Any fellow Fuji fans out there?
10-05-20, 11:37 PM
#26
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Bikes: (2) ti TiCycles, 2007 w/ triple and 2011 fixed, 1979 Peter Mooney, ~1983 Trek 420 now fixed and ~1973 Raleigh Carlton Competition gravel grinder
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I worked at a Fuji shop 1977. Your bike looks like what we sold except brake levers and shifters. As I recall (I was a racer and my attention was elsewhere) the stock bikes didn't have extension levers and had bar end shifters. Now, any Fuji shop would have had on hand both so making the swap, at purchase o r later would have been easy.
That seat is original and was a very good seat. Like any good leather seat, care matters and they shape to the rider who may or may not have your shape.
If that were my bike, I'd change out the brake levers (probably to Tektro hidden cable - I hated the exposed cables back then!), the shifters to bar end or downtube (yeah, used to race and shifting downtube is instinct right behind breathing), take off that hideous rack (I had a few, installed many for customers but the newer ones are far more rigid), get a modern Kryptonite with far harder to pick lock, guarantee and key replacement policy and its seatpost mount (freeing the downtube for a water bottle cage).
I say all this because that bike is worth setting up to your liking. Get it right and you have a good ride for a ridiculous number of miles. That's the bike I would have pointed at in 1977 if someone asked me what bike to get that would go 50,000 miles. A lot of the parts will wear out first. But, barring crashes or too much rust, the frame will be looking forward to the next 50,000. As for parts. there were no weird sizes on those bikes. Everything (or a good substitute) can be found.
That seat is original and was a very good seat. Like any good leather seat, care matters and they shape to the rider who may or may not have your shape.
If that were my bike, I'd change out the brake levers (probably to Tektro hidden cable - I hated the exposed cables back then!), the shifters to bar end or downtube (yeah, used to race and shifting downtube is instinct right behind breathing), take off that hideous rack (I had a few, installed many for customers but the newer ones are far more rigid), get a modern Kryptonite with far harder to pick lock, guarantee and key replacement policy and its seatpost mount (freeing the downtube for a water bottle cage).
I say all this because that bike is worth setting up to your liking. Get it right and you have a good ride for a ridiculous number of miles. That's the bike I would have pointed at in 1977 if someone asked me what bike to get that would go 50,000 miles. A lot of the parts will wear out first. But, barring crashes or too much rust, the frame will be looking forward to the next 50,000. As for parts. there were no weird sizes on those bikes. Everything (or a good substitute) can be found.
