jamesdak 

50 miles on the Sancineto this morning must have wore me out and made me susceptible to the N+1 virus again. I mean, dang I just sold off the Trek 5200 last night. Anyway, there was a 1988 Specialized Sirrus in the local ads in my town so I swung by and grabbed it. Chump change for a pretty much fully functioning steel ride. This will get a quick tear down and refurb and then be donated to The Bike Collective. Gave it a quick clean this evening and didn't see any real issues at all. I'll go through all the bearings and other consumables but this one should be easy. Biopace chainrings look fine but I should have plenty of other chain rings in my stash to swap those out with. The plan is spending plenty of time but not money on this one. Seems like a pretty nice bike for the most part. Seemed well tuned up when I picked it up.

AdventureManCO 

The paint job on these is fabulous, and really gives off that late 80s/90s splashy neon vibe.

No plans to take this one in on the 19mph club?

jamesdak 

I beginning to wonder if those days are over. The latest knee replacement just isn't coming around. It's been over 6 months now and I still have a hitch in my stroke no matter how many miles I ride. Every time I stop or coast for more than a few seconds it tightens back up even worse then frees up some again. This goes on the whole ride, whether it's 20 miles or 50 miles. I'm going to keep pushing it but I'm not feeling very hopeful right now.

Strawbunyan

+1 on how absolutely saved by the bell awesome this paint is.

georges1

Very nice bike the paint scheme is indeed unique

slow rollin

A beauty. That era down tube shifter are one of my favorites so far. Semi ratcheting both ways and very light to shift.

jdawginsc 

That 105 group is easily one of the more under-rated groups. Only 6 speed, but bomb proof and the brakes have a solid feel for single pivots. Might be first generation SLR I think.

Gave way to the style and tech of the tricolor group next, and then the 105 hand me down tech of the first brifters. 1055SC components were not quite as attractive though in my opinion, though a great group!

georges1

My peugeot had the 105sc as 8 speeds group before I upgraded to dura ace 7700 and later 7800. It was extremely reliable and smooth regarding shifting. The 105 sc dual pivot brakes were phenomenal and I put dura ace pads on them to have even better braking.I kept my 105sc group during 3 years, I am in total agreement regarding the outstanding value for money of the 105 sc. Quality and performance wise , it was and is vastly superior to the Campy Athena.

jamesdak 

Three more hours on this one after my ride. Cleaned parts and then went after bearings. The hubs were a bit gross but the freewheel feels great and is spinning freely and quietly. Ran out of my citrus degreaser but had the Acetone out and used that some too. The Acetone was used early to quickly remove the logo's off a Ritchey stem I plan to use on the Pegoretti.

The more I got into the bike the more it looks like it's seen little to no use. Hardly any wear on the parts. There's a fair number of paint blemishes in the teal color though, I'll try to match it but am not going to worry about it too much. I did spend about 2 hours polishing the paint also. The crank, stem, and shiny bits on the derailleurs all look great after hitting them quickly with some metal polish.

Maxey

If this landed in the classifieds I would certainly pursue it. I have a thing for the late '80 Specialized two-tone paint schemes I guess. Beautiful bike!

jamesdak 

I've been messing with this one throughout the week. This morning I decided that even though I'm trying to keep this at hardly any expense to me, those Biopace chainrings had to go. Had some black Superbe Pro ones or nice polished Dura Ace ones. Went with the Dura Ace. I had polished the crank up earlier this week including removing the worn 105 logos. Still waiting on the Testor Teal paint ot come in. As you can see on the chainstay, the Teal paint pen I tried was too light. Hopefully the Testor is closer or at least I can use that to try and mix up a good match.


53/39 This is some serious gearing on this one.

White hoods have cleaned up pretty good with just warm water and Dawn. Trying not to go too aggressive on them so that they go sticky. I may have some replacement black ones that fit but need to check. Pink also but then that would probably limit the appeal of this one. Had enough leftover white cable housing from other projects to replace the ones on this vs just cleaning them up inside and out. All the shiny bits have taken a nice shine including the stem.

jamesdak 

Spent more time on this one today. Pulled apart the BB and found more fairly clear but really thick and sticky red grease. Not very much of it though, seems like the bearings were not very well packed either originally or when serviced sometime. Race surfaces all looked fine though. Cleaned everything up, packed new bearings well with marine grease and put 'er back together. Much better. Pretty much the same deal with the headset even though it actually felt fine. While I had it apart I chucked the reflector and put in a spacer as there wasn't much room for clearance on the steerer to go without.

Got some new 000 steel wool in and was able to polish up more of the hardware, like the brake pad bolts and then water bottle cage bolts. I made the mistake of measuring this today, pretty much 56 cm CTC square, my size.

Put on a new SRAM PG 850 chain today also. The old one seemed fine and measured ok but just wanted to be sure who ever get's this doesn't have to worry about anything for awhile. In all honesty the rear seemed to shift better with the new chain.

Hopefully the paint comes tomorrow. It's been bouncing around various USPS facilities in SLC for the past two days. Still says due next Wednesday and with how USPS works sometimes I would not be surprised if it takes that long despite only being 50 miles away right now.

I don't want to put on the new white cable housing and tape until I get done with all the paint and grease work for obvious reasons.

And I never did show how this one was when I picked it up. Not too bad to be honest.

