Sixty Fiver

gitarzan - That is a very nice looking ride... I like the curves.

freighttraininguphill

I bought my Specialized Sirrus used last summer. It had a road wheel in the back with a 700x28c tire, and a hybrid wheel in the front with a 700x35c. I replaced the front wheel with a road wheel and 700x28c tire and added a stemraiser, bar ends, bottle cages, and a saddlebag. Unfortunately, the largest rear cog on the cassette was only a 24t, so I didn't ride this bike much, especially since I got a road bike with a triple and replaced the stock cassette with a Shimano MegaRange 11-34, and the small front chainring with a 24t. After that I had to replace the rear derailleur with a Shimano Deore long-cage mtb derailleur.

The other day I finally got around to making those same modifications to the drivetrain of the Sirrus, and replacing the stock saddle with a Specialized Dolce women's saddle, so now it climbs as good or better than the road bike and is much more comfortable than it used to be.


Specialized Sirrus near top of Ridgeview Drive by kittyz202, on Flickr

Specialized Sirrus next to Folsom's 'Bicycle Friendly Community' sign by kittyz202, on Flickr

Kerrvillian

Here is Trigger's current incarnation.

Trek 7200 Hybrid with stock pedals, saddle, and a lot of other things. Topeak rear rack, fenders and mismatched water bottle cages. Bontrager ergo grips.

You'll see the recently added and not taped drop bar ends. These are still "experimental". I like some of having them, I dislike some of having them. May just be an interim option until I decide to actually swap out the entire handlebar for something else.

Riverside_Guy

Just came across a very interesting video, making of a custom steel frame in a custom frame shop in CA:

https://vimeo.com/18969652

AdelaaR

This is my wife and my kid posing with the newly installed childseat on my bike:



It can be attached or detached in a minute so I'll only install it when needed.

Doohickie

How many speeds do you have in the rear? I have 7 on mine, and I went with drop bars and old Suntour Barcon power ratchet bar-end shifters. Shifting is very smooth for "friction" shifters (they are friction shifters going smaller cogs, and ratcheted going to larger cogs, so they don't slip). I really like the setup. I also have aero brake levers.

FXjohn

it needs pedals so the kids can help

Kerrvillian

The stock gears are 8 in the rear. They are controlled through the handle bar "grip" shifter/brake lever housing.

I'm thinking of a trekking bar for the handle bar. Not sure if that would require new shifter/brake levers.

irclean

Nope:

giantcfr1

Lovely picture. "The Cycling Family"

Kerrvillian

To quote C. Montgomery Burns "Excellent!"

AdelaaR

Cool setup with the gripshifts on the trekking bar irclean

goldfinch

My hybrid Diamondback:



I am an older, very out of shape new rider struggling with the local rolling hills. I am riding about 5, 6 miles a day so far.

Good points about this bike:

--Easy off and on because of the girlie bike style. Works well, looks funny.
--good on the rough city streets, crossing railroad tracks
--easily shifts through the gears
--I like my stupid and cheap Walmart basket

Bad points, either about the bike or the bike's relationship with me:

--I can't get comfortable. I move the seat all over and can't find a happy place. The handle bars feel too high. They are much higher than the seat. I am short, I can't have the seat up any higher. My hands and wrists hurt even in my short rides.

--The pedals are slippery but I can't get them off to put on any different ones. Broke my husbands wrench trying to take them off.

giantcfr1

Congratulations on your purchase. Your bike doesn't look funny at all, and I should know, as I have a funny bike.
Now, if the handle bars are too high, why not lower the stem? It looks adjustable. I don't know if that is related to your wrist pain, as wrist pain is often associated with too much pressure leaning on the bars. Since your bars are high, I don't think it is.

The pedal vs wrench...maybe it's because you are screwing the bolt against the thread. Just do a search on google and you'll see that the thread is different to normal.

