Road Cycling - Identify this bike

I have a Fuji 12 speed road bike that I was hoping I could get some info on. I can tell you that it says "Valite" on the frame. It also says "Club Fuji" on the seat tube. Does anyone out there know when this bike was made, if it has any collector value, or what is the frame made of? I got it from a friend of mine several years ago and it has worked very well for me. I really don't care for the downtube shifters but I was told that a conversion to (Sora?) would cost about a hundred bucks. Is this something that I could do myself for less $$$?
Thanks in advance for the help,
-BT

It's steel.It has no collectoe value. The upgraade? to sora will cost more than $100 and that is even if you had 7 speed indes shifting,already,which you don't. If you dont have index shifting, you will need shifters,front and rear derailer,index capable rear cogset and probably a new chain.Don't waste the money on an old low end Fugi.Sora is 7 or 8 speed, and the 8 speed rear will require the rear dropouts be spread to 130mm to accomodate the wider hub.

It's worth $50 on a good day, in perfect condition. It's worth $10 at most garage sales, anyday.

Man, you guys are brutal!! Ouch!! ;) I didn't think it was worth too much, but I got it for free so I'm not complaining. Thanks.

Aww don't be discouraged. If you ride it and enjoy it, you got a great value.

I rode one of these...with original components, with minor upgrades, for two-three summers, 4-5,000 miles.....loved the bike. Heavy, but very comfortable.

When I asked the same question on a forum a couple years ago, I got the same answers you did.

Enjoy it.....I still ride mine to bang around the neighborhood.

Peter

I have a 12 sp mid 80's Fuji Royale which I've put a lot of milage on with little maintaince(it just keeps running).It was a mid level sport tourer with I believe steel crome/moly frame though I don't know the difference between mine and yours.I did a goggle search on my model and brought up some good positive commentary on the bike and japan manufactured Fujis in general from various newsgroups(apparently some older Fujis were not manufactured in Japan however).As others have said it is not worth much from a monetary standpoint(probably the value of the fame)so just ride as is and enjoy.

I appreciate all of your replies...thanks very much.

I wanted to make sure I wasn't putting unnecessary miles on a "classic". Not sure if it's a Japan model but it rides pretty good. Sometimes it wants to go faster than I do ;)