Originally Posted by Ray Lovinggood

BluJosh, I don't know anything about the Jamis, but I've been riding a Fuji Touring as my commuter for about four years now. The bike's odometer recently rolled over 13,000 miles.

I really like the bike. It's fun to ride and very comfortable.

I'm not sure what year model mine is, but it has the quill stem, not the threadless. Mine also has a nine speed cassette with Dura Ace (although that isn't shown anywhere) bar end shifters. Boy, I do love those shifters!

Now, when it was new, it had problems.
1. The cantilever brakes were awful.
2. The rear wheel was awful and I ended up fairly quickly with three broken spokes.
3. I was not enamored with the Sora triple crank. It was just ugly, in my opinion. Purely subjective, but I didn't like it based on looks alone.
4. Not surprisingly, the saddle had to go.

Here are my changes:
1. I now have "V" brakes with matching brake levers. Oh, these are so sweet compared to the OEM worthless canti's.
2. Both wheels have been replaced. I now have Mavic A719 rims laced to Deore LX hubs. 36 spokes for both wheels.
3. The crank has been replaced with a Sugino triple crank. Gearing was something like 50-46-30 (I think.) Sugino is 48-36-24. That should be much better suited for touring.
4. Saddle is a Brooks B-17 Imperial (Imperial has the slot cut out in the middle)
5. SKS silver plastic fenders have been added.
6. OEM tires were finally tossed. Rear tire was a magnet for sharp, pointy objects. Now running Schwalbe Marathons. Just the plain version of Marathons. As commuter tires, they have been GREAT!

And I think that's it. I haven't toured on it yet, but I want to. On my commute, I use panniers for toting office clothes, lunch, newspaper, etc... I didn't think I would like the spring-loaded bail on the OEM rack, but that has come in extremely useful. Yea, it adds weight, but that's not a factor in my commute.

This is my daily bike. It's my "SUB" as in Sports-Utility Bike. As for "long" rides, I've done 63-ish mile rides (not very long....) on it, empty, and had no problems. The Brooks saddle is the cat's meow.

The only thing I would wish for would be disk brakes. On my commute, the bike gets a long ride twice a day on front of a bus, running 65 mph for 30 miles each way on an interstate. And it get its share of road grime. Add the constant braking I do on my commute in the city and it takes a toll on the rim's braking surface. Rims are expensive. Disk rotors are relatively cheap.

I can highly recommend the Touring as a Commuter. Dang, I really like mine!

Ray