Fuji Touring Fit for Commuting
 

Howdy all! I posted in the "Touring" area as well, but figured since some folks use touring bikes as commuters, it would be a good place to ask. I just bought a 54cm Fuji Touring bike and was curious how the fit looks. For reference, I am 5'7"/5'8". Any tips would be appreciated here. I know fitting topics are pretty "meh" around BF but I figured maybe a few kind souls could give a bit of advice (if any). Thanks a ton!

http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=513272
http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=513273

My 2 Cents! Overall looks very good! You need about an hour of continuous ridding to see if anything needs adjustment. The seat forward and aft appears good, the hight also good, the reach also looks good to me.

There's a fit subforum if you really want to obsess over it.

I have a 2011 Touring that I've been riding as a commuter and it now has over 15,000 miles on it.

Weaknesses:
1. Rear Wheel - Broke three spokes just riding as a commuter - i.e., not loaded with touring gear. New wheel solved that.
2. Brakes - Original Tektro calipers were awful. Now have Tektro "V" brakes. MUCH, MUCH BETTER!
3. Saddle - Original was good for about a 25-30 mile ride. Replaced with a Brooks B-17 Imperial. Oh, it is GREAT!

Other changes:
1. Replaced original Sora crank with a Sugino. Original gearing was 30-39-50. Sugino is 24-36-48.
2. Installed SKS plastic fenders. They were great while they lasted. Front fender is still good. Rear fender bit the dust. It cracked in several places clean across the width of the fender. My commute includes about 70 miles of bus travel per day with the bike out on front of the bus on an interstate highway at 65 mph. I think the wind buffeting the fenders flexed them in ways they weren't expected to flex day after day after day.
3. Replaced the hideous black and white bar tape that came on it after it got ugly dirty. Now just standard black.
4. Pedals are Shimano 324 combination pedals (platform on one side, clippy things on other.)

Still enjoying the bike.

Ray

Fit looks good to me. As was said earlier ride it for awhile and tweak as needed. One picky comment- I would level the rack.

Shoulda got a 56.

Lower your saddle if you start to get sharp pains on the under side of the knee.

Curious why the 56? Top tube would put me out another 15cm. Standover would be non-existent (aware that's not a be-all-end-all thing). Stem is also 10mm extra.

For reference, inseam is about 31ish"

Just for the sake of discussion, I (also 5'7"-5'8") might have gone for the 56cm as well, but with an 80-100mm stem and 170mm cranks since that's how my bikes tend to be set up. I think it works out about the same.

As for you, it looks good to me -- leg is slightly bent at the bottom of the stroke, knee is over pedal pedal spindle, etc. How does it feel to ride? :)

Gotcha. Took it for a solid 20ish miles today. Rides fantastic. I did notice a very slight twinge in my left (sometimes right) knee (in the front). Wondering if that's a saddle height or cleat position.

I rode 14,000 miles on a bike that was one size too small. Yes I changed everything I could, but it was still too small for me.

Keep us posted as how it goes.

Thanks

I'd like to get a closer look at the position of the brake hoods without your hands in the way. I'm thinking they could probably creep towards you 1/8 - 1/4".

Pay close attention to those twinges and don't ride too far with aching knees. Twinges in the front of your knee generally mean that the saddle is too low, behind the knee, that the saddle is too high. One of my legs is slightly longer than the other, so I deliberately set one cleat back further than the other to give that leg a little more extension. Hope this helps.

Or too far forward. Or simply too much, too soon. Or.... Mashing.

Thanks for the input! Definitely not mashing. In this picture, the saddle setback was pretty far back on the rails. The twinges did begin after moving it forward slightly and lowering my saddle as well so safe to say its one (or both) of those things.

Yep. :thumb:

Are you looking for advice that pertains to that particular bike or are you looking for advice on starting to bike commute in general?

Some people like to have the rack with a tiny bit of forward tilt, the reason being to get any load weight closer to the center of the bike.

Yep, I believe the instructions for Topeak racks actually call for them to be angled slightly forward. That's how I set mine up on both of my bikes that have racks.

This bike. I've actually been commuting by bike for well over 5 years now. Planning to switch over to this bike and it's the first brand new bike I've ever purchased so figured I'd start with the fit. Unfortunately, despite getting it new, the place I bought it at still charges close to 100 for a fit.

Looks pretty good. How is your stand over clearance? I am about the same height, but I barely clear on the same bike.

Standover is close. In shoes I barely clear (it's been completely fine so far). I've never really looked to clearance as I've ridden 58cm bikes with no issues in the past but yea, barely clears.

You have the same size bike? 54cm? Did you swap anything out for it or does it fit well overall?

OK. Seems like we have very similar clearance :) I rode the bike (54cm) for about 20 miles. It's a bit sluggish compared to Fuji Sportif. The bar end shifters are not precise or not quick. And when I put panniers on, my heels will touch the panniers (that's a rack issue I think).

I feel it's a good bike for touring, but there are better choices for commuting.

Interesting. I get a solid few inches of heel clearance with my backrollers on the rack that came with the bike. I did take the bike to get worked over (wheels trued, etc) and they did work on the shifting for me so its wonderful now. They didnt like the Microshift and tried to push me to Dura Ace shifters due to "less plastic moving parts" but ill wait. Only issue I've had is slight toe overlap with the Planet Bike fenders I put on.

Mine went away with about 1/4" seat post raise by a a bike fitter. Would not have figure it out on my own. Now I can go for 4 hours before feeling the twinge on the knees. Before, I would go 1 1/2 hour before the twinge, which was fine for my 55-60 min. commute, but not for weekend rides.

I have a racing Giant road bike I put a Tubus aire rack and use Front panniers for the heel clearance. Just to keep in mind if its ever an issue.

Also, my last bike has the worst toe overlap of all the other bikes without fenders, not to say with the fenders it currently have. Although not the best situation, I have learned to ride with it and it hasn't been an issue. I think you compensate like when you have low clearance with the pedal, you learn how much you can lean before you have to quit pedaling and raise the pedal.

Put some miles on it and see how it feels. I own the exact bike and it took me a while to find the sweet spot. Everyones different Id say if you can ride an hour and get off the bike and feel like you never rode that its a good fit.

PS I swapped out pretty much everything because i have a longer torso with shorter legs.