2018 Fuji Touring Disc...what's the catch?
 

What's not to like about this bike? Reynolds 520 steel (I know that's just 4130), full deore drivetrain, flat mount disc breaks instead of IS, TRP Spyre breaks, bar end shifters, Lifetime warranty on frame.... seems like a real winner. My local performance bike has one of these on sale for less than $900 which seems like a no brainer. The thing that I find confusing is that all the reviews I've read on the bike say it's great "for the money" but they don't put it on the same level as a Disc Trucker or a Trek 520. Spec for spec, I think the Fuji competes very favorably against those two bikes, even if you ignore the price difference. What am I missing? Is the Fuji frame sub par? Compared to the DT is has flat mount brakes (not IS) with better brakes (in my opinion), a 25lb higher weight limit and a lifetime warranty.

Fuji gets no love, I don't know why. Compare components, geometry weight, etc. Ride them all if you can. I wouldn't avoid the Fuji just because its a Fuji. I have one Fuji currently and I can't say anything bad about it. It's a pretty awesome bike.

Fuji has had a rough past with their marketing approach. When they first entered the US they were a tad heavy, a bit more costly, better finished and worked better then many of the Euro brands. With the Asian invasion in full swing a decade later they were much the same, but now they were against brands that had the same parts and were hungrier for market share. So they still sold in fewer numbers then they might have. When frame production moved to Taiwan (for most brands) Fuji stalled in Japan for a few years and their "value" decreased further. Then they too moved frame production but by then the dealer network pretty much had decided that Fujis were not the presold brand to base a shop on. At some point in the later 1980s or early 1990s Fuji entered into agreements with non traditional distribution channels for the US market (think Amazon but before the interweb). We saw many Fujis coming through our shop that were no better then our base road bike but cost the consumer far less, of course with no dealer backing/assembly/free tuning/proper sizing. At times these bikes cost nothing in that they were spiffs or reward point products. This pretty much put the nail in their coffin for quite a while. To Fuji's credit they saw their errors and have gone back to dealer sales. During all this Fuji changed ownership at least a couple of times.

So it's no surprise that anyone who knows the industry looks at Fuji with some question. Of course this has nothing to do with the actual bikes they produce. Andy

My first "good" bike was a Fuji Sportif with shimano 105 STI shifters and derailleurs with the rest being Oval concepts house brand stuff. I was 330lbs when I started riding that bike and the most impressive thing is that the Vera Corsa rims it came with held up to my ******ery. 5 years later I still ride them occasionally and I have yet to break a spoke or do any repairs other than routine truing.

I'd look askance at the (bankrupt) Performance shop selling the bike; where are you going to get it serviced?

The Fuji bike itself I wouldn't worry about. Fuji bikes are as well made as any other, and somehow they can sell them for hundreds of dollars less than other brands.

Aside: I spread my Fuji frame to 135 mm rear spacing and didn't correctly adjust the dropouts. 10,000 miles later the frame broke, and Fuji replaced the frame out of a different dealer. The replacement frame now has about 45,000 miles on it. It's my normal commuter, and I'd buy another one if I weren't such a bike snob. :)

First of all, thanks to you the word askance is now part of my vocabulary, so that's pretty awesome. As far as service goes, I do most of my own work. This year I had some vacation time to burn so I went to a bicycle mechanic school for a week long class. I went back a couple of months later for a wheel building class and built my own set of wheels. That was cool. The local shops by me offer free adjustments on bikes that you buy there, but you still pay full price for a full tune up. I do my adjustments and keep my wheels true/tensioned as needed and out of laziness bring the bikes in for an annual service. As such, I'm not giving anything up in terms of where I buy vs. where I get serviced. I may actually stop bringing my bikes in and just do all of my own work after some of the bad experiences I had this year. Nothing major, just attention to detail stuff that I would have done better myself. I think the bike snob thing is what's slowing me from buying this Fuji. And I have no business being a bike snob....none... I really need to do less internet biking and ride more.

won't be on TV
 

Same company that took over Performance Bike Inc. in a debt for equity swap , is controlling the Fuji brand , so their future is up in the air as well..

Bankruptcy court is not as entertaining as Judge Judy...

I wouldnt hesitate to buy a fuji if i were in the market. Personally i'd prefer the older canti brake model.

it certainly looks like the answer to all your questions doesnt it? All the parts that you are looking for, and already on a bike so no mucking about with taking off parts and putting on your other bike.
I guess the only thing to perhaps look into is how this frame is with heavier riders, just to see if you can find some issues that others have written about. But one gets the impression that it would work as well for you as a trek 520 or whatever.

