FrenchFit 

I owned that bike, the frame rides harshly and the stock wheels (Alex DC 19?) suck. Fine for local rides, but you could do much better in a distance bike. If you don't find a replacement bike, think about upgrading the wheelset. That's where you'll get the most bang for your limited bucks.

BikeArkansas

I have a few steel bikes, which are a All-City road bike, a steel Jamis single speed and a steel Surly Long Haul Trucker. I definitely prefer my carbon fiber, very light weight, Fuji Transonic road/race bike. Even though it is considered "rough" as far as carbon fiber bikes are concerned, I still like the way CF takes the buzz out of the road surface. However, the real difference comes when it is time to climb or when it is time to accelerate after a stop at an intersection or whatever reason. A light weight responsive bike does make a difference. The budget could be a problem, but there are some buys out there for all types of used bikes.

Garfield Cat

Get the CAAD9 and then ride slow for those two days so as not to get fatigued. Its about the organized ride and the support and rest stops. Forget about the rest of the stuff.

dbg

Performance and comfort can be very different things. I do mostly light touring and frequently back to back 90+ mile days. My absolute least comfortable day ever was when I tried out a superlight (sub 17lb) CF climber. All afternoon spent banging over expansion joints and rough-ish roads on 120+psi 23's... never again. Ever. I not only went back to my steel tourers (25lb +), I started seeking out much larger, supple, lightweight tires (Compass for example). I now consider 25's and 28's too uncomfortable for long rides over unpredictable roads.

[I will add that the superlight CF was a perfect fit for me and, on perfect roads, is an absolute dream to ride. So much so that I went back to it and retrofitted superlight 650B wheels (chris king hubs, etc) so I could ride soft 32's. But I still flip back and forth between it and my steel tourers (sometimes need the rack space for more stuff --than I can really carry on the CF)]

TGT1

Only imidiate change may be if you have typical CX 46/36 front rings would be to swap out the 36 for a 34. That makes a big difference when it gets steep, but if the bike fits and is comfortable now, previous opinions on not swapping horses stands.

I regularly do 80-100 mi on a CX bike with 42mm tires, but swap those out for a Continental Force/Attack set that shaves a bit more than a pound off for the one organized century I do every year. I'm not convinced that shaving even 5lb off the bike makes that much difference.

Now, if I could get the 210lb engine down to say 190 that might.

trainsktg

OP, I did five self supported centuries early last summer on a 45# steel Surly Big Dummy cargo bike, the last two of which were back to back hauling about an extra 30# of food, water and gear. I have yet to do a century on either of my road machines, one of which is a very light CF. Comfort more than weight will see you through those miles.

Keith

rekmeyata

Who cares what others are bringing to the party. I agree with most of the other people too that you would be off riding what you have. I think I would probably go one size up on tires like to a 700x28 and call it a day. In fact I wouldn't even use Conti's unless you just gotta have Conti's, otherwise save some money and get Vittoria Rubino Pro III tires, they're a very good all weather tire, here's the best price I could fine on those: https://www.amazon.com/Vittoria-Rubin.../dp/B007IDU6QA

I'm a tightwad so I'm always going to give advice slanted toward saving money as long as doing so doesn't cause problems, in the case of the tires those are fantastic tires I mentioned that I think perform better than Conti Gators.

John E

Another vote for keep what you have, but with higher performance tires. I like 700Cx28 tires, with the caveat that some brands, such as Conti, run narrower than callout, whereas other, such as Specialized, run at least callout width. I like cyclocross bikes, and I like traditional steel-framed sports touring bikes. I would probably choose my 1959 Capo (straight gauge Reynolds 531, 11kg total weight) for a century, partly for the comfort of the long wheelbase frame, and partly for the comfort of the well broken-in Brooks Pro saddle.

ColaJacket

For $1000, you can get Fuji Sportif w/ 105 from Peformance Bike.

At the least, you can test ride one, and see if it is more or less comfortable than your cross bike.

GH

BlazingPedals

Keep your Fuji for the ride. I don't see anything wrong with it, and besides now is a little late to work bugs out of a new bike and get the fit settled. Use the money you saved by getting a pair of Conti Grand Prix 4000s for it.

StanSeven

I always like pushing and do the best I can in events. So I would use a light weight road bike. Extra lbs on a CX bike will make you slow and tired fir rides that long. If the road bike fits, you'll be very comfortable. The question is whether you have enough time to make adjustments and train on a new bike

Rudebob

Thanks for all the responses. At this point I will probably stick with my Fuji for the ride since I know it will work and I am training on it. However, rather than upgrade it, I would rather spend the money on a second bike which I ultimately intend to buy and am currently shopping for.


