you can't do it, but simply that it will be difficult.

You still learn loads about (re-)building your bike and therefore save on future mechanic bills, as well as having the satisfaction of building a bike to your spec, but the bulk buying of the manufacturers is v hard to beat.

HTH

Avanti Roman

bugleboy21 wrote:

I have a 2009 Sirrus that I want to gradually upgrade parts on. At 25.6 lbs, it's a bit heavy.

I'd like to start with a new fork, since this is a larger component. I'll work my way to handlebars and cranksets later.

Any suggestions on a good entry-level carbon fork?

What technical considerations should I keep in mind while doing this?

I built a fast lightweight Sirrus for my father using a Sirrus as the base:




The cro-mo forks on the base model weigh a ton - 1,100g(!) compared to the frame which is around 1,250g so I first replaced these with some carbon cyclocross forks. I got ITM Visias from Ribble but there are plenty of lighter options on ebay too.

I used some some spare wheels off my roadbike - handbuilt Mavic CD rims on Ultegra hubs with light Vittoria XN cyclocross tyres and converted the bike to 9speed with used Deore shifters, 105 chainset with 39t single chainring and 11-34 SRAM 970 cassette. You could save by keeping yours as 8speed.

I've swapped other items for cheap light ones (e.g. BBB flatbar) as & when available and it now weighs little over 8kg - great fun for tooling round and it flies on road or light country tracks!

A lightly used or new roadbike in the sales would work out cheaper & better than building up a frame though as decent road components aren't cheap. For example the new Raleigh Airlite 100 gets great reviews and Airlites are frequently discounted.