Best Specialized Hybrid Bike

hi I’m Keith and today I want to tell
you about my specialized Sirrus bike
which I just love I’m going to tell you
why I chose specialized over some other
brand options as well as give you a few
important tips on buying your next bike
so let’s get to it
so this is by far the best bike I’ve
ever owned and this is a specialized
Sirrus sport there’s also the cirrus
sport disc and various other models that
are out and have come out since I got
this one I’m gonna get into why I didn’t
go with the disc model which has disc
brakes in a moment but basically you
know I’ve owned road and mountain bikes
before and I really feel like this one
beats them all in just total features
and everything I need it is a hybrid
bike and what that basically means is
it’s got a little stronger rim and just
a slightly wider tires if you want to
take it in the dirt and it also has the
you know what’s considered a sort of
cross over or motocross bar compared to
a road bike so that’s the big difference
it’s still narrow enough tire that I
feel it operates just like a road bike
but it’s it’s wide enough that it’s okay
in the dirt and and you know trails that
aren’t too crazy let’s just put it that
way so I want to get into just some of
the features and reasons why I went with
with best lies but one thing to note
when you’re looking at brands is you
know when you’re looking at bike brands
you’re kind of looking mainly at the
frame and the reason I say that is
because many of the other features on
bikes are from after market or
third-party companies that just
manufacture for everybody and most
people know that but I just thought to
point it out for example Shimano you
know see the crank down here is Shimano
and the shifters are Shimano and then
the rims are usually made by a different
company so before you
to carry where’s bran just realized that
on most bikes the frame is the thing
that is is most tied to the brand and
then the rest are just parts so that our
comment on other bikes but that’s still
important we’re going to get into why I
chose specialize so let’s look at just
some of the features that I liked that
made this the choice for me
so the seat the stock seat is pretty
comfortable which is not always the case
with with bikes so that was a nice plus
right away that I noticed about
specialized the big one for me with
shifters and brakes so this has really
nice Shimano shifters and the brakes are
comfortable and the V brakes and we’re
going to talk about the lack of disc
brakes in a minute but see this these
shifters that show the you know show the
the gear changing that was important to
me I know not everybody cares about that
but some of the other brands I tried
didn’t have that feature and same for
you know same for the the larger gear
let’s put the front by the crank so I
like the fact that I could see what I
was you know what I was doing the
shifters on this bike have been
absolutely fantastic I know that there
by Shimano okay I know they’re not the
top of the line Shimano but I will just
have to tell you they may as well be
okay you may as well be top of the line
because they have been just fantastic
this one is the Shimano Acera
and I think the back one here it’s a
little hard to see but I believe it’s
the Alivio
starts at the letter A again probably
not Shimano’s best shifters but they
have been fantastic they just worked
like magic they shift like butter smooth
I’ve got probably between 500 and a
thousand miles on this bike and I have
not really had to mess with the shifters
except one time and that was just me
being kind of a wrench turning person
likes things being perfect I think one
time I had to make a slight little
adjustment here because the cables do
stretch and it is normal for
over time to do little tiny adjustments
but that’s it I’ve had other bikes we’re
shifting was a problem from day one and
this is not the case so again really
happy about that so let’s talk about
brakes for a minute and why I decided to
skip the disc brake option and go with
the standard V brake the first reason
was cost it was a considerable more
amount of money so another couple
hundred bucks to get into a bike with
this brakes and specialized and I just
didn’t see the benefit for me and I’m
not taking anything away from disc
brakes I know they’re awesome and I know
that the pros use them and so if that
works for you then that’s great but I’m
just telling you that the V brakes on
this bike have been absolutely fantastic
I have not needed to adjust them you
know sometimes you get breaks and one
sides a little cockeyed and one side is
always closed or never an issue easy to
adjust to take the rim off it’s very
easy like if you were to throw the bike
in a car it’s a quick-release thing
right here which I’m not going to do
right now but it’s literally a five
second thing and you pop it and the rim
comes off just you know transport the
bike but the money that I saved on disc
brakes I was able to get the carbon fork
the carbon fiber fork which I highly
recommend this I noticed this right away
when I rode the bike and test rode how
the carbon fiber just gives it a
smoother just a more explain it it’s
more of a smoother stable ride less less
bumpiness and so I figured my money was
you know better spent going into a
carbon fiber fork the advantages of
course of disc brakes is they are better
in the rain in wet environments and I
don’t think you’re going to overheat
them like you would on in a very extreme
Hill situation on this bike I rode some
of the the longest steepest hills in
Orange County and only one time when I
was new on the bike did I overheat the
brake a little bit and it got a little
spongy after that I realized okay you
can’t ride the brake the whole way down
on the
a mile long super steep grade and so
unless you’re you’re doing that a lot or
you’re in the rain
I think standard V brakes are gonna work
for me so not taking anything away from
disc brakes so anyway that’s why I went
with those
so just finalizing here I just wanted to
tell you why I chose specialize over
some other brands and then just leave
you with a few tips for buying your next
bike so the bottom line with specialize
is I really felt like I was getting the
best combination of everything from
looks to operation of brakes and
shifters just overall feel the bike the
carbon fork and the narrower tires let’s
get into the tire thing I wanted the
most narrow tire I could get for it to
still be a hybrid bike I just didn’t
want the wider super wide tire and I did
