smunderdog

I would agree that you are probably right - it is likely a Men's S-5 that isn't shown in the catalog. The braze ons that I can see for the rear derailleur cable on the women's bike look identical to what I have on mine. So for future reference for those out there looking it appears I have the men's version of this: https://www.classicfuji.com/1974_08_S-5L_PageB.htm

Now it's time to go find a few accessories (bell, panniers, seat etc)!

rekmeyata

I wonder what makes it a special edition? it would seem color combo and lack of a head badge shouldn't make it a special edition considering a badge is more expensive to make than a decal, and paint is just paint, just to paint a bike the color of the Professional doesn't make it lighter with better components, kind of like painting a Corvette with Ferrari colors and calling it a Special edition doesn't make it a Ferrari. My 84 has a head badge and the same components as yours just has red paint with yellow decals and cables.

One thing I did notice, I have only one set of bottle holder mounts, yours has two, is that what set the special edition difference?

The only other think I can think of that would make it a truly special edition is if Fuji used the same Fuji 9658 Cromoly quad butted frame as the Professional, which means the bike was built to potentially be upgraded by the buyer to fit their needs, but even on the Professional it only came with one set of bottle mounts, which takes me back to wondering if the two bottle mounts you have is the reason given to have the Special decal attached.

Regardless you got a very nice bike for the money you spent, I hope you enjoy if for many years. Too bad about the shipping issue, common sense would have told me if I didn't know how to pack a bike for shipping I would have had an LBS do it...but that's just me!

Don't forget what I mentioned to you about that rear derailleur cable clamp bolt, don't tighten it too much or you could strip it, which was the only mechanical weak spot on the ARX system.

dailycommute

Hey thanks rekmeyata for that feedback and catch on water bottle detail. Both my 84 team and 85 club have dual water bottle mounts so did not realized 84 club had just one but looking at the catalog that does seem correct. Weird that the club seems to be odd bike out that year regarding dual mounts except for se. The 84 professional, opus and team do all appear to have dual mounts via classicfuji. The decal was also puzzling since as you noted riveted are usually more expensive. I do not know but seems like all frames, even lower end were riveted in this era? Not even sure how riveted badges were done on the assembly line, drilled on at end I guess, not forged during tube process right? Also the se lacks the fuji decals on fork.

All I could think of was that it was almost like Fuji had some extra tubes laying around and slapped the special edition together late in the year. I doubt the frame would have been hand touched like professional or opus but who knows? I did ride it yesterday for 30 miles, comfortable and solid a little more relaxed on the bigger frame since not a cramped cockpit like on the 58s. The gearing is set up for flats, took it up a few steep hills and it put a hurting on me, Will need to check freewheel sizing but a little harder climbing vs my other 2. Still a great find and glad to have gotten it back on the road after 30 years of baking away in TX.

rekmeyata

You should weigh the bike and see what it comes out to be, this "might" be telling as to what tubeset they used, problem with that is mine for some reason weighs only 20.8 pounds according to an LBS scale with modern lighter tires and tubes which only reduced the weight by 8 ounces total (I have the original tubes and tires so I weighed them on my gram scale and compared them with the newer ones), but supposedly the Club weighed 23 pounds (minus 8 ounces so 22.2) and the Professional weighed 20 pounds, my bike is a 58cm frame so maybe the 23 pound spec came from their largest 64cm frame? Most bike manufactures used their middle size frame to produce their weight figures.

Your hill climbing hurts may me due to lack of higher rpm spinning? what is your cadence climbing the steep hill you spoke of?

The Sugino RT crank is capable of changing the small gear ring from a 42 to a 38 or maybe to a 33 if the BCD measures out to 110mm, and if you can find one! or get a Shimano rear cluster that will have a 28t 1st gear (more on this later).

There was a comment made some time ago on the internet about the Sugino RT having drill outs on the small gear ring to accept a third ring gear...mine does not have those drill outs, not sure why some RT's did and others did not. If you change your ring gear you probably have to change the large ring gear so as to limit the teeth spread to just 13t so you don't have a problem with the front derailleur handling it which means the large ring gear would have to be a 46 or 47, this is where the advice of a LBS mechanic familiar with vintage bikes may come in handy. Of course changing the gear rings to smaller rings will require up to 3 chain links removed, again another LBS mechanic thing if you're not sure on how to adjust it.