Have fun.

irclean

Thanks! I was a little nervous about going with grip shifts since I'm so used to trigger and thumb shifters. That, and the only grip shifters I've used before were crap. These were a little higher quality and I'm very happy with the results.

AdelaaR

Yeah most gripshifters are crap indeed and many people seem to hate gripshifts because of this.
My gripshifts are the SRAM Attack's and they have worked flawlessly until now ... they are about the most expensive gripshifts one can buy after all.
The only thing you can't do with gripshifts is shift when your whole hand is full of wet mud ... but that doesn't hold me back because I do not ride through wet mud
What I can do with my gripshifts that triggers can't do is shift up to 8 gears in one pull ... that can be handy sometimes when encountering sudden slipperyness in the woods.

ejschultz

The pedal wrench will go above the pedal and you'll pull it back toward the rear of the bike. In other words, the left pedal turns clockwise to loosen and the right pedal turns counterclockwise to loosen. The reasoning behind that is so the pedals don't come off while you're riding (I had that happen once when I was a kid; it hurt just a little...).

BarracksSi

Yup. I also think of it as "righty-tighty as usual" for the right side, since it's "right", a.k.a. "correct"; and the left pedal is "not right" therefore it's "wrong", or "lefty-tighty".

I remove pedals by leveling the cranks, standing over the bike, attaching the wrench to the forward pedal so that the wrench also points forward, putting my chest against the top tube or saddle, then pulling up on the wrench and the rear pedal at the same time. Lots of leverage, and it always turns the pedal spindle the correct way.

goldfinch

I did google and found the method for removing pedals and lowering the handlebars. Neither will budge. As I mentioned, I (actually the neighbor guy) broke the wrench trying to remove a pedal. For the handlebars, I just tried putting the allen wrench on the nut on the top of the stem and it will not turn. I bonked the stem a bit to see if it would free. I sprayed WD-40. Still will not budge for nothing. (Sorry if this belongs in another thread, I still am finding my way around here.)

ejschultz

When I changed the pedals on my Utopia, I had to literally disassemble the entire right pedal and use a pipe wrench to get it off. The left one wasn't too tough, but that right one was a b*tch.

goldfinch

I tried using a crescent wrench on the allen wrench for leverage. Still no luck.

giantcfr1

It appears that the employee who assembled your bike may have failed to put an adequate amount of gease on those parts.
I'm not sure of the bike shops in your area, but the ones here would never charge for changing your pedals if you buy them from the shop.
While you are there simply ask them to adjust the stem. Again, I'd be surprised if they charged you for that. Do you think a new saddle would help? If so, thank them by buying a new saddle and surely they'd correctly fit that for you too.

goldfinch

All good ideas--the nearest bike shop is about 60 miles away, so I am fussing myself to see what I can do. I let the stem sit with the wd-40 for a while and tried again, using the crescent wrench for leverage. I got the nut loosened on the stem. Turns out it already was as far in as it would go. Major bummer.

In a few weeks we will go into the bike shop to get my spouse's free tuneup after buying his bike. I'll see what they can do to help me with my bike. I think that I could ride further than I am but between my hands and my butt I am having serious comfort problems. At first I thought they would go away as I got used to riding but they are not.

I do hate the saddle. It feels fat and wide. Although I am still overweight I am small boned.

AdelaaR

Around here there are hundreds of bike shops within 60 miles of my house

jbchybridrider 

"WOOHOO" finally my new schwalbe sammy slicks arrived and man do these things roll fast, I these tires as much as I my bike.
I was going to try them out once on the way to work then save them for trail riding but I think I'll leave them on and still use ultremo R1's for weekend road rides.
As fast as they feel on the road they are also smooooth "WOOHOO"
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They also comfortably fit a 26er frame remembering they are 29er wheels. They are 35mm wide and 30mm high. There also a folding tire and weigh half as much as my vittoria 28c's also during hard cornering there's not much squirming feeling on the nobbies, did I say I love these tires.
And yep the tire is on backwards I fixed that
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