X-LinkedRider

Hey everyone,

I just scheduled myself to take a look at a used 2002 Fuji Newest tomorrow as a gift for my father in law. He is currently riding an 84 Shogun Road bike and I am desperately trying to get him on something with some 700c wheels and Integrated Shifters/Levers. This bike accomplishes all those things and leaves room for some upgrades. If nothing else for the cost of the bike, I can probably swap all the components on his shogun if he really wanted.

I do have a few questions however. The specs say 1" Threadless headset but all of the stems I find seem to be 1-1/8". Am I missing something, or was there a short transition of 1" thread less stems? The reason, I ask is because he is going to want a slightly longer and taller stem. (He's 60 and does not care about making the slamthatstem cover.) Also, does anybody know if this bike comes with rack eyelets? We do a fair bit of touring and it would be nice if this bike could couple as his touring bike as well. (Currently a 77 Schwinn LeTour II)

Thanks for all the help. Here is the sellers pic.

dtrain

This link has spec's and mentions rear eyelets:

https://www.bikesdirect.com/products/...uji_newest.htm

Also, I run a 1 and 1/8" stem with a 1" threadless steerer - a little shim came with the stem just for that purpose. (FWIW, the stem is a Ritchey WCS.)

X-LinkedRider

Thank you. So it is Actually a 1: steerer? I wasn't sure if it was something weird tapered or what. Thank you.

dayday82

How much are they selling for? You can get a brand new one for around $500.

pgjackson

I paid $399 for a new one last year at PB.

X-LinkedRider

It's less than 200. Don't worry. And the new Fuji Newest's are not spec'ed as nice AT ALL. The 400 dollar version comes downtube shifters and adjustable stem and weighs about 4.5 lbs heaver than the 2002. The 02 is spec'd with Tiagra 3x9 shifting which you don't even get at the 3.0 level of current. This bike compares much closer to the newest 1.0 or 2.0 minus the carbon fork. Plus it comes with pedals. I'm not worried about the deal I am getting but I do appreciate everybody's blue book value. All in all, I think this will be a GREAT upgrade from his current machines and will bring him into the 21st century anyways.

pgjackson

My $399 2011 Newest 3.0 had 2303/Sora components. I don't think anyone is using downtube shifters anymore. Your father in law might like something like this for a more upright position: https://www.performancebike.com/bikes..._20000__400306

4.11

Looks like a great bike! Fuji owner here

X-LinkedRider

He's lookig for a road bike, not a hybrid. We have our fair share of other bike for recreational riding.

Once again, Tiagra 9sp > Sora 8sp (Especially in the shift lever). I know nobody uses downtube shifters. What I am saying is your 400 dollar Newest on the regular comes with d/t shifters. you got a good deal, ok. But your comparing a lower grade bike in the longshot. Fuji has made quite a few adjustments to make their bikes more affordable now.

pgjackson

I'm not sure the shifters on a 10 year old bike are going to be better than even low-grade shifters on a new bike. I looked and didnt see any new Fuji's with downtube shifters.

X-LinkedRider

Newest 4.0 maybe not the 2012s but your not getting that for 400. Plus 400 is still more than double what I would be picking this bike up for. But, you are correct in regards to the age of the shifters. It is definitely something to consider.

Seattle Forrest

I have a bike with new 10-speed brifters, and another ~2005 vintage 9-speed brifters. Both Ultegra ( 6700 vs 6500 ). Previous bike had much newer Tiagra shifters. The older Ultegras work much more nicely than the newer Tiagras. My only complaint on the older ones are the ergonomics of the hoods.

Based on that, I'd expect older Tiagra shifters to be better than brand-new Sora ones. And that's ignoring the lever vs buttons issue, which is (or can be) a huge advantage for Tiagra.

If it doesn't have eyelets for a rack, you can make it work with P-clamps.

X-LinkedRider

That is pretty much much my line of thinking. And for me, the levers are MUCH nicer than the buttons. Thanks Seattle!

canam73

If the shifters crap out you could get some microshift 9sp on eBay. My brother grabbed a set for around $100. I only road them once but they shifted nicely and I actually liked the shape better than the older STI.

X-LinkedRider

I bought the bike and asjusted it to his fit. He seemed to really like the bike. I will be taking a couple pictures of it when I get it all tuned up. There really isn't much to do. The shifting is perfect, the seat and the steam ended up being just fine and outside of in need of a little cleaning/lubricating the bike runs perfectly. If the 9 spd shifters go, it is a perfect reason to upgrade to 10 spd. Also, I can totally see why the new Fulis are much less expensive than this one was. I'm glad I followed through with this purchase despite the 10 years on the bike. Check back soon for pics.

X-LinkedRider

Ok. So I took some time to clean up the bike a bit, grease some parts and oil the chain and standard mechanical parts. Made sure all of the gears worked as they should, which they do. Absolutely no adjustments had to be made to the shifting. Rather surprised. Here is the first couple of I am sure many to come pictures. He will be receiving it and riding it for real for the first time tomorrow. (Although he did sit on it and approve of the fit and so on.) I am sure we will have a couple weeks worth of fine adjusting to the fit to make, but in the mean time.

pgjackson

Well done. That is a nice looking bike.

qcpmsame 

You did well with that Newest. Your F-I-L will appreciate the effort and probably enjoy the updated ergos and components more than we know.

Bill

dtrain

Nice job

X-LinkedRider

Thanks everyone! Just as an update, He received the bike today and we went on the maiden voyage of about 30 miles. It took him maybe 5-10 miles to really start getting used to integrated shifting and less than zero time to get used to the fact that he riding something made in the last century/millennium. As we were riding, he mentioned on numerous occasional how he will always remember this birthday. Needless to say, he absolutely loves his new bike.

As a side note: I did adjust the seat a bit and the Wellgo Clipin pedals are perfectly compatible with the Look Setup he currently uses anyways. Bonus. (PLUS the Shimano Flightdeck computer displays the gears and gear raios he has selected)

Nerull

https://www.bikepedia.com/quickbike/B...04.0&Type=bike

X-LinkedRider

He has ridden the bike everyday since he got it and (20-30 mile rides) and he seems to be more and more impressed with it every time. The Triple offers him a bailout gear that he really doesn't need to use but is great confidence booster in the rest of the gears knowing he has it to fallback on. Coming from he 2x5 and 2x6 spd rd bike he really enjoying all of the different options. He has mentioned every single day how much he likes this bike.

For me between this bike and the Cannondale I got for my buddy for his birthday, it has been a great year!
This was also another 200 dollar pickup. (I added Tires and redid bar tape - He put his commuter clipless pedals on)