see that with some other brands giant in
particular at the time I was looking
giant bikes had wider tires than I
wanted in a hybrid bike and just seemed
more like a mountain bike to me I know
these look like robe tires they are a
little wider than a road tire so you can
still take him in the dirt and they’re
kind of worn down because I’ve got some
miles on them but I’m telling you as
long as you don’t go into super insane
deep sand or a lot of loose gravel
you’ll be fine I’ve taken this bike on
many many dirt trails and I’ve been just
fine up and down dirt hills and some of
them rather steep I’ve also been fine
I’ve never fallen once but I know my
limits so a big benefit of that narrow
tire of course is on the road this bike
is going to just perform a million times
better than a mountain bike and again
that’s why I went with the narrower tire
and specialized because I just wasn’t
seeing it in other other brands as much
of course you can in a road bike but
road bikes are more and you can’t take
them really in the dirt at all and as I
said this for me has been the best of
both worlds so the other thing you just
cooking at some other brands I felt like
Trek was a little more money for what I
was going to get with this bike and then
I already told you with giant I found
like I was getting the narrower tires
one other important thing the third
sprocket down here is really important
at least for me there are bike salesmen
that will tell you you don’t need it but
I’ve had mountain bikes and rode some of
the most difficult hills you can imagine
and I’m telling you that this third
sprocket here is a lifesaver
and some bikes don’t have them and they
and there’s different different sizes
form to so you know you don’t want a
third sprocket that’s almost as big as
the second sprocket I wanted a smaller
one I’m telling you it just makes a big
difference on hills
unless you’re Lance Armstrong or you’re
a triathlete you may not need it but
there are some hills where I live that
are so steep they’re even difficult to
walk up and so I that was another thing
that I wanted in a bike and a lot of
bikes didn’t have that so again I
captured these features with specialized
the last brand I looked at besides Giant
and Trek was Fuji and Fuji had some nice
bikes too they were inexpensive they
rode great the reason I didn’t go with
Fuji is I just in area that I lived I
didn’t see anybody riding Fuji and so I
didn’t know why that was and so I
thought since this is a major purchase
for me and I’m not gonna be getting
another bike like this for years
I just decided to go with one of the big
brands and again with everything that
I’ve mentioned so far and specialized
that is why I went I went with this
company and I’ve been really really
happy so just in Kelowna then lastly I
did like the fact that specialized was
designed in California so all those
things together and all the features we
talked about that’s why I went with
specialized over the other brands
lastly if I
just give you a few tips before you
purchase your next bike I would say
number one get the absolute lightest
bike you can afford and if you’re
already a avid bike you know bike person
and cyclists you already know that but
I’m telling you even a pound or two
makes a big difference I did everything
from researching weights and I don’t
have all that info right now in front of
me but I found that this you know
especially this model with the carbon
fork it was a little bit lighter and you
know without the disc brakes it made the
difference for me and really with bike
cycling a pound or two of weight is is a
big difference I know that sounds crazy
but if you don’t believe me try driving
some of these bikes and riding them and
test riding them and you’ll see the
lighter bikes they’re just they just
perform effortlessly under your body and
especially on hills and so that’d be my
first tip is get the lightest bike you
can afford and my second tip would of
course be the third sprocket down here
which we already talked about especially
if you’re in an area with hills if you
don’t hit hills at all and that doesn’t
matter you’ll be fine with to the next
major tip I cannot emphasize enough for
a new bike purchase is tire width so
figure out how you’re gonna use your
bike and if you’re gonna be using it all
on the road then obviously narrow you’re
going to be going in the dirt 10% of the
time like me the road rest of time
consider going still with the most
narrow tire you can get sure you can get
a wider tire and have a little more
comfort in the dirt but I’m telling you
on the road there is nothing like having
this narrow road bike tire even though
it’s a hybrid tire the bike is fast I
routinely can pass people with no effort
that are on mountain bikes and bikes
with wider tires because if you do a
little research you’ll find that the
efficiency of the bike how fast it goes
how how what’s called rolling resistance
everything is down to the narrowness of
this tire and and weight and so a wider
tire means usually a wider rim it means
more mass it means more weight
and so for these reasons I went with the
narrowest tire I could get and I did
really just fine in the dirt and still
do and I haven’t fallen and I would just
recommend that highly as part of my my
closing tips here and the last thing I
would tell you is get a professional
opinion on size of bike for your body
okay for your body height and male or
female get a professional opinion from a
bike store don’t guess because there’s
been times and I purchased bikes and I
took a guess at what the frame height
was going to be and there was times and
I was uncomfortable with that bike
purchase so a lot of bikes come in
different measurements small medium
large and get a professional opinion
because this bike really fits me well
and it’s just been great so anyway guys
those are my my my breakdown on the bike
I hope you don’t mind the details the
reason I did go into a little detail
here is I just see a lot of bike reviews
where people are just saying hey this is
a great bike I’m on my you know a
thousand mile run or whatever 1050 miles
and it’s just still a bike great bike
but now I’m not going into into why it’s
great so I hope you don’t mind a little
longer video in just some details about
the bike and what’s been great for me so
if you have any questions I’d do my best
to answer
pop them drop them below and if you
would pop us a like and subscribe if you
found this helpful and again any
questions let me know
hope you enjoyed this thanks man see you
next time