One important aspect that I failed to mention in the original post is that this ride has a faster pace requirement than a lot other group charity rides. Due the length of the first day’s leg (123 miles), and shorter days in the winter, even the ‘D’ group needs to average 15 mph to avoid getting swept before daylight runs out at the end of the day. I have signed up for the ‘C’ group which is to average 16 - 17 mph. My thinking for the lighter frame was to give me a little more confidence in maintaining that speed average. However, as the distance of my training rides has increased so is my confidence so that is less of a concern now.


I guess I am a little surprised at the number of responses from people suggesting that a $1,000.00 is a limited budget for a good used bike. Maybe I am naive but I would think that would be more than enough to purchase a decent road bike. Maybe the market in Arizona is unique but I don’t expect it to be that different. I guess we will see what I end up with.

'bob

rekmeyata

I think you came to a very wise decision. When you get your new bike someday post it for all of us to drool over! LOL!!!

dendawg

You didn't mention gearing. I saw a real nice cross build a couple of years ago that was running 29" wheels and an Ultra D2 shifters. You might do fine just swapping the drivetrain to something more road suited if you've got mtb gearing on it now.

fietsbob

Check out the Trek Domane.. there is an elastomer coupling at the point where the seat tube meets the toptube..

carbon and aluminum versions

The Boone has that feature in their Cyclocross race Bike line.

qcpmsame 

Don't totally rule out a few changes if you keep riding your Fuji, for now. Some new tires, maybe a bit wider, but nothing drastic, and fresh cables/housing will make things in the shifting department feel better, new brake blocks (perhaps some Koolstop dual compound) and then a chain and cassette to make the drive train feel smooth. This could be done on a budget and still get a lot of bang for your bucks.

And, the $1000.00 budget for a good used bike, that could go either way. Some truly nice bikes show up for around $1500.00, all the bells and whistles, great framesets like titanium or CF. Then you could find a real gem for around $500.00+/--, perhaps you could go with a classic and vintage bike, mmmmmmm. Best of luck on your planned event, and on whichever bicycle you choose to ride. Keep us posted on what you do decide to do.

Bill

Cougrrcj

Just remember that the bike isn't as important as the engine!

My century pace of 40 years ago was almost 20mph riding speed -- and rest stops took the average speed down to 16mph. I did that on a 26-pound road bike -- the '75 Fuji S-10S.

Ten years ago, I did a Metric at nearly that same pace with very little 'pre-training' than my work commute 2-days/week. Oh yes, on that same 26-pound S-10S!

Keep training to build your endurance.

TiHabanero

$1000 can get a really good used bike, just be willing to wait it out until the right one comes along. If you were a vintage rider, a thousand bucks will get you a very top of the line ride. I ride vintage due to the simplicity of maintenance and low cost of entry. I will admit, though, all the bikes I own were purchased new 30+ years ago by me before married and kids! Still riding them today, and none the worse for it. One cavea though, I do have a Habanero frame with vintage Campy on it. Always wanted a Ti frame, but needed one I could afford. She rides like an OS top grade steel frame, fits perfectly, and 100 mile days are done with regularity. I also ride 28mm Contis to take the edge off the freeze humps in the road.

rekmeyata

I've sort of done the same thing but none of my bikes were the best of the best, I still have the bikes I raced and trained on, a 84 Trek 660 with all Superbe stuff, and a 87 Miyata Team all Dura Ace stuff, but then I also bought a few that were used because the prices were stupid low, all of my bikes except, like you I bought a titanium bike 3 years ago from Lynskey. I also prefer the vintage components over the new stuff due to their simplicity of maintenance and durability, it use to be also due to low cost to get parts for but now some parts can be difficult to get. I've ridden my modern briftor bike a lot and could easily live without that sort of system, in fact I commute on my 88 Miyata 712 and think nothing of it that I have to shift from the downtube.

I like the smoother ride of the titanium bike but at 62 I still ride on a mix of 23 on the front and 25 on the rear, I haven't tried a 28 but I haven't really needed that much of a smoother ride even after having to have lower back fusion. The problem with me is I hate riding after the temps drop below 40 so I don't worry about freeze humps!

