Well after a couple of months of ownership I thought it about time to post on up some pics and thoughts about my Pipedream Sirius R853.

Earlier on this year I bought a 2010 Cotic Soul. After my first ride I was "in love"! In fact I was so enamored with it I wanted to get a Simple.

Whilst looking around for a simple I came across the PD Sirius. All the benefits of a SS with the options for gears if I didn't like SS – bonus 🙂

Specs looked promising so I plumped for one at £299.

Frame arrived and I built her up with donor parts from my Voodoo full squish. Initial weigh in at the LBS put the weight as being 26lbs 😯 😆 (this large frame weighs about 5.7lbs)

I rode the bike on its maiden voyage around Thetford and love it.

Completely different to my Soul – less forgiving but still comfortable.

Over the months I have made some changes to the spec and she now weights 24.2lbs.

Wheels weigh a bit too much for my liking but are bombproof so I am happy with the trade off.

Some pics:

Currently running 32 x 16 but thinking that a 14 or 15 tooth sprocket would be best for the un demanding trails in this neck of the woods 🙂
What do you think?

Me likey very much…

Cheers Donks 🙂

A few more tweaks needed (braided cables, grips etc) but overall am happy with it.

very nice 😀

weeds in the block-work. post doesn't match the fence colour properly. 😀
looks nice. think they've done the right thing going with slidey dropouts. there aren't enough frames around with them IMO, though i know some don't like them. to me they're simple and work.

Del – Member
think they've done the right thing going with slidey dropouts. there aren't enough frames around with them IMO, though i know some don't like them. to me they're simple and work.

Makes wheel removal/chain tensioning a doddle.

As I need to remove both wheels to fit a bike in my car they seemed a plus selling point for ease of use.

Does add a fair bit of weight to the frame though 😕 but flexibility in going geared/alfine/rolhoff etc

Can I join in? I plumped for a large 853 Sirius to replace my 853 Inbred (a lovelly ride but I didn't like the ridiculously close chainring/stay clearance).

I didn't weight the frame, perhaps I should have, but it does feel heavier and stiffer than the Inbred, which is a bit of a shame, still I suppose that the criticism needs to be levelled at the CEN testing regime rather than Pipedream itself, it'll be interested how the Sirius stacks up again next year's round of CEN tested steel hardtails.

I do love the ride though and the weight of the complete bike isn't that far off that of the Inbred with the same, solid kit.

a lovelly ride but I didn't like the ridiculously close chainring/stay clearance

I 'adjusted' the clearance on my frame at the weekend :0) hoping it sorts out the issue. Just need to build it, nice 853's above.

Got one a while back, sent it back cuz it was tipping the scales at nearly 6lbs – for a medium 853 – thought that was a bit steep tbh! Got a Genesis Altitude now and it rides spot on

I have been disapointed in mine, not a patch on my cotic soul, whish I had just gone for the simple rather than trying to save some money.

Looks like I had a lucky escape – I was right royally messed about with first the delivery of the 853, and then even more so over delivery of a Custom specced Ti one.

Fortunately a Ti 456 came my way and I canceled the order when they were 'on the boat' for the second or third time.

I found them un-communicative, dis-organised and dishonest/economic with the truth. I figured that wouldn't bode well if there was a problem with it in the future.

Still, I got my deposit back, so thats something.

Cannot please everyone I guess 😆

I never weighed my frame, so I don't know what it weighs but I did read a post on another forum where somebody's medium frame weighed well over the odds, they got a replacement and that weighed rather less, suggesting that there was a fair bit of variation within the batch. To be honest any weight gain on mine is likely to be lost in amongst the rather solid kit and heavy rider and I did get mine for £250 as a pre-order and pre-tax hike. It should be pretty robust anyway.

One thing I was a bit annoyed with was that once I'd pressed the headset I had to take it to the LBS to be knocked out and the headtube reamed and faced as the headset was binding, reaming and facing sorted this but I was suprised it needed doing. I also needed the threads chased in the BB shell as the non-driveside adapter was very rough going in (so together that was an extra £50 I hadn't expected to need to pay out) it might just have been bad luck though; the paint job and welding looks spot on.

Uncommunicative is a fair assesment though, when I put my deposit down in December the frames weren't going to be CEN tested, what turned up 5 months later (due to a shipping delay) had been CEN tested and seriously beefed up; none of this was communicated to me in the interim, although I was offered a refund or a good deal on a titanium frame instead when the delay was announced. The website doesn't mention CEN testing either and the picture on the 853 frame page is an earlier non-853 prototype, not a final production model.

All in all though I like mine, it is less zingy than expected but as a bigger rider too much 'zing' might end up noodley, it's not really better or worse than the 853 Inbred, just different although I do wonder whether I'd have been better off with an Altitude.

