Vinokurtov

Much to my surprise the frame box showed up a day early, came home from a 3hr ride to find it sitting on my porch. No headset, so I wasn't going to do the build, then it showed up in the mail. Late afternoon, post-big ride, bigger ride tomorrow, so I should just go eat and take a nap. Especially considering the garage is 38 degrees.

3 hours later I have a bare BH frame, and the Fusion is almost done, but it's time to go for sushi.

Got up early this morning and finished cutting the steerer tube, installing the plug, and swapping the chain. Toss it in the back of the truck and head down the hill for a Starbucks and to meet my training partner for the last 4 hour ride before a recovery week.

He's waiting in a patch of sun bundled up like a mummy. I finish suiting up, we roll a hundred yards and I get out the allen wrenches to make a quick seat adjustment. Very quick, it's 28 out and just taking off the gloves for a minute results in freezing fingers. Fortunately this would be the last and only thing I'd have to fiddle with the entire ride.

So we roll...

First thing I notice is it eats vibration for lunch. Hardly anything comes through (credit in part to the Reynolds Ouzo fork). No control buzz. Start aiming for the water valve covers, manholes, rough pavement, and other nasty bits I'd normally try to steer around. Handles everything without fuss, most stuff is heard but hardly felt. Shoot through a few corners and it tracks perfectly, though a bit slower than my race bikes.

Climbs quite nice, on or out of the saddle. No flex to speak of going up. Couple of big accellerations produces no flex, one full on big watt uphill sprint does get a little rear wheel hop, but it's back in line quickly.

Stop for some food and take a look at the package. Overall fit and finish is very clean. On the '07 they've gone to carbon chainstays that are quite beefy, along with the "Fusion" name under the clear coat on the top tube, and a headset badge. Welds are very tidy, carbon/ti joints are quite clean. I had no issues with alignment, finish, or anything else during the build. Spanish bike manufacturers, please take note.

4 hours later I get off feeling pretty good. Wow. Nice frame!

I'd say overall ride quality is comparable to the Seven Elium (steel/carbon) I did a long test ride on, without the weird ka-chunk noise that would come through the frame over road joints. Better than my old Roubaix Pro.

The cons:

Not as quick steering as a pure race bike.
1189g stripped absolutely bare makes it, while not a heavyweight, not a super light either.
Not a big fan of the "Fusion" logo on the top tube. Some kind of wierd script.

Waiting to see: Full on descent handling. I did hit 41 on one hill and it seemed perfectly stable.

Pretty beat (power meter geeks ask me about my TSS for the week) and it's getting dark, so pictures and full specs will have to wait till tomorrow. Other than the stem, I'm going to keep the bike as it currently sits and hopefully have a few more weeks of riding it before I have to switch over to the full fendered, light equipped, snow tire clad REI recycled hemp bike.

Dubbayoo

nice report. I just hate that the frame has the same angles for all sizes.

brianallan

when 1189g isn't super light we've lost our way

zimbo

So, what was your TSS for the week?

--Steve

Vinokurtov

I for one don't wax nostalgic over the days of the 50 pound Schwinn. Yes, bread was 10 cents a loaf. It was Wonder bread, and it $ucked. If they end up making a frame out of negatively charged, anti gravity ions that actually floats, this will be an absolute stone. Right now in the time of sub 900 gram frames, it is what it is.

760.
0.66 IF.
19,700' of up.

Strong Bad

Great review! Sounds like a good work-horse frame, and it looks really sharp too.
Seems like a better deal than some of the other ti-carbon hybrids.

zimbo

That's a lot of up. Gotta love the base miles.

--Steve

msheron

I just looked at what appears to be a new design to the PF Fusion frame. Looked like they revamped it somewhat and added the "Fusion" logo which is very tasteful in my opinion on the top tube.

Vinokurtov

Definite revamp from '06. The logos are a matter of personal taste, it's pretty understated compared to a lot of bikes.

I've gotten around 15 hours on the bike at this point (mileage number wouldn't be all that impressive because there's been a lot of climbing). As happy or happier with it than the first hour. Stability on long fast descent is very good, especially once the rear wheel bearings are tightened

I'm waiting for a few bits for the pictures.