Originally Posted by
The Golden Boy
It's really cool seeing what other people have done, how other people have overcome the stuff that stops you, and gives you great ideas for your own bike.
Your Fuji is really cool- I wonder if it was a "touring" bike (as 44cm says "1970s tourer" to me), but just ordered with fewer braze ons. I don't know how the system worked- but I've read that you could order Treks to have or not have cable guides, rack/fender bosses and stuff like that. In 1975, the person who ordered your Fuji may have had enough for the frame, but not the extras.
I'm also very intrigued about your use of the front racks- the tall front AND lowrider. A few of my bikes have tall front racks- I don't know how the weight of fuller panniers will affect the steering from the top rail of the rack, but I've considered adding lowriders- yours is the first I recall seeing set up that way since I started thinking about it.
Looks like a fantastic bike!
Cheers GB! I was really stoked to find this one, mostly because I got it from CL for $50, it's old as, lugged and my size. Historically, I've ridden whatever I can get my legs around and didn't even think about chainstay length, head angle, trail, etc. when going to get it. Since then, after reading as much as I can about other 'ideal' touring bikes, I've taken some other measurements and am extremely pleased: 106cm wheelbase, ~50mm trail and
71 degree tube angles (the last from classicfuji.com catalog). I don't think this one was special ordered, however. According to the catalog there was a 'Tourer' model with the same chainring sizes, tube angles, derailleurs and frame material (high-ten). I imagine that the wheelbase and trail would've at least been comparable if not identical. And from pics I've seen the 'tourer' doesn't look like it had the top eyelet on fork dropout or bottle/rear rack braze-ons either--of course this could a result of a customer ordering or not ordering the extras--trek might've just been that much more accommodating/innovative. Also, the other models that are Chromoly DB (Finest, Newest, America) don't even have bottle braze-ons, which makes me think that they weren't common until later.
As regards the lowriders, this is my first bike with them, but I really like to have as much carrying capacity and the opportunity presented itself to have both. This combo was only $60 and compared to the Surly, which price-wise was not an option, the Blackburns sit considerably lower and the center of the panniers is well behind the wheel axle. From what I've read about pannier positioning this seems ideal. Last year I flew down to Florida sans-bike, stopped at a bicycle-centric pawn shop found on CL and ended up with a Takara Deluxe Touring and had an old Pletscher rear rack booty-rigged to the front (the arc matched the tire line perfectly
. I must've had a good 10lbs on it and it made the steering quite sluggish, but I road almost exclusively road so that didn't matter much. Since fitting out the Fuji I've ridden it primarily with the panniers and it seems to make the steering more responsive(combination of head tube angle, rake, trail, etc.??) compared to no load; she's a very comfy ride generally. Only a 5lb sleeping bag will be up top when I leave for XC in a few weeks so don't think it'll make any noticeable difference with a heavy-ish load down low(I plan to put my food and cooking bits there and whatever else will fit--they're on the smaller size, but would like get as close to 70/30 distribution as possible.
Happy Riding!