Well the time has come to say goodbye to my Fuji Monterey. I poured my heart and soul into rebuilding it over the winter and it looks beautiful, but the fact is, It's simply too big for me. I have plenty of bikes in my size so there is no real need to keep this in the stable.

I'm attached to it as I rode it all last year for club rides. It was big and uncomfortable, but workable with the old set up turkey legs and down-tilted saddle. I see from the pic that last season I bore a lot of my weight with my wrists. The saddle is in a more comfortable position, but the new-to-me aero levers really have me too stretched out, even with the shorter stem.

I've only ridden it with the upgrades once, but I don't want to ride it again. I felt like I'd been hit by a truck, uncomfortable was an understatement. I'd feel badly except that I have 2 other Fuji's that are my size. A Sports 10 and a Special Road Racer that are my size. Not to mention my Nishiki custom Sport, Jetter, and Trek project bikes. I thought I wanted a ninja style bike, but it turns out to bee too painful and I much prefer an upright style of riding.

The question is how to send it back into the wild. I have too much invested in it, probably somewhere in the neighborhood of $250.00. +

I could keep it, but I think I'd rather it morph into some bike-specific tools, ...cone wrenches, spoke tension tool, etc.

My apologies if this should go in the "How much is it worth" forum. I'm not asking 'worth' but rather how best to sell this and not lose my shirt in the process.

Pics for reference

Fuji Before:

Fuji After:



Other bikes I own that I believe to be similar quality:

Special Road Racer:

Sports 10:

Nishiki:

Put it back to stock. No way could I get $250 for a Monterey, regardless of components. And the super size will make finding a buyer challenging. The good news is when you find that buyer, he will likely be having a similar problem (impossible to find a bike that large).

The Monterey is better build and quality wise than the other bikes listed, except for the Nishiki. All of them are pretty close.

It doesn't cost anything to list it as it stands for $250 and see if there is any interest.

What's the top tube length out of curiosity?

Put it on Seattle CL asking $400, then settle for $250 + shipping.
Done.

BTW - How long is that head tube?

I'm afraid I never measured the top tube or the head tube, er... don't remember the measurements anyway. The seat tube is 68cm (27"), the other bikes shown are 64cm.

I also have a 68cm Cro-mo Traveler that I've never ridden except for a brief ride. I've gotten crap-locked in my barn... so much crap that I can't move. Too many projects, not enough time. I need to transform the herd into rideable bikes and useful items. It is ridiculous that I have an entire barn and no room to work on a rainy day.

That bike is huge, strip it to the frame clean it and wait for the right person looking for that size. Might take a while.

Man, that's a long reach for shift levers, if I were that tall I think I'd want barcons or STIs

I wish we were nearer in distance as I have a 6'4 friend who might be able to fit that beast . I can only imagine that shipping would be rather hefty.

I went out with the tape measure and the top tube is 22.5 inches and the head tube is 11 inches. Then for fun I measured my 64cm bikes and the top tube length is the same, which means if I put aero brakes on these I will likely have the same problem. This puts a rather large monkey wrench into my plans.

You need to re evaluate your frame sizing needs

Sold my Monterey through a bike swap for $225. Did not have the upgrades you put on yours but I did put a lot of time and effort into it. It was a smaller size (21 inch as I recall). Really liked it and did regret letting it go but I did make a little money for my time which was nice.

Yes I do! The only time I was really comfortable during my 16-mile ride was about 2 miles in for a bit when I losened up, then shortly after I was in pain again. After that I was only comfortable while climbing, which I think had to do with pulling back on the bars and taking the stress of supporting my upper body out of my back. Near the end I was loosing feeling in one of my feet which was uncool given that I was riding the original pedals.

Confound it! I thought I had figured out fit on the road bike. I have a minor scoliosis and lower back problems, so this compounds the problem. Last year I could feel my back 'clicking' during the club rides, the pain was there but usually i could relieve the pressure while waiting at the stop sign for the slightly slower riders. This year I've been riding with people who are faster than me which means I never get the break.

Sculptor7, nice resale on your Monterey. It cleaned up nicely.

Man, do your body a favor and get fitted by a good shop. If you're that uncomfortable on a 16 mile ride you need to make some major changes. Don't settle for riding in pain.

