Specialized Sirrus- ok to use off road?

dinneenp

I'm looking at buying a new/2nd hand bike- mainly for leisure cycling/to work etc. I also plan to use it a little bit off road- in woods and in Ballyhoura and Oughterard mtb trails.

Would the Sirrus be ok to use off-road? I don't mind if it's not very comfortbale off-road but want to know if frame/wheels will hold up etc.

Also- has anyone ridden the above mentioned trails and what's the verdict

cheers,
Patrick.

ba

the sirrus is designed specifically for the road. its not a mountain bike converted for road use.

i remember being told the difference between a sirrus and a cannondale bad boy...the bad boy (hand made) can be taken off road as the frame is essentially from a mtn bike, but the sirrus cannot be taken off road the frame cannot tolerate trails.
(told by a guy in cycleways)

unless someone here has done what you are thinking of doing on a sirrus...we'll have to wait and see.

Morgan

The Sirrus would be just about OK for riding on easy, well surfaced (e.g. hardpack, gravel) trails in dry conditions. However in wet conditions (this is Ireland after all) or technical situations it wouldn't fare too well. Generally it would be barely adequate and not very enjoyable. The frame would quickly clog with mud and it wouldn't be great for tight cornering. That said, they're well built bikes so it's unlikely to snap in two or anything like that.

The Ballyhoura and Oughterard trails aren't officially open yet. You can read a bit about the Ballyhoura one here:
http://www.mtbireland.com/yabbse/index.php?topic=7523.0
I'm not sure if Oughterard is even under construction yet.

Membrane

dinneenp wrote:

I'm looking at buying a new/2nd hand bike- mainly for leisure cycling/to work etc. I also plan to use it a little bit off road- in woods and in Ballyhoura and Oughterard mtb trails.

Would the Sirrus be ok to use off-road? I don't mind if it's not very comfortbale off-road but want to know if frame/wheels will hold up etc.

I've no off-road experience, but I think that you should consider getting a second pair of wheels that allow wider knobly tyres. The Sirrus comes stock with 23c tyres IIRC, the rims probably won't allow anything bigger than 28 wide tyres. First check if there is enough clearance on the frame for bigger tyres.

Maybe a nice cheap mountain bike(200-500) might be a better idea.It'll only slow you down a small bit on the way to work and you can fly around the trails on it without a worry.You won't even have to stick to the smooth trails(ballyhoura and oughterard.)

311

Membrane wrote:

I've no off-road experience, but I think that you should consider getting a second pair of wheels that allow wider knobly tyres. The Sirrus comes stock with 23c tyres IIRC, the rims probably won't allow anything bigger than 28 wide tyres. First check if there is enough clearance on the frame for bigger tyres.

You wont get anything big enough to fit on the sirrus ,I got bigger tyres for the sirrus called nimbus ,but they weren't soft enough.

I wreckoned the headset and forks would break ,if you tried any ruff stuff.

blorg

For very light trails it is very definately OK. Not optimised by any means but certainly OK. Doing the Camino de Santiago I put on Schwalbe Marathon 700x35s (replacing Armadillo x25s.) These fit fine although without any room for mudguards and I was able to take the track for some of the way:



But it is more of a road-leaning than an MTB-leaning hybrid. I wouldn't choose it specifically if you don't already have one and were considering off-road riding. Having said that it's a great bike on the road or for commuting.

tywy

What tyres do come as standard on the sirrus... is it 23c?

dinneenp

Ya, I think the best bet is to buy a bike for road cycling and if I end up off roading a bit just buy a cheap mountain bike.

thanks.

btw- I e-mailed the Oughterard crowd and they said it should be open in Oct.

Morgan

blorg wrote:

For very light trails it is very definately OK. Not optimised by any means but certainly OK. Doing the Camino de Santiago I put on Schwalbe Marathon 700x35s (replacing Armadillo x25s.) These fit fine although without any room for mudguards and I was able to take the track for some of the way:



But it is more of a road-leaning than an MTB-leaning hybrid. I wouldn't choose it specifically if you don't already have one and were considering off-road riding. Having said that it's a great bike on the road or for commuting.

Thread hijack:
Blorg - judging by the dates on those photos you're just back from the Camino. I'm heading over to do it myself next week. PM'd you a few questions.

penexpers

tywy wrote:

What tyres do come as standard on the sirrus... is it 23c?

28c.

bogmanfan

Maybe go for a more MTB-style hybrid like the Trek 7200fx. Should be quicker than a MTB on the road, and should be capable enough on most trails.

Titiritero

Or get one of those "Urban bikes" like the Kona Smoke, Trek SU100, Ridgeback has some models too, etc. They´re basically mtbs with rigid forks and slicks, fast enough in tarmac, sturdy enough on tracks, that can improve with a change to wider off-road tyres...