raymac_6262

I had an offer for a pretty spiffy looking Fuji 10-S-10, a supposed touring model. I've searched up this model on the internet and had no results. Judging from these pictures does it look like it could handle a good haul. I am planning a rather extensive tour through ontario this upcoming summer.
Here is a link:
https://toronto.craigslist.org/bik/299913841.html

broomsquire

I have a fuji S-12-S LTD that i got around 1982 and have tour at least 6000 miles on it. I did put a triple on the front but not until after I rode is cross country back when my knees were much younger.
This bike was made back in the hay day of Japannes steet touring bikes. Looks like it is in good shape I should by it for parts for my bike

Shiznaz

I had one of those. It was great but the components on mine were shot. I'd take a nice close look at all the parts before you buy it. Really really slack ride and quite comfortable. Should be fine for long touring.

NoReg

I finally broke the code, and got a lot of hits for "Fuji S-10"

Here is a review. https://www.fujibikes.com/2002/usa/html/main/maynard.htm

https://www.sheldonbrown.com/japan.html

This is a really old bike, about 30 years. Sheldon says, that the 12 speed is actually the s12-s, from '77 on. A lot of the alloy parts should be considered exhausted and replacement parts while available are going to be hard to find on the road. Unless you are specifically interested in vintage, then the frame would be about the only relevant part, and it will of necesity have a lot of old features like the rear wheel spacing. For the money I would probably tend more towards a new frame and a donor MTB. Seems pretty expensive, but then I don't know what it may be worth to Fuji afficionados. I still haven't run accross the geometry or a statement that confirms it's a touring bike. I don't know about the Fuji, but my French bikes from that period had center pull brakes if they were touring and sidepulls if they were racing. The bike does seem to have sizeable rear derailleur capacity.

tacomee

It's a great bike, but it was made in the early 80's. A few things you should think about.

The gearing is way high for touring. You'd do better with a triple crank.

The brakes aren't very powerful. They would be fine for riding unloaded, but touring demands good brakes. You can upgrade to new dual privot caliper brakes. (Tektro makes very good ones) Aero bike levers will help as well.

The wheels might not be up to touring. Spokes corrode over time, even if the bike is in storage, on old bikes. Your bike has a freewheel, not a freehub, so the rear wheel isn't as strong as on a new bike-- but then again, people toured on freewheels for years.

Find out what size the headset is. The Japanese used two slightly different sizes of headsets in the 80s. One is current standard 1 inch, the other a funky, hard to find one, that's slightly different. (smashing the standard 1 inch headset into a frame made for the funky Japanese one will destroy the frame!)

It's so possible that your frame is going to flex loaded. Many older lugged frames aren't as stiff as new frames. That's some of why they ride so dang nice. Putting a 35 lb load on a frame is lot of stress-- until you do, it's hard to tell what the bike is going to ride like.

Now to the $395 price tag. Yikes! that's a lot of money for an old bike. You could buy a Surly frame for that. Factor in the touring upgrades you might have to make on the Fuji, and the bike might run $700-800. Tell the seller the bike is too old and need upgrades-- new Tektro 521A calpier brakes (long reach) New brake levers, New triple crankset. Politely ask for a discount of $200.

If I owed this bike, I wouldn't sell it, I'd ride it around town as is. If I wanted a touring bike, well, I'd sell it for the $400 (their are a endless amount of people who will pay top $$$ for old stell bikes) and save an other $400 and buy a new Jamis or Novara.

Gosh, I hope I haven't been to negitive to you, raymac. Don't take it personally. I just try to point all the problems I see in buying the bike. PM if you have any more questions.

raymac_6262

Thats the feedback I'm looking for because I'm not up to par with this stuff. He's offered me the bike for $300.

reverborama

I love Fujis. I have three of them and think that Fuji made some great bikes. $300 is.... a bit spendy, as they say around here. I've bought two Fujis in the last year, both 12-speed Supremes for less than $100US each. In both cases all I needed to do was put on new tires/tubes/brake pads. It would have to be an unusually special bike for me to shell out $300 Canadian. For not much more you can buy a brand-new bike with Sora components that will probably work for a couple of years with no trouble. A bike that old might need a new chain or freewheel or BB and you might discover this on your trip. Personally, I wouldn't spend more that $120 for that and at that price it would have to be ready to ride.