So, according to what I can decipher from the serial number chart, my bike's ser# K9I00300 is a September '74 build date, which would make it a '75 model, right???

I bought it late '76 as a scratched floor model for around $200 out the door - with a few changes. I can't recall what they were, but I know that a few parts were swapped out before I took delivery. Shortly thereafter, I replaced the downtube shifters with the SunTour bar-ends, added the cheap rack, a bunch of rear reflectors (one on each seat stay and another on the rack), tire flickers, Cannondale 'Toot' seat bag, Zefal HP frame pump, and a handlebar mounted waterbottle cage.

I went through probably four sets of tires that first year, I was riding so much - upwards of 500 miles/week by June of '77. One of my college dorm roommates was really into riding (and I became even moreso than he). He rode a gray+black Viscount Pro with the aluminum front fork. My other roommate ended up also getting a Viscount, but I think his was the GT... I joined the Ohio State Cycling club, and at my suggestion we bought some wheel-building jigs. I had built up a set of wheels using Phil Wood sealed bearing hubs and some kind of skinnier clincher rims (19mm, IIRC)... Like I said, vintage stuff!!! I spent my 'spare' time down in the dorm's common room watching Mash or Charlies Angels with one of my wheels and a tube of Semichrome polish until the wheels looked like chrome steel!

Anyway, My old Fuji and I have probably ridden 30-40 thousand miles together. I've ridden TOSRV a dozen times, Hilly Hundred twice (including when they were filming 'Breaking Away'), Mid-Ohio Century, plus many other Centuries and charity rides... I've ridden it from Cleveland OH to Madison WI and back. It has gone through four sets of wheels, two cranksets, bunches of chains and derailleurs, a freewheel (yes, I still have a six-cog SunTour freewheel on it now!) and about fifteen years ago, I replaced the seatpost with one with an elastomeric puck suspension since my old bottom ain't what it used to be!

Yes, the bike has gotten a bit chipped and scratched up over the past 36 years, but I can't bear to get rid of it or get something newer. In fact when I rode it on a 150-mile, two-day charity ride a few years ago, a guy at one of the repair stations/rest stops came running over to see it and some of the vintage components still on it. "Wow, now that's a piece of history!" he exclaimed.