MRT2

It isn't that $1,000 isn't a reasonable budget for a used road bike. On the other hand, it is sort of a tweener budget. Much more than many selling used bikes on Craigslist hope to get for older bikes that have been sitting in the garage a couple of decades, or entry level bikes that were bought with the best of intentions 4 or 5 years ago. But when it comes to newish high end bikes, there may not be as many bikes to pick from. But I did take a look at Phoenix Craigslist and it isn't exactly an embarrassment of riches at your $1,000 budget. The takeaway isn't that you need to up your budget, but rather you need to be patient. Check Craigslist regularly, go to bike swaps, regularly check in with bike shops that take used bikes in trade, etc, etc...Or bite the bullet and just buy something new.

rekmeyata

Just watch Craigslist in your area and see how much bikes like what you want are going for, that will tell you how much of a budget you should be trying to save. Personally, lately anyways, I've been finding used bikes to be sort of on the high side. Buying a used carbon fiber bike is full of risk, if that bike has ever been down there is a possibility that the frame and or fork is damaged and that damage may not be apparent to the naked eye on the outside of the bike, a lot of damage occurs on the inside of the tube which is never revealed visually. Sometimes the seller knows the frame is damaged and is intentionally trying to dump it on the unsuspecting buyer. So personally I would stay away from a used CF bike at least on Craigslist or EBay, not saying they've all have damage, but rather saying you can't tell if one has been damaged and thus you will be taking a risk. If a bike shop has a used one for sale then they know the bike is solid.

Also figure out what kind of riding you want to do, if you want to do long rides and desire more comfort when doing so along with lighter weight, then I would consider a titanium bike. I know that sounds expensive but there are a couple of options that one in particular is very reasonably priced at Bikes Direct, they have two road models that are $1,900 and $2,200 equipped with Ultegra, and for even more comfort due to frame geometry and with larger tire capacity plus the option of either fender on the rear or light touring rack on the rear they have their new Century model for $2,300. All their Titanium bikes have been highly praised as the best value in a ti frame, however Bikes Direct customer service has a lot to be desired; and their top of the line TI bike is sort of expensive but it comes with Dura Ace, but personally if I was going to spend $3,000 I would at that point go with Lynskey and get their R150 (same as my Peloton) Shimano 105 instead but the frame would be a better and you can always upgrade components later. There's a lot of options to you can have done to a Lynskey before you receive you can't do at Bikes Direct, buy if you ever decide to go that route you can PM me and I can explain how to do that. I've also ridden a Bikes Direct Motobecane TI bike quite a few times and can explain the differences between the one I rode and my Lynskey. I will tell you this, I would have bought the Motobecane had it been in stock instead of having to wait almost 2 years for to come back into stock, and I would not had been ashamed of it by any means!

Just more to think about.

Rudebob

Well I bucked the conventional wisdom here and ended up buying another road bike this weekend for my big ride next month. Too good of deal I could not pass on-an 09 Cannondale Six (carbon). This bike is absolutely flawless and meticulously maintained by a guy that eats and sleeps cycling. He had a lot of bikes and it was obvious this was not one of his regulars in the stable but something he hung onto for his wife to ride (she had several bikes as well). He said he was a sponsored racer so he gets Cannondales cheap.

It is only S-105 equipped, which was the lowest group I was considering. I decided if I was going buy another bike I might as well get carbon, ruling out the CAAD I was originally considering. Honestly, I was looking for a Madone or Tarmac but when I saw this for $500.00 I could not pass.

I took my old fuji on a 70 mile ride yesterday as I didn’t want to get to far from home on a new machine-but I did take it on a 30 mile recovery ride today. Wow! What an amazing difference! Quick, nimble, tight and fast. For 30 miles you could not wipe the grin of my face, averaging ~1.5 mph faster than my normal speed for similar rides. I got to think this bike will be better than what I am riding now. I plan to use it on my intervals during the week and then on an 80 miler next weekend. I am thinking we have a winner!

Carbonfiberboy 

Yup. You see why these bikes are so popular. I bought my first carbon road bike in '99 and was absolutely blown away by the difference. 105 is plenty good. You got a great buy. My '99 bike has over 50,000 miles on it and frame and fork are still just fine but need a repaint. It's been through a number of wheelsets, bottom brackets, cassettes, chainrings, etc. It's still a great bike.

big john

Now that's a good deal! It's not just for your upcoming ride but for many other rides, too.

To me, part of the fun of the bicycling hobby is buying bikes, but I prefer new to used. I don't make a lot of money but I don't spend it on anything else, so why shouldn't I splurge on a nice bike every few years?

It's been almost 4 years since I bought my Seven (used) so it might be time to go shopping!

TiHabanero

I see you and I have similar tastes in bikes. Raced an 86 Team Miyata for 10 years, bought it as a frameset and put a Campy NR group set on it. That very same NR group is now on the Habanero that I ride almost daily. My commuter is an 85 Miyata 1000 with bar ends. Of course as there is no need for touring gearing I have a Superbe crank and Cyclone derailleurs on it. Runnng Conti 45mm tires with SKS fenders. Darned fine bike.
What is neat about these vintage machines is that the shifters don't wear out or break, the derailleurs are not very sensitive to wear, and they were top notch bikes back in the day and are a strong value today on the used market.
A Super Six with 105 for 500 bucks is a strong value, and a good one to not have passed up. Nicely done. Now time to look for some vintage drive train components to put on it and ride it for the rest of your days!