flatlander_48

My wife has a Fuji Supreme that she bought new in 1975. She has been riding and tinkering with this thing ever since. Although she may quit riding it and move to something else, I doubt if she would ever get rid of it. Anyway, unbeknownst to her, I'd like to see if I could restore it or get it restored. I'm currently in Taiwan (as is wife and bicycle), so I'd like to do some information gathering for now. The bike is not rusted, but it is dirty and somewhat scraped up. So:

• Is there any hope of finding suitable decals?
• Is it very expensive to get the correct deraillers and brakes? (R/D for sure, others ?)
• Are the correct headset, wheel and bottom bracket bearing still available?
• Can the original metallic blue paint be matched fairly closely without resorting to custom blending?

I would appreciate any advice that my fellow riders could pass along! Thanks.

cuda2k

Its great hearing that you're thinking of doing this for your wife. If the frame is in good shape then yes, the possibility of finding the items and work needed to restore it is quite possible. Decals can be reproduced if adaquate examples are provided to any number of graphics shops that can do the art work and have them made. mswantak of this board does just such work and can say from personal experience that I was very impressed with the work. As far as derailleurs go, depending on the model of them determines the cost of trying to find replacements. Some vintage parts demand large sums, while others go for less than a meal at McDonalds. As far as other parts go, there are always supplies of suitable replacements if not exact matches to the originals. I've had my LBS replace threaded headsets with Tange branded ones, there are still a fair number of bottom brackets out there that will fit your crank. Ebay is the best source for many of these items, though it wouldn't be a bad idea to upgrade your membership here at BF to make use of the WTB forum to see if any other members might have what you need stashed way. Hope this helps!

flatlander_48

Yes it does! My guess is that most of the parts, while old, were popular at the time. While Fuji has always been a solid manufacturer, I don't think they did much bleeding edge stuff. I'll have to wait for a time when the wife is out for a while without her bike in order to make listing of the parts and model designations.

The suggestion for reproducing the decals is a great one as that one had me stumped. It sounds a touch expensive, but I will investigate as it sounds like the only alternative for trying to do it right. I would think some sharp color photos and accurate dimensions should be sufficient to do the work.

mswantak

Drop me an e-mail, flatlander; it's not as expensive as you think.

mswantak@comcast.net

https://www.velographicdecals.com

cuda2k

mswantak speaks the truth, it isn't as expensive as you'd first thing. I know I was happily surprised! (and no, I'm not mswantak's alt login.) The only thing I didn't touch on was paint - I'd suggest having the bike painted professionally if it will be recieving a lot of use. I just finished repainting a frame of my own with rattle-can paint and while the finish looks great it's not very durable. On top of that I worked so hard on and know it's not super durable I'm hesitant to put any major use in on it in less than favorable conditions.

DiegoFrogs

You can probably get a really good paintjob or a powdercoat in taiwan for a song... and you'll save on shipping!

flatlander_48

Possible, but here the issue is communication. WHile there are many people here who speak some english, finding a particular paint shop that would understand me would be a bit of a problem. That and the fact that my chinese is virtually nonexistant.

Also, pricing here isn't the deal that people think it is. Some things are, but electronics and bike prices are essentially the same. In February of last year I bought a new Giant TCR-2. This bike is also sold in the US, but with a bit different component selection. The difference is that the US got a full Ultegra 9 drivetrain but the Taiwanese model got a 105 set up with Tektro brakes. Everything else was the same (wheels, tires, fork, seat, post, etc.). Converting the dollars, the Taiwanese TCR-2 was about $1,200 vs. about $1,400 for the US one. The difference in component set basically covered the $200. Several months ago I bought a Ritchey BreakAway and sold the Giant to make traveling much easier. I had the Ritchey equipped with all Campagnolo parts. I bought an ErgoBrain here mainly to patronize a bike shop that I like. It didn't make much difference as his price was only about $10US less.