Scooty Puff Jr

I'm very interested in how the carbon frame bike rides compared to a metal frame FX ? I just turned 50 and I'm looking for a much lighter bike than my Fuji Crosstown 1.1 for daily riding. I'm interested in a carbon frame because the couple that I have rode (road bikes,not a FX) , seemed to be a little more forgiving on rough roads than a ridged fork metal frame bike. There's a lot of brick roads where I ride, and my Fuji with the suspension fork soaks up the bumps nicely but the bike weighs in around 35 pounds.

Boondocksaints

Hi Scooty - I suggest getting a lighter weight steel frame if you are concerned about the bumps. Example - Jamis Coda Sport hybrid.

I feel carbon frames are too fragile for my needs. We are not racers who need that extra few pounds. Won't make a difference at all for us.

DJH8098

Agreed, maybe look into almost anything that Surly makes. I would mainly focus on the Cross Check with a flat bar, it is a nice ride and can be manipulated to do many different types of riding. Would be great if you want to do anything!Flat Bar Cross-Check | Bikes | Surly Bikes

Scooty Puff Jr

That's for the replies guys !

I'm want a carbon frame because they ride so much nicer on bumpy road than a ridged frame, and I don't want a suspension fork. I rode many carbon frame bikes, and I really like them, and my friends that own them have never had an issue with quality or performance, their bikes are road bikes though, and I don't care for the geometry.

I ride 100 plus miles a week, and need a fitness rider during the week and use my Fuji on the 150 mile weekend rides with the panner bags. I ride strictly paved trails and roads, with the occasional sidewalk or hard pack trail if there's no shoulder or bike lane, so a carbon frame will be fine.

I'm more or less sold on the FXS6, but want to hear from anyone who has been on one and what they think about the quality, gearing, geometry, etc.

Piratebike

I am looking at the FXs6 myself.

badger1

Just a point of information: the current FX5/6 is a road bike, quite literally. It is a Domane frameset with flat bars (and appropriate shifters/brake levers).

Its geometry is Domane geometry, not at all the same as the aluminum FXs. It's a lovely bike, but you will want to test ride properly to check sizing etc. Depending on how you want the bike to position you, you might need to go up one size to get appropriate reach; it was not designed for flat bars.

Piratebike

Great advice.

Scooty Puff Jr

I agree, great advice ! I thought the FXS6 geometry was the same as the FX metal frame bike ? I see that it has all road components and, like you said, is basically a upright road bike, which is what I want for my daily fitness rides. I have a great LBS Trek dealer, and I will mention what you said about sizing up, thanks.

Cranks

The FX S 6 is sold out. Trek will introduce a new bike in June to replace it.

ColonelSanders

With any luck Trek will get serious about its hybrid range of bikes and offer something comparable to a Sirrus.

Wanderer

How right you are, Colonel! That Sirrus, carbon and discs, has ne drooling!

Scooty Puff Jr

Hmmmm, my LBS just got my new Trek FX S 6 in yesterday, so they're still out there, just depends on how hard your LBS wants to work to find you one. Ended up being fitted with a 56cm and it fits about perfect, might need to change the stem to raise the bars a bit, but will see how it feels after a few hundred miles.

Scooty Puff Jr

The 2017 FX S 6 is the new design to compete with the Sirrus Carbon, in fact I looked at both, and I liked the Trek because of the following:

Trek comes with a complete 105 set with cranks, chain, and front and rear derailleurs, (Sirrus has FSA cranks and KMC chain).

Thru axle sealed bearing hubs, with tubeless ready wheels (Sirrus QR drop out hubs)

Trek weighs 21 pounds, Sirrus 23 pounds

90mm BB, gives more rigidity on hard climbs

finch204

So how does it ride? If I'm not mistaken, the FX S 5/6 has the Domane isospeed decouplers because it is using the same frame so it should be a comfy aggressive bike.

ColonelSanders

Doesn't the FX S 6 use the recently superseded Domane frame and thus just like Specialized use to do when they re-used a Roubaix frame, has a road bike geometry to it, even if that road bike is an endurance road bike?

I believe from 2015 onwards, Specialized started using a specially designed frame with "hybrid geometry".

Also do all the Sirrus models weigh 23 pounds? I would have thought that the ones around the price of the FX S 6 would be lighter than 23 pounds.

badger1

Correct, on all counts.

The current top two FXs really are lovely bikes, but ... that is what they are, NTTAWWT.

Scooty Puff Jr

It rides beautifully, I took it down some brick roads yesterday and some sidewalks and it was as comfortable as my Fuji Crosstown, but felt much more responsive.

You are correct, its basically a Domane with flat bars and disc brakes.

I don't think Specialized has a separate carbon frame with "hybrid geometry" I believe they repurpose a road frame bike from what I can tell, I could be wrong though. That would be pretty expensive to do to just have a frame for a hybrid model bike. I rode the Sirrus Carbon and it's a wonderful bike, and the dealer told me they weighed around 23 pounds. Whether the salesperson knew what he was talking about, I don't know.

I think classifying these type carbon bikes as hybrids isn't really correct, I believe the new segment the manufacturer is using now is "fitness bike".

djmcnz

Yeah, they do on the Sirrus, from about 2015 on as posted above.

Scooty Puff Jr

Interesting, I wonder where the difference lies between the Sirrus and any Specialized Carbon road bike frame ? I guess I could pull up the geometry specs, and just look, but they seem very similar. I rode the Sirrus and I really liked it, and I couldn't tell the difference between it and the FXS6. Its crazy the info you get from the LBS that never seems to jive with the real world.

djmcnz

The Sirrus has a longer wheelbase, there may be other differences also, I'm not entirely sure.

badger1

Again, just for the sake of accuracy: the top Trek FX (5 and 6) are, as you say, re-purposed Domane road frames. Congrats, by the way; that is a lovely bike!

The Sirrus carbon is different. For the years '13 and '14 Specialized did the same thing as Trek: re-purposed Roubaix road frames and called them 'Sirrus.' From '15 on to the present, the Sirrus carbon has had its own, dedicated frame -- completely different from that of the Roubaix. The most significant of those differences is the effective t/t length (and hence static reach): size for size, the current Sirrus is 'longer' than a Roubaix, mainly to account for the difference in effective reach caused by the presence or absence of drop bars.

Whether these differences matter to any one cyclist is of course a matter of preference, but differences there are.

ColonelSanders

It is a very sad fact of life that people who work in bike shops, often seem less enthused and therefor often less knowledgeable than the sorts of excited hobbyists that are found on this forum.


In fact some of the salespeople in bike stores are unbelievably ignorant on bikes and the associated issues involved.

Scooty Puff Jr

That makes sense because I never felt like I fit correctly on a medium or large Sirrus, though my thought was changing to a shorter stem with a slight rise would dial it in. That's very interesting that Specialized is investing in a new segment of biking, I didn't think there was enough of demand for these type bikes to be profitable enough. I always thought because of Cyclcross, and that there was so many different carbon road frames made by Specialized, Trek, Giant, that they would just use one that was close to "hybrid spec" and throw some flat bars on it.

Scooty Puff Jr

Very true. Unfortunately, I tend to take LBS guys at their word, when I should take their word with a grain of salt, and then come here for the "real dirt"

TomWinKC

My 2015 Sirrus Pro Carbon weighed in at 18.2lbs without pedals. It is a size large with a 1 x 11 SRAM X1 drive with pedals still under 19 lbs.