Adding drop handlebars and brifters to Specialized Sirrus

In article <[email hidden]>,

Mike Kaiser said:

I am looking to buy a bike for commuting to replace my
extremely heavy 15 year old mountain bike. I would like a
road bike with drop bars, but I need something to which I
can put on fenders. I could get a touring bike, but it
seems to be overkill for my needs, plus they're expensive.

I am thinking of getting a Specialized Sirrus, which is
like a road bike with straight bars. I can get last year's
model for $430. I would then add drop bars and use a set of
Sora brifters that are collecting dust in my basement. My
questions are:

1) Would the 8 speed cassette which is listed as a Shimano
HG-50 be compatible with my 8 speed Sora brifters,
and...

yes.

Quoted message said:

2) The breaks are linear-pull style. Would the Sora
brifters generate enough cable travel to brake
efficiently. When I test rode one today, it looked like
there was about a half inch of cable travel when
braking. If I couldn't use the linear-pull brakes, what
alternatives are there that would work with the brifters
that would still give adequate clearance for fenders?

Either use an adapter to pull more cable, or get
cantilever brakes.

(Mike Kaiser) said:

1) Would the 8 speed cassette which is listed as a Shimano
HG-50 be compatible with my 8 speed Sora brifters,
and...

Yes.
--
Rick Onanian

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----

In article
<[email hidden]>, Mike

Kaiser said:

I am looking to buy a bike for commuting to replace my
extremely heavy 15 year old mountain bike. I would like a
road bike with drop bars, but I need something to which I
can put on fenders. I could get a touring bike, but it
seems to be overkill for my needs, plus they're expensive.

I am thinking of getting a Specialized Sirrus, which is
like a road bike with straight bars. I can get last year's
model for $430. I would then add drop bars and use a set of
Sora brifters that are collecting dust in my basement. My
questions are:

- - You might look at Jamis/Fuji/Surly touring/cyclocross
bikes. All can be bought for less than $1K, have space for
reasonable tires and fenders.

- - I think by the time you finish converting the Sirrus to
drop bars you're going to be close to the price of a Jamis
Aurora. Brifters you already have but, you'll need bars (
maybe new stem) , cantilever brakes and likely a new front
derailer. MTB and road shifters use different indexing on
the front. Throw in cables and housing and something for
your time, (unless of course you enjoy this kind of
fiddling).

sheldonbrown.comaurora.htmlOpen ↗

And I have seen these significantly cheaper at Performance.

_ Booker C. Bense

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.6.2

iQCVAwUBQI/LcmTWTAjn5N/lAQFqAAP9HZG6qkQndo/IW40+HLwxRzpyUTm-
RnMPk ZyqV/cKoP3us69htYoddQziBDUnO9kzVzafk/LZR6yvL3ZNWBwsiV-
i41IFJ5jAo7 ANJuF3hwrXcgVZECTYKhH7UMDm1IRNll2+FiVkQUbxjtPqI-
YmV1iGpk5TSO+SSM6 HPfTeWsZEYw= =NbgW -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

In article
<[email hidden]>,
[email hidden] says...

Quoted message said:

I am looking to buy a bike for commuting to replace my
extremely heavy 15 year old mountain bike. I would like a
road bike with drop bars, but I need something to which I
can put on fenders. I could get a touring bike, but it
seems to be overkill for my needs, plus they're expensive.

Depends on what you consider "expensive", but a Fuji Touring
is $800 at my LBS. Steel (CrMo) frame, drop bars, 27 speeds,
wide-range rear der (11-32), a rack, 32mm tires, mounts for
2 water bottles and room for fenders.

--
Remove the ns_ from if replying by e-mail (but keep posts in
the newsgroups if possible).

I had a Sirrus for a while. Great bike. For a while, it was
the only bike I had so had to use it for commuting,
triathlon and touring.

Didn't change the bars. Put some nice long bar ends on to
give me some good pull on hills and variety in hand / grip
position for commuting and touring. Lost the fenders and
rack and clipped on aero profile bars for my first couple of
seasons in triathlon. Did the trick til I could afford a
road bike.

Would have loved to keep it for an everyday bike but the
missus can't see why I would need 3 bikes (also got a
Norco mtb soon after I got the road bike). For me, 3 is
the minimum!!