Peruano

Bummer about the knee. Keep working on it.

jdawginsc 

So this one is moving on JD?

jamesdak 

Nothing but rain all day so I worked on this one throughout the day. The paint did come in but was too dark. Lightened it a bit with some cream white paint and got pretty close. Then I used a drop of the same cream paint in some white paint to "age" it a bit so I could touch up one spot by the rear shifter. Pulled off the old bar tape and gave the stem and center bit of the handlebars a good polish. I also hit all the shiny bits one final time with polish. New housing for the brakes and cables when on also as I put the newly cleaned brakes back on. Wheels and spokes got wiped down again to make sure all residues were off of them and cleaned the tires since I'm leaving those on. Went over the braking surfaces on the rims with alcohol to make sure I left nothing to contaminate the brake pads. The white saddle was just letting this down even after I cleaned it best I could. So I grabbed a fairly nice Turbo out of my stash (my butt hates them) and put that on with a better looking, lighter seatpost.

I cabled it up with the stem at max height but will lower it some as I finalize things in the morning and wrap the bars. I was thinking I had a set of nicely polished flat pedals but couldn't find nothing. So I'll probably hand this off without pedals. All the replacement hoods I found would not work on this either. So I'll clean the original ones a final time before I wrap the bars.

Anyway, just grabbed a few shots when the rain had let off. Once I get it fully built I'll wipe it down one final time, hit the paint with another round of polishing and then wax. If I was keeping it I'd do a much better job on the paint touch ups but that takes weeks to do with letting things dry proper, wet sanding, clear coating , wet sanding, etc.


She'll look nice from a few feet away.

RD shined up nicely. And....I forgot to hit the pivots and such with triflow after the last clean. Need to do that for all the parts. Dang wandering brain.

Cranks looking pretty nice and has to be much better without biopace on it.

Turbo saddle and a generic seatpost

Ugh, need to get between the cogs better.

The shine is better in person

Hubs feel nice now

Can't go much larger on tires, less room in the rear.

Stems not too bad looking now.

Maxey

Great job, I love seeing something so nice brought back to life. The Dura-Ace chainrings look the business.

jdawginsc 

Did you use easy off for the de-anodizing?

jamesdak 

Nope, I've actually never done that. On this groupset the crank was polishable as were the metal bits of the RD and the metal bits of the FD except for the cage. Brake calipers were not nor the levers. Oh, and the stem. Other things like the brake pad bolts and bottle cage bolts are chromed and shine up with the steel wool. Hubs took polish too but I had to use steel wool on the spokes and QR's. Shifters couldn't be polished either.

jdawginsc 

Very nice!

AdventureManCO 

Please tell us you will at least try to ride it, so we have some new juicy comparisons!

thinktubes 

I test rode an NOS Sirrus around 1994. I remember that it had a great ride. I believe that these used the same frame as the Allez. Can’t remember why I didn’t buy it, since I liked the way it rode. Maybe it was the paint

rustystrings61 

I had an '88 Sirrus just like this one for a while - same year but in red and a 60 cm. I bought mine for $50 for the Clunker Challenge and fell in love with it.



I've owned a lot of really nice bikes over the last 50 years, and my red Sirrus matched the '82 Mercian team-issued Colorado and the full custom for its original owner Lighthouse in terms of ride quality, handling, and just sheer joy to ride. Last year I sold mine to a nice young guy who understood what it was, only because (a) I have a limited amount of bike storage space and (b) the Lighthouse has near identical geometry and ride quality but takes 32 mm tires and fenders.

For 1987-89, the Sirrus and the Allez WERE the same frame, just different paint (color and quality!) and parts. The 105 parts were highly regarded, and my experience was that everything was pretty much buttery smooth once serviced. Mine had Specialized's proprietary bottom bracket with the nastiest gunked up grease ever encountered that, once cleaned, was beautifully smooth. Seriously, had I kept it, I would have acquired a set of Tektro long reach sidepulls and built a set of 650b wheels to see how that worked. Who knows, I may seek out another one and do that anyway!

Great bike, great thread, and a worthy addition to any stable!

jamesdak 

Well, all I can say is that white bar tape has a purpose in this case. Once I wrap the bars I won't ride it so that I hand it off fresh and new. That way there's no chance of me talking myself into keeping it. There is absolutely no room in the stable for another bike...right now. My rule has always been they all need to fit in the bike cave with one overflow in the foyer for the one I take out that day. The past couple of years dealing with bad knees more than riding has allowed me too much time to find bikes I "need". So I am in overflow mode and need to get things back in control. So there is no way I'm even giving this Sirrus a chance, LOL!


Bike cave this morning, need to be able to get any bike at easily to ride. NOT there right now

Current rider

The Colnago CT1 and Pegoretti awaiting parts so they can be finished. No bikes should be in here.

Past winter's bad weather road bike. Bought cheap and viewed as disposable. Frame mangled in one spot

The "knee recovery" bike. Not sure what to do with this one other than ride it.

Gravel bike. STI shifters and disc brakes do win out on the rougher courses

My vintage gravel rider. Tricky to use in some situations with the DT friction shifters

The Guv'nor, love this for cruising.

The Azor, my errand bike that sees us pretty much daily

When I take off most of July I will get the seatpost out of this Kamra somehow and rebuild it to donate.

AdventureManCO 

I count at least 6 blue bikes (5 of which can go) to make room for the Sirrus

jamesdak 

Made a separate photo post of the completed bike to aid others researching these in the future.


https://www.bikeforums.net/classic-v...l#post23249867