robn311

I bought my first old bike a little while ago (a 1986 Fuji Regis), and I finally got it all ready. Replaced the brake cables and housing, new bar tape, cleaned up the frame and chrome, and got it a tune up. It could use some new housing for the gear cables, but I'll cross that bridge when I get there...I was also planning on getting a new saddle, but the Avocet Touring II that's on there was quite comfortable on its first ride, a 25-miler. Despite being a low-end bike, it rides great.

I also purchased my winter project today, a Fuji Touring Series III. I plan to give it some new cables and housing, handlebar tape, tubes, new saddle (Brooks or old Fujita Belt), and of course give it a nice good cleaning. I'm very excited about it. Any thoughts or suggestions are greatly appreciated!

I should note, I am not a bike mechanic in any sense of the word and am not trying to really "restore" these bikes, but have them as nice riding bikes.

devinfan

Nice bikes, both. Nothing wrong with the Avocet ll, they're nice saddles. The Touring lll would look great with a leather saddle, new tape and hoods. What about a black brooks or ideale and burgundy cloth tape to match the Fuji decals?

robn311

I was actually planning on going with burgundy tape; I like the way you think...

khatfull

No, no Rob, we're gonna do BOTH! Remember our e-mail exchange.

One thing I would watch local CL for is a wheelset for the Regis that has alloy rims rather than steel. You'll lose a pound of weight and gain MUCH better stopping power on the brakes. Given they're 27" that should be easy. We can also find you an RD for it with a little more aluminum than steel too. Are you going to leave the stem shifters on the Regis?

The TSIII looks great...don't forget to send me your address so I can send you a downtube stop.

robn311

I actually do want to put some alloy wheels on the Regis and have done a little looking on CL, but nothing has come up around here just yet. Hadn't really thought about replacing the RD, but again, being new to this whole business, my brain doesn't quite process things like that so quickly Any suggestions on what to look for?

As for the stem shifters, though most people seem to really dislike them (from what I've gathered), I actually don't mind them. That may change as I ride the bike more, but for now I think I can deal with them. The budget needs to take a break, anyways...next thing is definitely to swap wheels on the Regis, perhaps the RD (now), then get going on this TSIII.