Nothing that I can tell. I suspect the "for the price" comments come from people who insist you can't get something decent without opening the wallet. If I were buying new under a grand, it'd be near the top of my list, with the Windsor Touring and some of REI offerings on discount at year end. FWIW, if you need a smaller size CRC has them for just over $600 right now: https://www.chainreactioncycles.com/.../rp-prod178719

At any bike shop? Never understood the concept of a bike shop that wouldn't service bikes they didn't sell, if that's their attitude they probably don't deserve to remain in business.

Fuji is kind of a discount label, Surly is not. This Fuji tourer looks just as good as a Disc Trucker to me. List price $1300, but Performance is going out of business so they're discounting them.

The Fuji Touring is a nice ride. Looking at the frame design it has close to neutral trail (I see neutral trail as 60), 45 stays and 73/71 frame angles (XL size) . A good quality bike at a really nice price, just not paying for the name of Surly, Trek, Specialized, etc.

Neighbor has a Fuji Jari. It's a pretty nice bike for what he paid IMHO.

Once you have it, its just another bike , a frame with Fuji painted on it, everything else is parts.. bike companies buy them by the truckload.

I like the Fuji I have, it's well built and seems to be durable. Like a lot of bikes, a Fuji is made by Idealbike, mostly in China.

IDEALBIKE

I've had good service out of mine, I wouldn't hesitate to buy another; even if Performance is going out of business.

Hmmm...

http://www.fujibikes.com/usa/img/bik...ANTHRACITE.jpg

Fuji Bikes | Touring Disc

It looks like a solidly built bike. :thumb:

My Jamis Coda with 520 tubing is SOLID, but overall slightly heavier than I'd like.

As far as Fuji Quality???? :foo:

This came from my Fuji Ace 650. I believe the aluminum shards in the bottom bracket were original from the factory.

https://www.bikeforums.net/attachmen...hmentid=544724

Hopefully they're doing better on their more expensive bikes.

I wonder where that bike would fall in the list if one compared it to the REI Co-op bikes?

https://www.rei.com/b/co-op-cycles/c...sort=max-price

Perhaps the Fuji is comparable to the ADV 1.1, which I think is considered to be one of their lighter touring bikes.
https://www.rei.com/product/122462/c...es-adv-11-bike

The ADV 4.2 is more of an all terrain rough road touring bike.
https://www.rei.com/product/122461/c...es-adv-42-bike

The answer really depends on whether the bike build suits your actual needs.

I'm looking at a multi-day (week?) build for primarily road use, and based on a much more nimble design, and not really looking at the LHT. Roadies for touring?

<br /><br />I like the CO-OP bike too. The biggest differences between the two is that the CO-OP has WTB rims with Shimano hubs- so probably better than the Fuji house brand, a front thru axle and routing for a dynamo hub, TRP HY/RD brakes, which are very nice. I have them on my Breezer and I'm a big fan. My guess is a lot of touring people won't like them because of added complexity can't replace in upper western Bangladesh.... The REI bike has two nice racks on it, they feel very sturdy in person. I definitely wouldn't classify it as a light tourer though. It's a boat. But in a good way. For the money I think it's a steal and I've test ridden it 3 times and love the way it rides. I'd own one if I could get over the fact that it's the ugliest bicycle ever produced.

Of course, at REI, you get a 10% rebate... sometime. Unless one snags a greater discount. 20% off would bring it down close to the Fuji (but still $150 higher).

it's frame shape reminds me of certain European Santos frames, and I'm a bit surprised it weighs 35lbs, that's nearly 5 lbs more than my troll with a mtb triple and front +rear racks.
Funnily enough I don't find it that ugly, and a quick gearing check shows the 36 24 with the 11 to 42 gives a very good gear inch range, really well suited to off road touring, about 17 to 95 g.i. and the 11 speed 11-42 has nearly identical gear jumps as my 11-34 9 spd or a 10 spd 11-36 with the added cogs.
I'm surprised they went the thumbies route, especially for off road stuff, there's nothing like the fast easy and and sure shifting of trigger shifters.

Hmmm... Looks like I derailed another topic. :eek:

Fuji Touring Disc:
Fuji Bikes | Touring Disc
https://www.cyclingabout.com/2018-fuji-touring-disc/

REI Co-op ADV 1.1
https://www.rei.com/product/122462/c...es-adv-11-bike

http://www.fujibikes.com/usa/img/bik...ANTHRACITE.jpg
https://www.rei.com/media/3336b5c6-c...a?size=646x485

The Fuji is listed as 29.6 lbs, the REI Co-op ADV 1.1 at 32.7 lbs.

Hard to say what accounts for the 3 lb weight dependency. What was actually weighed on the two bikes? As configured for sale?

The two frames look very similar, and both with bar end shifters, although the rear dropouts look slightly different, as do the seats and rear derailleurs.

Octalink would undoubtedly be Type II, and still well supported, at least in the USA. However, the crank photo doesn't particularly look like Octalink.

Why the heck are they so heavy? Where's the weight, wheels?