# 2007 Roubaix Expert Compact Rival after some miles



## jtb_columbus (Mar 7, 2007)

I have had my 2007Roubaix Expert with the SRAM Rival set up since late March. I now have about 1,400 miles on it. This posting is to give my impressions after a few miles on the bike and to see if any others have had any of the same experiences. As you can see by my mileage I am a moderate rider. I am in my mid 40s. I have only been riding since the Summer of 2005. I ride regularly in a Wednesday night group ride (30 - 40 somewhat spirited miles) and do a longer ride on the weekends. I also try to fit in a ride with some type of targeted workout ride during the week (such as hill repeats in a nearby park or a time trial on my Computrainer). I ride on mostly pretty decent pavement in rural settings. I am 6' 2" and my weight is in the low 190s. 

Now for my observations on the bike. First I must say that I really like this bike. My son is affiliated with Specialized so I was fortunate to get the bike for a very good price through an employee purchase benefit. I enjoy riding it. I find the bike to be very comfortable. I would purchase this bike again in a minute. I point the positive points here up front because the points that I raise in the following are of a critical nature. Overall I really like the bike. 

I have been impressed with the functionality of the SRAM components.However, just this last week I noticed that I am missing a tooth off of my large chain ring. It is just beneath one of the crank arms. At first I wondered if this might be part of the design, but upon close inspection it looks as though the tooth has broken off. I am currently following up with Specialized. When I looked on the SRAM website it looks like the part should be covered under a two year warrantee, but I need to pursue it through Specialized. 

Additionally, I was not particularly impressed with the tires that came on the bike. I had a blowout on the rear tire which led me to swap the stock tires out for the Michelin Carbon tires that were on my old bike (a 10+ year old Trek that I purchased used). The old tires had some mileage on them, but I much prefer them to the tires that came on the bike. By the way the blowout was my own fault. I had loaded my bike into my car for one of my Wednesday evening rides. The bike was in the car all day. It was VERY hot and I did not realize that the rear tire was inflated all the way. The heat caused the tire to blow. 

Another point of minor concern for me is the paint job and finish on the bike. I take quite good care of my bike(s) and this one seems to already have a number of dings and kind of dull areas of finish (particularly on the top tube).

Now for the seat. For some reason (perhaps it is my fat ass) I find that the tilt of the saddle needs to be adjusted frequently (at least every other ride). I am not sure if any one else has experienced this. 

Well, there are my observations. I will be interested if any of you have any similar observations.


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## BLACKSHEEP54 (May 7, 2007)

I have an 07 Pro so i cant coment on the SRAM stuff but i ditched the stock tires after the first test ride and went with some Specialized All Condition Pro Armadillo Elites. The stock Roubiax tires were junk IMO. My finish is holding up fine so far.


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## hankbrandenburg (Aug 3, 2007)

I received a 2008 Roubaix Expert Triple about 10 days ago. So far I have about 150 miles on the bike and I am VERY impressed! As far as tires go I have ridden through a lot of stuff on the roads around here and no flats or problems to report. 

The only squawks I can come up with to date:

1 - the seat position seems to slip down slightly after an hour or so of riding. This could be related to the mass of the rider - I weigh about 245. 

2 - A slight creak has developed in the crank. I suspect my LBS will handle this promptly when I get it back to them.

I also plan to upgrade the seat to the wider version (155?) that is available from Specialized.


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## bsaunder (Oct 27, 2004)

I'll chime in on my '07 expert triple, most of which would apply to the compact as well - 

~3000 miles so far on the frame and I would definitely buy one again. Only gripes I have had are:
- stock tires ride nice, but cut way too easy. I replaced them at ~500miles with Conti GP 4000s and have been much happier.
- stock 50 tooth big chain ring was too small, replaced with 53 tooth and am much happier (standard triple now IMHO - 53/39/30)
- after ~1200 miles the stock toupe no longer felt good, replace it with a san marco rever and am much happier
- stock seat post was slipping a lot; fixed after lbs added some "grease" for carbon seat posts.
- bars kept twisting a bit in the stem until the lbs added some of the above grease as well.

fwiw - I generally go over my entire bike at least once a week and when I tighten a bolt, I use a torque wrench and go by the Specialized specs.

everything else is doing great, including the wheels with my ~220lb body weight.


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## dadat40 (Mar 27, 2007)

So I will put my 2 cents in.
rear tire blow out at 500 mile specialized warrenty and now riding s/works tires much better handling and lighter too.
could stand longer stem
seat is good at times but not good at times.
sram stuff works very good and compact gearing is good but at times need more top end

this summer I have set new top speed PR of 62.8, a new century PR of 4:28 and best of all my club kit looks very good with the red.

has anyone noticed that the grafics are reflective in car lights.


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## Tschai (Jun 19, 2003)

*2008 Expert Rival*

Just got my 2008 Expert Rival. Two rides so far. Some thoughts as follows:

1. Saddle rails and/or seat post creak after one ride. Fixed by cleaning, a bit of grease and re-tightening. However, I suspect the creaking will be a bit chronic. No biggie. 

Hank, you may want to confirm you creak is not the rails or post as these creaks often sound as if they come from the cranks. 


2. Sram chain was not very compatable with the rest of the drive train. Noisy and not so smooth while pedaling. It shifted fine, but too much mumbo jumbo. I replaced with a DA chain and it is smooth. This is very strange. Why would a DA chain work better than Sram's own chain on a Sram group set? Maybe it is the Power Link. My LBS is 45 minutes away and I just can't go out there for every little thing. I suspect they may not warranty the Sram chain issue since I took care of it myself. 

3. Rival brakes, perhaps just the 2008 ones, did not have enough tire clearance at the arch. Indeed, the tires rubbed. Long story short, LBS swapped out to Ultegra brakes. Again, this is very strange.

4. The stock Toupe saddle hurts my giant butt like no other. 

Now, for the good stuff. I love this bike. It rocks.


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## Purple Liquid (Jul 9, 2006)

Tschai said:


> Just got my 2008 Expert Rival. Two rides so far. Some thoughts as follows:
> 
> 1. Saddle rails and/or seat post creak after one ride. Fixed by cleaning, a bit of grease and re-tightening. However, I suspect the creaking will be a bit chronic. No biggie.
> 
> ...


How wide are the tires on there? Can't be that wide...


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## Tschai (Jun 19, 2003)

Purple Liquid said:


> How wide are the tires on there? Can't be that wide...


Specialized Pro 700x25, but they are big for their stated size.


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## hankbrandenburg (Aug 3, 2007)

Tschai,

Right you are! The creak turned out to be the seat rails and NOT the crank. I figured this out when I noticed the noise disappear when pedaling standing up.

The only thing left to deal with is the slow downward creep of the seat post ...


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## SRV (Dec 26, 2006)

*Very Nice*



Tschai said:


> Now, for the good stuff. I love this bike. It rocks.


Man, that is the nicest Roubaix I've seen. I love the color of the frame, and the gold color crank sets it off perfectly. Seems to have fewer Specialized stickers on it than my '06 Comp which I also like.


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## SRV (Dec 26, 2006)

*That's too much*

I see on the Specialized website that those nice looking Fulcrum wheels are standard equipment. I've got to have one!


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