*update* (7 months later) Well, I couldn't do it. I just couldn't sell it after all that work, plus I'd ridden it during club rides the previous year without 'that' type of pain. After injuring myself this summer, I just put things aside as I couldn't really work on them. I was bummed about the prospect of ALL of my road bikes giving me pain, but then it hit me. ...What if I played with saddle and handlebar adjustment? Today I was off work and starting to feel good agian, reading bikeforums has a way of motivating me, so I went out to enjoy the good weather. I rode my Schwinn for a short 2-mile ride and then decided to mess with the Fuji Monterey. Here it is after tilting the handle bars up and moving the saddle forward on the rails. I've been so used to having to move any saddle to the far most rear adjustment that moving the saddle forward was unthinkable, so unthinkable that I almost never thunk it.



I then rode the Monterey on my little 2 mile jaunt and it was great. I had no pain until the very end of the ride, a drastic improvement and I think some of that was due to the @$$-hatchet of a saddle that's on it coupled with my woeful out-of-shapeness. I was sitting way too heavy in the saddle and soaking up too bumps with my rear. I think I'll put the original FUJI saddle back on it and see if that helps cushion the ride. The think I noticed today was a bit of vibration in the rear wheel. It's out-of-true, but that's to be expected, @275lbs I put a hurt on wheelsets.

I was beginning to think that I'd never be able to ride dropbars, but today's ride renewed my hope for all those other bikes.

I had a 1972 Special Road Racer that I had hanging around for a number of years. I built up a nice set of wheels for it, but ended up moving them to another bike.

Finally I decided to give it to someone I ride with. I kept the Belt saddle, but otherwise had about $100 in repairs on it.

Hopefully, it'll see more ride time.

Attaboy BigPolishJimmy !
People tend to forget there's beaucoup adjustment in the saddle and just a few cm makes a big difference without going to a little frame with a huge saddle to bar drop.
Enjoy the ride!

I'm 6'5" and thats an absurd reach to the shifters LOL

I don’t have an answer to your question, but I think it is a question that many here have had to face. If you are restoring old bikes to make money, you may want to consider a new hobby. Even if you just build bikes for the love of it, eventually you will have to sell some. You’ve apparently gotten enjoyment out of both restoring the bike, then the riding of the bike built of your labor. If you don’t need to sell the bike right away, I’d put it up for sale the money you have in it, give it a couple of weeks, then reduce the price and repeat. It will be Spring soon.

That handlebar tilt is outrageous. If all you have ridden are bikes that don't fit you, then you don't know what a good fit is like. Even if this felt good, you are making some compromises with your mentioned adjustments. When you get a bike that fits, you will never want to get off of it.

The fact that you're even asking these questions is sure sign that you're not happy with the bike and you need to move it on. You're not going to be satisfied until you find a superior replacement. Just think how much more you would have loved it had it been the right size and layout. Don't compromise.

I beleive you all are right, eventually I'll move on. Right now I intend to keep this bike as a back-up for club rides after I build my Nishiki. Who knows, perhaps one of my other bikes will fit that purpose better. I do have too much into the bike, but fortunately most of those items will work on my other bikes, so it's really not a loss. I've considered getting fit for a bike, but a new bike is not in my near future, and I don't trust any of the local shops to be able to fit me properly. After my experiences in just talking with them, they are geared toward race-fit, and I am built for comfort, not speed. Therefore they'd want to steer me toward a comfort bike, and my Schwinn has that covered nicely.

I can ride for hours on this bike.

I was just happy to have found a workable fit on it again. It's good news for my other bikes that have smaller frames but the same top tube measurement. Now I need to get crackin working on my Nishiki and Special Road Racer to have them ready for the spring.

The n ice thing about a bike you "don't" have to sell, is that you can be patient, and take the time to find an appreciative buyer. I did that with my Lotus Classique. It was a tad too small, and I picked up an equivalent bike of the right size, so it really was redundant. But I was attached to the bike. So I put it for sale at a price I could live with. I had it up for a few days, and was getting ready to pull the ad down when someone bought it. Although I have a lot of bikes, I can't keep them all.

that fork looks bent to me.

technically with that setup you're not really riding drop bars, are you? Can you ride in the drops like that?

How about try some porteur or other flat or upright bars with thumb shifters, then you can kill a flock of birds with one stone?

that said, if that setup works for you and gets you riding and you like it, who cares what anyone else thinks. I'm just chiming in since you asked.

fork does look bent though.

The fork does look bent doesn't it. It doesn't in person, I've not encountered a tall frame bike that didn't have that sort of look to it. I wonder, are all tall guys crap riders who crash their bikes all the time? Maybe it's because they all came with turkey levers?

and you're right, I'm not really riding in the drops