Review: Specialized Sirrus X 3.0

The Sirrus X 3.0 is a beefed-up version of Specialized’s fitness bike, and has a bit more of a ‘do-it-all’ attitude. With wide wheels and tyres matched to a mountain bike riser bar, this bike is just as nimble on the byways as it is bombing around town or getting you to work. There’s some stiff competition out there on price, though.

The Sirrus range of bikes are hybrids, with either a compact or step-through frame, slick tyres and usually a 2x chainset. The Sirrus X models add a bit more versatility, thanks to 42mm gravel tyres, an extra-wide handlebar (in road bike terms…) for better handling off-road and a decent spread of gears from a 1x set up as well.

It’s a fun bike to ride all over the place. I’ve mostly used it on the school run or riding in the woods with the kids, and it’s a blast.

Even with the 680mm handlebar the steering is still pretty nippy, and the X 3.0 makes for a capable gravel machine. In fact, it’s probably not far off the rigid mountain bikes I was riding in the late 80s, early 90s.

It’s nowhere near as quick as my drop bar machine, but on those days when I just want to cruise along the tracks taking in the scenery with a couple of bar bags fitted, the stability of the slack front end and longish wheelbase meant I enjoyed the ride.

My longest ride was about 2.5hrs over 35 miles on a mixture of surfaces from road, byways in various states of hardpack and some grass/mud thrown in for good measure. For what is essentially an entry level aluminium alloy frame and fork, the ride quality isn’t bad, even with the tyres pumped up firm.

It copes with rough terrain well, and I never felt like I was being battered – although I found the lack of hand positions that a flat bar brings odd, something I must admit I’m not that used to.

The 40t chainring and 10-speed, 11-42t cassette gives a decent spread of gears, and is similar to a lot of 1x gravel bikes I’ve ridden. It helps offset the weight a touch, and it was only on the steepest climbs that I found the X 3.0 a bit of a strain.

On the road the Sirrus X cruises along quite well. The lower gears give you decent acceleration for nipping away from traffic lights or junctions, and the reasonably quick handling allows you to change direction with ease when the need arises. The bar width does limit the gaps you can cut through when filtering, though if you’re used to modern mountain bikes with their 760mm-780mm bars you may find it relatively narrow.

You do get a reasonably tall riding position too, which helps you see over traffic when in town.

From a riding point of view, I really like the Sirrus X. It was better in pretty much every environment than I was expecting. It doesn’t feel as weighty as the scales suggest, and the performance surprised me, even when slogging into a headwind. The main thing here is versatility, and that’s something the Specialized does very well.

Frame and fork

The Sirrus X uses Specialized’s A1 Premium Aluminium tubing, which it says is butted – the tubes have differing wall thicknesses along their length. They’re normally thicker at the ends for strength at the welds, and thinner in the middle for a bit of flex / weight loss, which can increase comfort marginally.

The welding is a touch… industrial, shall we say, but that kind of works given the bike’s nature, especially with this silver colour. It’s also available in a dark red.

A neat touch is that the Specialized logos on the down tube look black during the day, but are reflective for side visibility in the dark.

On the down tube you get three bolt positions for a bottle cage giving you some adjustment should you be running a frame bag, while the seat tube has just the standard two bolts.

Mudguard and rack mounts can also be found on the frame and fork, though if you want to go down that route the EQ models of the Sirrus X come fitted with mudguards, a rear rack (both compatible with Spesh’s Plug + Play system) and a dynamo front light.

Both the frame and that full aluminium fork have flat-mounts for the brake calipers, and quick-releases for the wheels with standard dropouts. Thru-axles are now the norm with disk brakes, but for the kind of performance and speeds achievable by the Sirrus X, the extra level of retention is not really required.

Geometry and sizing

If you are used to standard road or gravel bike geometry – and basing your frame size on top tube length – you’ll need to go up a size over normal to account for the relatively short stem. For instance, this medium has an effective top tube of 574mm, which is about 20mm longer than a typical road/gravel bike for me, but the fit is correct.

Combined it with the 80mm stem and the reach figure is 398mm, which is exactly the same as the new Allez Sprint Comp road bike in a 56cm. The stack is a fair bit higher due to the Sirrus X’s tall 180mm head tube, giving 593mm.

The front end is a mixture of a head angle is a gravel friendly 71°, with a fork length of 395mm and a rake/offset of 51mm. The wheelbase comes in at 1,067mm.