PJay – Member

"it does feel heavier and stiffer than the Inbred, which is a bit of a shame, still I suppose that the criticism needs to be levelled at the CEN testing regime rather than Pipedream itself"

Somehow Cotic manage to make their 853 frame deliver on their claimed weight despite longer forks… So you can't blame CEN. Sirius have admitted that they designed the frame without CEN in mind then at the last minute beefed it up for the testing, rather than designing the frame to be strong enough to pass the tests. They were amazingly blase about the testing, even telling people that 853 frames were exempt, and also putting an attampt at an endrun on their website that the frame was for "racing and extreme use", which is exempted from the CEN regs. Blaming that on the testing regime doesn't seem to make any sense to me, not when everyone else was reacting to it and dealing with it.

all this is a depressing read. i'm still enjoying my old bog standard steel pd sirius which sounds lighter than some of the above and is zingy to boot. communication was good back when i got mine too.

You're probably right, I've not really paid much attention to the CEN testing discussions going on on the forum, they're just one of those things that I've been vaugley aware of. Are the CEN tested Souls of a similar weight to the pre-CEN tested ones? I noticed someone on here mention the there's little or no discernable difference in the feel of the ride (I've not ridden a pre-853 Sirus so can't compare the 2).

I'm still pleased with Pipedream though, but I am a rather recreational rider, not a racing whippet, so a bit of extra weight isn't a huge problem, it does have a somewhat different feel to the Inbred, but not necessarily in a bad way. I can understand that it would bother some folk though. There is a photo on Pipedreams Facebook page showing a medium 853 Sirius at a smidgen un 5lbs which does seem off the mark according to some (or perhaps there is a lot of variation in the batch). Apparently What Mountain Bike have one on test as part of a steel frame test, so it'll be interesting to see what they make of it.

PJay – Member

"Are the CEN tested Souls of a similar weight to the pre-CEN tested ones?"

Fractionally heavier IIRC but very similiar. But there were other changes at the same time to shave off weight, like the alloy dropout, and the fork warranty going up to 140mm from 130mm.

Don't want to give Pipedream too much of a pasting but I think they'd admit they screwed up with this whole thing, promising the world then delivering nothing too special. You end up paying the extra for the 853 but it's barely lighter than a scaffold-pipe 456. The non-CEN Sirius would probably have been great though if they'd timed things better.

Oh well, I guess nothing's perfect. Like I said I'm still happy with mine but it will be interesting to see what 'WMB' make of it in their steel hardtail test.

Nice looking bike and (as above) I do like the horizontal drop-outs.

I have a similar build to letmetalktomark: slightly burly wheels, reba team 2010, slx, avid elixir 5. It comes to 12kg without pedals, but I forgot to weigh the frame before I built it up. I haven't owned enough bikes to be able to speak with authority, but it does ride really well. I am cirtainly faster and more comfortable than with my previous alu frame. It's really good on long peak district rides. I've yet to take to a trail centre, but I think it will rock. Has anyone else measured the head angle? I measured mine with the clinometer on my compasss, and it measures 66 degrees! That's unsagged with a 120mm fork. I realise that my measuring device probably isn't the most accurate thing in the world, but I did take a reverse measurement and it came out the same, and it measured my last frame correctly at 70 degrees.
Piete

Well, it's a month on and I've just received my subscription What Mountbike mag. for September 2010 and the R853 Sirius wins the steel hardtail grouptest outscoring the Genesis Altitute (significantly), Cove Handjob, On-One 456, Ragley Blue Pig and Cotic BFe. Now magazine reviews aren't definitive of course but it must mean something!

PJay – Member

Well, it's a month on and I've just received my subscription What Mountbike mag. for September 2010 and the R853 Sirius wins the steel hardtail grouptest outscoring the Genesis Altitute (significantly), Cove Handjob, On-One 456, Ragley Blue Pig and Cotic BFe. Now magazine reviews aren't definitive of course but it must mean something!

Cracking news.

It is only an opinion but it seemed to do wonders for the On- One 456 Ti frame.

Find it difficult to be believe that its a better frame than the Cotic though – will have to buy the magazine when its out.

You paid £50 to have your headtube and bb faced. you got done!

I would not expect q frame to come faced and always get it done (except for nicolai who machine their frames after painting just to make sure)

Currently going through the "what steel hardtail" quandrary. loving the look of the sirius, just awaiting pipedream getting their stock replenished. also loving the soul, though.
I'm really keen to see the article in WMB? but cannot find a copy in any of my local newsagents, superstores etc.
PJay mentions that the sirius trumps the competition, including the BFe, is the soul not in there? Have I, yet again, misunderstood what niche each bike is in?
Was the soul in there as well?

Does anyone know of the article being online anywhere? Can't find it on the bikeradar site anywhere…