OR; you if you decide to change your rear cluster the max largest cog the ARX RD can handle is 28t and depending on the bikes set up maybe 26t which is what you now have, but I would suspect after looking at mine it should be able to handle a 28, this is where again a LBS mechanic can advise you.

The other option is to find another set of crank arms and get a 170m long instead of the factory 175 which may make it a tad easier to spin at higher cadences and thus taking the strain off the knees.

And the last option is to get Shimano BioPace ring gears if all the other options I mentioned get too complicated or difficult to find. BioPace ring gears do make a difference, I have those on a Miyata and they do seem to make it easier climbing grades, and I've heard it's easier on the knees, and brand new BioPace gears are available on E-bay.

Again take all that I said as just ideas and let an LBS mechanic hash out the right thing to do with the minimal outlay of cash. Always try to make any changes as cheap and as effective as you can, in other words walk away if the LBS starts wanting to sell you a completely new derailleur system, crank, gear cluster etc because "only that will work" nonsense. So find a mechanic with vintage knowledge and appreciation.

vwfuji

Hey guys I'm new around here. I'm new to road cycling (always rode BMX bikes in my younger days) and wanted to get something decent yet fairly inexpensive to try to motivate myself back into shape. I found this Fuji Tiara on Craigslist and couldn't pass it up. All in all it's in good shape besides the grips and lever hoods. Is it possible to still get replacement hoods for the levers? I believe to all be original except for the wheels and seat. I just picked it up last night, so I'll try to get some better pictures later.

Antieverything

Fuji Gran Tourer SE rescued, literally, from the trash pile at the dump. Cleaned, lubed, new cables/tires/tubes/brake pads/chain/bar tape. Its now good for another 30+ years!

Before

After

jared1212

vwfuji, nice Tiara and username. Here's mine that I just reincarnated about a week back.

edwincody

My new ride.

rekmeyata

Interesting paint scheme.

rekmeyata

It appears to be almost new too, nice.

steviebee163

A few pics of the 1984 Fuji Opus III. This bike was just below the Fuji Professional and has the same tubing and geometry. This is my second Opus III. Suntour Pro drop-outs, Fuji quad-butted tubing, fork tangs, etc.

edwincody

Yeah its in great shape. The previous owner took real good care of it. It's my first bike and I absolutely love it.

itstom

My '85 Team Fuji turns 30 this month (Date Code KJ4), so in its honor, I took it out for a 30 mile ride to see some sights. The bar tape is Cinelli Unica, probably from around 10 years ago. It had pink dots, so how could I not? Looks like the Exploratorium got some inspiration from it.
I know the dork disk is freakishly large, but these aren't the right wheels... Still looking for a suitable rear hub for the Araya 1W rim I got on ebay- original rear wheel was gone when I got the bike.
I don't find the riding position especially comfortable, but it's light, nimble and really fun to ride around the city.

Bikedued

I had forgotten about this thread! I have to add my latest Fuji find! Either a late 74 or early build 75 "The Newest". The S/N says May of 1974, but has a series number of 10043. Somehow I don't believe they built 10,000+ of this model that year, so I am assuming it was the 43rd built for the 1975 year? Just thinking out loud really. Anyway, I have a few original parts on the way, with more to come. Some I already have, thank goodness. It's going to live again, it will just take a little time, money, and elbow grease.,,,,BD


I know, it looks pretty sad, but I am determined to bring it back...

leicanthrope

I strongly suspect that, for whatever reason, there was a separate serial number system for some of the higher-end frames. If the standard logic applied to the S/N on my 75 Professional, they made over 50,000 of them in June 1975. Perhaps with those, the "1" in yours and the "5" in mine is a factory or individual builder code.

Is that the weird seatpost with Cyrillic writing on it?