Also, alongside this frame design is a range of step-through models.

Finishing Kit

The Sirrus X 3.0 is predominately a Shimano build, and the cassette, rear mech and shifters are adorned with the Deore badge. It’s a 10-speed groupset using an 11-42t cassette matched with a 40t narrow-wide chainring on an unbranded alloy crankset.

It’s a decent spread of gears for a range of riding, although there are limitations at either end. For road use I only really used the four smallest sprockets on the flat, while on the descents you’ll soon be spinning out.

Away from the beaten track the 40/42t lowest gear does a decent job on the climbs of offsetting the weight, although when things got really steep, I was calling out for something lower. The shifting is clean enough up and down the cassette, and the lever buttons sit in just the right position. KMC supplies the chain and you also get a threaded bottom bracket for wet weather reliability.

If, like me, you are used to seeing the prices of road hydraulic disc brake setups, you’ll be amazed to see the kit you get with a flat bar. There is no way you are going to find a sub-£1,000 road bike with hydraulic brakes.

Here though you are getting Tektro’s HD-R280 hydraulic brakes with a 160mm rotor for the front and 140mm at the rear. These brakes never left me wanting even with just two fingers, and offer decent modulation too.

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The rest of the kit is basic stuff with an alloy stem, seatpost and handlebar. The bar is 680mm wide on this medium size and offers a 15mm rise and 9° backsweep. I found the Specialized Neutralizer locking grips comfortable, especially considering the limited hand positions.

The saddle is a Bridge Sport and I found it comfortable considering the upright position. With a lot of weight on it for the majority of the ride, I found it to have a good amount of padding that wasn’t overly squishy.

Wheels and tyres

As with the rest of the finishing kit, the wheels aren’t anything exciting. You get double-wall alloy rims that are 22mm deep with a 21mm internal width, alloy hubs with loose ball bearings, 32 stainless steel spokes front and rear and those QR axles.

Durability wise I had no issues, and they did see a fair bit of abuse up on the gravel tracks. They aren’t the lightest wheels out there and don’t bring a huge amount to the ride quality, but to be honest that isn’t really what this Sirrus X is about.

The 42mm wide Pathfinder Sport tyres from Specialized are good. They roll well on the road and cope with hardpacked surfaces with ease. In fact, they work anywhere in the dry. With minimal tread they struggle to cope with anything muddy, but they are versatile. If you’re using the Sirrus X for a commute you can easily switch between road, byway or canal path without any real drop in performance.

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Again, they aren’t the lightest with their wire bead construction, but they make up for it in robustness. Across a range of terrain, I had no problems with punctures or cuts in the carcass.

Value

This X 3.0 (there is a new version available, which I’ll explain about in a moment) is £849, which makes it a bit cheaper than the £899 Giant Escape 0 Disc that Simon tested last year. Subjectively I’d say that the Sirrus X is a better looking, beefier bike, although the Giant is over half a kilo lighter and gets a carbon fibre seatpost. Both bikes use a 1x Deore groupset.

Simon also reviewed the Merida Speeder 200 hybrid and he was impressed. It’s a bit more road-based with tyre widths limited to 35mm, that’s still wide enough for a bit of byway action. Its price has jumped up to £885 from £775 last January, but it still looks decent value with a 9-speed Shimano Sora groupset, hydraulic brakes and an FSA 50/34t chainset.

If you want something a little more off-road, you’ll want Merida’s Crossway range. The Crossway 300 is the same price as the Speeder at £885 and comes with a Deore groupset, the same as the Sirrus. It has an FSA Alfa Drive chainset though with triple rings (48-36-26T) giving 30 gears, and a Suntour NCX-D LO suspension fork with lockout. It’s also wearing 40mm tyres.

So, the Sirrus X 3.0 looks competitive in this build. The latest model has jumped in price to £949 though, and comes with a 9-speed microSHIFT TrailTrigger Pro setup. The overall gearing range is the same, at least, as is the rest of the build.

The Deore build is still available in certain sizes though, and that is the one I’d go for.

Overall

The X 3.0 kind of fills in that middle ground between a hybrid and a hardtail, and it’s decent value if you want a bike you can do a lot of things on – whether that’s commuting, riding for fitness or getting out with the kids. Its ability to take those 42mm tyres means it works well off-road too.

Verdict

Hybrid do-it-all with a bit of edge and attitude, just as happy around town as it is on the byways