wilkamania

Hey Everyone,

Here's my tale of my experiences with 2 lagers and a fuji track.

A little background, I'm almost completely new to biking (at 31 years young). I'm also overweight (400lbs+). So I had to get a bike that was sturdy, and modify parts of course.

None the less, first bike purchase (and first bike I've ever owned) was a 2013 Lager. It was able to hold me up (which was most important at the time).

I ended up selling the frame to a friend because tried, and had liked another bike. Here's the lager. I also started reading about Chromoly vs Hi-ten. And it seems the 2013s were the only model of Lager that were hi-ten.


Then I had an opportunity to purchase a (2007?) Fuji Track Classic from my buddy for a good price. I rode it and noticed it was significantly more nimble. I ended up riding this to and from work (6 mile round trip, nothing crazy at all). Some parts replaced:


This past week, a friend started getting into Single Speeds. We found a good 100% Chromo Lager from (looks like a 2011) so I bought it. Then after calculating the cost of building a bike, my friend backed out and decided to get a new bike. So here I was with a Lager frame. I swapped over fuji parts (rear brake calipers arms were too short, gotta get another one later).



The Fuji and the Lager basically had all the same parts except crankset and frame. From observations, the Fuji Frame felt lighter and was able to achieve a faster overall speed. But it's also twitchy, compact, and I was able to feel everything on the road.

The chromo Lager was slower, but was easier to start, easier to maintain a cruising speed, and absorbed a ton of road bumps. Maybe that's due to the lower position of the threadless adapter, and the 46t crankset (vs the 48 on the fuji).

But I'll be damned if I still didn't consider going back to the fuji. However as a fat commuter, the Lager will serve it's purpose just fine.

Side note: I'm extremely impressed with the C17 Brooks Cambium. I can't ride slim road saddles for obvious reasons, so I bought one of those giant plus seats (seen on the 2013 lager). Though comfortable, I bent that thing six ways from Sunday on my two commutes to work. It was still very comfortable, just looked weird.

Anyway, I bought this brooks and I've put 60 miles on it, and not a ding on the rails at all. Still perfect and comfortable out of the box. So if anyone who's big is considering a non pillow saddle, this is it.

Thanks for reading along this long!

europa

Thanks for the thoughts mate.
Good to hear about the Cambium too. I'd buy one only both my bikes are wearing B17s with no reason to change.

heymatthew

Interesting thoughts. Especially since the SE comes in at quite a bit less money typically. Seems they both have their pros and cons. Will you be keeping both for now and alternating until you finally decide on one or the other?

Also, thanks for the feedback on the saddle. It's on my wish list. Keeping my fingers crossed for Christmas.

wilkamania

Not going to lie, I wish I could keep them both. I decided on the Lager and ended up selling the Fuji Frame. It sold on Craigslist within a few hours! I will miss it, but the Lager will be better overall. Besides, I can always increase overall speed by working on the "engine" of the bike That's why I got into this in the first place

Also, I hope you get it! I originally got it because I didn't want to deal with the maintenance portion. I am in love with it. The only thing I worry about is theft (I live in Chicago, they get grabby here). So I created that bike chain lock.