Basically, what I'm saying is... no need to change it.
Look at what you can add to it. It's a pretty versatile
bike as it is.

John

"Mike Kaiser" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I am looking to buy a bike for commuting to replace my
extremely heavy 15 year old mountain bike. I would like a
road bike with drop bars, but I need something to which I
can put on fenders. I could get a touring bike, but it
seems to be overkill for my needs, plus they're expensive.

I am thinking of getting a Specialized Sirrus, which is
like a road bike with straight bars. I can get last year's
model for $430. I would then add drop bars and use a set
of Sora brifters that are collecting dust in my basement.
My questions are:

1) Would the 8 speed cassette which is listed as a Shimano
HG-50 be compatible with my 8 speed Sora brifters,
and...

2) The breaks are linear-pull style. Would the Sora
brifters generate enough cable travel to brake
efficiently. When I test rode one today, it looked like
there was about a half inch of cable travel when
braking. If I couldn't use the linear-pull brakes, what
alternatives are there that would work with the
brifters that would still give adequate clearance for
fenders?

If I could get it to work it would be a nice, relatively
cheap way to get a road bike that suits my needs. The
other alternative, of course, is to just use the
straight bars, but I feel way too upright on the bike
for my tastes.

David Kerber <ns_dkerber@ns_ids.net> wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

Depends on what you consider "expensive", but a Fuji
Touring is $800 at my LBS. Steel (CrMo) frame, drop bars,
27 speeds, wide-range rear der (11-32), a rack, 32mm
tires, mounts for 2 water bottles and room for fenders.

I don't care about frame material, I have drop bars to
replace the straight ones, I don't need 27 speeds, I don't
need a wide-range rear derailler, I can take the rack from
my current commuting bike and put it on the Sirrus, I
don't need 32 mm tires, I don't need 2 water bottles and
the Sirrus has room for fenders also. I did look at a new
Fuji touring bike but $800 is still a lot more than $430.
I'm cheap.

<[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

- - You might look at Jamis/Fuji/Surly touring/cyclocross
bikes. All can be bought for less than $1K, have space
for reasonable tires and fenders.

- - I think by the time you finish converting the Sirrus
to drop bars you're going to be close to the price of a
Jamis Aurora. Brifters you already have but, you'll need
bars ( maybe new stem) , cantilever brakes and likely a
new front derailer. MTB and road shifters use different
indexing on the front. Throw in cables and housing and
something for your time, (unless of course you enjoy
this kind of fiddling).

sheldonbrown.comaurora.htmlOpen ↗

And I have seen these significantly cheaper at
Performance.

_ Booker C. Bense

The Aurora looks pretty nice but costs $300 more than the
Sirrus. I have drop bars, I think I can use the stem that's
on the Sirrus, and I think I can use my old single-pivot 105
brakes. If not, I can get long-reach dual-pivots for $50 at
Harris Cyclery. I have a Sora FD and crankset if the front
setup won't work. I have the cables and housings that go
with my Sora brifters. (I upgraded my Sora equipped road
bike with some Ultegra parts, mainly because I didn't really
like the thumb shifter, but I can live with that for
commuting). Locally, I have seen bikes that would work OK
for about $800. I will take a look at Performance though.
Thanks for your help.

Quoted message said:

I am thinking of getting a Specialized Sirrus, which is like a road
bike with straight bars. I can get last year's model for $430. I
would then add drop bars and use a set of Sora brifters that are
collecting dust in my basement. My questions are:

These are very nice bikes. There should be no problem with
the cassette or derailleur, front or rear compatibility. The
Sora shifters you have (assuming they are eight and not
seven spd) will work just fine as well.

You will however have to use a travel agent to adjust the
brake cable pull or replace your brakes front and rear. The
tektro mini V-brakes should work with Fenders as the sirrus
comes with 700x28c tires stock although it's hard to say
without measuring. I'd get a pair of the brakes and check to
see before going through the trouble of removing the
handlebars, etc.

While you may want drops for personal reasons I think you'll
find the straight bars fine for reasonable distances and
speeds. The many positions of drop bars are great for their
many hand positions but for commuting and recreational
riding straight bars work fine for me.

So you can use the straight bars or for about $50 in brakes
with your old parts you can get the new brakes and move to
drop bars.

Justin