Thanks for the responses. A lot of great information even if some of it went over my head. If it wasn’t abundantly clear by my first post, I’m a total noob.
I returned the bike yesterday. With increasing doubts about my choice and time left in my return window it was the right decision.
My original goal was to upgrade my current bike, which is a Raleigh Rimrock that I got when I was in high school. I’m 41 now. My bike is old, heavy and well past its best before date so I decide to upgrade and hastily bought the Sirrus x 2.0. As I said earlier, I was also looking at the FX3 which I think I actually preferred but was $300 more in my area. I thought I could make a few changes to the Sirrus to mimic the FX3 and save some cash. That was the logic behind my decision as flawed as it may have been.
Most of the time I imagine I’ll be on relatively flat, paved surfaces like paved biking trails, roads, biking lanes etc. Maybe over grassy areas and gravel/ dirt walking type trails but not that often. My rides are relatively short compared to some of you but are usually 20 miles/ 30 km. I’d like to start to go further so I think that means riding on the roads in rural areas but I’m really anti getting run over. I’m also looking for a bike that’s future proof and something I can grow into. I’m not necessarily looking to go as fast as I can but I’d like to be efficient.
I think I’m looking for a bike that’s closer to the road bike end of the bike spectrum. In my mind (see paragraph 1) that means skinny tires but realize that’s not necessarily the case. I understand there are drawbacks to a 1x drivetrain but I think that’s the direction I want to go. I do agree that 8 speeds aren’t enough and I was often thinking it would be nice to have a gear between gears so I’m probably looking at a 1x10 or even better 1x11.
Should I still be looking at the FX3 or maybe something higher up the FX food chain? Or something else entirely? I’m back at square one.