Bikedued

You mean the post that says something like Criepp Rider? What does the c word even mean?,,,,BD

Bikedued

Just searched it, it appears to be a last name?,,,,BD

bloud 

Actually, it means Super. I wrote a short blog post on it some time ago. Here's a link. https://vintagecrank.com/супер-hupel-...r-seat-pillar/

greg3rd48 

This is my '84 Fuji Del Rey in the Star Silver color.

classicjapanese

[QUOTE=Bikedued;17492465]I had forgotten about this thread! I have to add my latest Fuji find! Either a late 74 or early build 75 "The Newest". The S/N says May of 1974, but has a series number of 10043. Somehow I don't believe they built 10,000+ of this model that year, so I am assuming it was the 43rd built for the 1975 year? Just thinking out loud really. Anyway, I have a few original parts on the way, with more to come. Some I already have, thank goodness. It's going to live again, it will just take a little time, money, and elbow grease.,,,,BD


Nice Newest. You have a sizable, but fully worthy, and unquestionably rewarding project ahead of you. Sometimes “we” refer to yours as the Newest 1B because it has the higher spec components, including the Gran Compe Center-pulls, the drilled out Mighty Compe Custom Sugino cranks and the all important PDL-M Suntour shifters and the V-Lux Rear Derailleur — the reverse Alloy Compe is icing on the cake. The hardest part to get, if you want to go original is the Fujita Suede saddle. Painfully hard to locate. In all Chrome this bicycles look sensational with leather wrap and the Fujta Professional saddle. The under-chrome is a masterstroke for these machines — it is all polished. As part of your frame is already stripped, I’d definitely finish off stripping the paint except for that lovely orange band — pretty stunning. But all the real deep joy resides in the ride, the early Newests are balanced to perfection, and the steel is sublime. Once you have one of these sorted and you go for your first ride, you will keep it forever. One thing, you might consider tubular tires (The Continental Sprinter Gatorskins have a similar feel to the original Soyo 90s) — its triple sublime.

Oh, yes, Serial numbers. Once you get past the “K,” the Showa Year, the Letter Month Code, and usually “1” — you have four more digits. I have compared numbers on about 25/30 Fuji Newest 1A and 1B models and it is not highly consistent. There are many 10032, or 10024, type of numbers, signifying 24 or 30 builds for that month, but these numbers sometimes taper off — and sometimes you just get a large digit, such as 18185. For the most part the pure system seemed to be a sequence beginning 100xx. Hard to say, and still researching, but there seems to be approximately 20 to 30 max builds, on average per month. A Newest shows up somewhere — CL, eBay, or here, about once per every five weeks to eight weeks. Sometimes as few as 4/5 a year, sometimes double that. They are jewels. Here’s one on Scott’s site buit to fairly high spec... If you search further there you’ll find his all chrome version. All best on the build!

1974 Fuji Newest "Blue Plate Specillisimo" - Vintage Fuji Archive

simmonsgc

Pretty! That looks a lot like Dupont Imron "Pewter" a la Trek. Is that original paint? That looks like a well thought-out build. Don't often see pedal cages matching the bottle holder and bar tape!

greg3rd48 

Thank you for the vote of approval! Yes it is the original paint color and the frame was in great shape when I picket it up for a mere $40 from a landscaper. I wanted to tie the nice gold color of the "FUJI" on the ST into several components of the bike. I do really like how it turned out but it is a bit on the small side for me.

greg3rd48 

That is a great looking Royale! I actually have two red Royale's in mint condition that are just waiting for a little clean up love. I can't wait until I get to them. Really well done.

simmonsgc

Wow, a blast from the past! Be sure to post up those Red Royales when you get them on the workstand... we're a flock of voyeurs here!

Bikedued

[QUOTE=classicjapanese;17493834]So is it true the 75's dropped the "Fuji Racer" DT decal? Sad because I kind of like it. Was it just a catalog picture lacking the decal? I guess it was a little on the confusing side, like it had two model names. It comes with the decal set, so being built in May I guess it could be either. If I could find the crankset for a reasonable price I would be well on my way to making it complete. Thanks for the info, much appreciated!,,,,BD