Fuji Bikes and Trek

"James Lynx" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Hi how do you rate Fuji bikes in general? Also, how do they compare
to Trek? Which are better?

They are both comparable IMO. They both use the same components and have
been around for quite some time. It really comes down to proper
fit/comfort, and price.

Dan.

In article <[email hidden]>,
[email hidden] says...

Quoted message said:

Hi how do you rate Fuji bikes in general?

i have a 2002 fuji finest aluminum, i like it a lot.
even the sora components are light and are going strong at 6500 miles.
they may not be the prettiest in the world but other than that
they are fine.
the frame seems very well made.

wle.

On 20 May 2004 14:37:46 -0700, [email hidden] (James Lynx)

Quoted message said:

Hi how do you rate Fuji bikes in general? Also, how do they compare
to Trek? Which are better?

My frame of reference is somewhat limited, but I own a Fuji Touring
Series and my girlfriend has a Trek 520. The only real difference is
that the Trek is lugged and brazed, while the Fuji is TIG welded.
Other than that I find the quality quite similar. The Fuji has one
nice feature missing from the Trek, a spare spoke holder on the left
chain stay.

Generally I believe I've seen Fujis priced less than comparably
equipped Treks.

jeverett3<AT>earthlink<DOT>net http://home.earthlink.net/~jeverett3

John Everett said:

On 20 May 2004 14:37:46 -0700, [email hidden] (James Lynx)

Quoted message said:

Hi how do you rate Fuji bikes in general? Also, how do they compare
to Trek? Which are better?

My frame of reference is somewhat limited, but I own a Fuji Touring
Series and my girlfriend has a Trek 520. The only real difference is
that the Trek is lugged and brazed, while the Fuji is TIG welded.
Other than that I find the quality quite similar. The Fuji has one
nice feature missing from the Trek, a spare spoke holder on the left
chain stay.

Generally I believe I've seen Fujis priced less than comparably
equipped Treks.

jeverett3<AT>earthlink<DOT>net http://home.earthlink.net/~jeverett3

I bought a Fuji Touring about 4 weeks ago. Chose it over the Trek 520
because the components seemed good, the bars were higher, and the price
was lower by a couple/three hundred CAD. Also, some place on the 'net
rated it as best touring bike for the bucks.

Being a bit of a retro grouch, I also wanted a quill to easily and
precisely adjust the handlebar height.

So far, so good. Once I tweaked some fit adjustsments, it became quite
comfortable and fairly fast. The tires are big enough (700 x 32) to
take the punishment my commute offers and still max at 96 psi for a good
pavement ride.

I love the Tiagra integrated shifters, am so so about the Avid Shorty
brakes (tho I like the simplicity of cantis), the standard rear rack
seems sturdier than any I have owned to date, and fitting some full on
Planet Bike fenders was no problem. The light road toe traps that came
with it were just not for me, so of course I put on a pair of Mt.Zefal
toe cups for riding with any footwear. Nice low key colours too: metal
flake dark green with sand highlights - they call it Aztec Green.

In conclusion I like it lots. I am looking forward to some great
weekend runs this summer on it.
To be fair, I've not ridden the Trek 520. It looks to be at least as
good though.

Best regards, Bernie

John Everett said:

Other than that I find the quality quite similar. The Fuji has one
nice feature missing from the Trek, a spare spoke holder on the left
chain stay.

I don't know why other makers haven't adopted this feature for their
touring bikes already. Even if you never need it, it's still a nice
attention to detail, and the cost is probably minimal.

(Still annoyed to only have one pair of eyelets at the front and rear.)

--
Frederic Briere <*> [email hidden]

=> <[email hidden]> IS NO MORE: <http://www.abacomsucks.com> <=

In article <[email hidden]>, bmcilvan@mouse-
potato.com says...

....

Quoted message said:

I love the Tiagra integrated shifters, am so so about the Avid Shorty
brakes (tho I like the simplicity of cantis), the standard rear rack
seems sturdier than any I have owned to date, and fitting some full on
Planet Bike fenders was no problem. The light road toe traps that came
with it were just not for me, so of course I put on a pair of Mt.Zefal
toe cups for riding with any footwear. Nice low key colours too: metal
flake dark green with sand highlights - they call it Aztec Green.

I happen to prefer the Maroon and black treatment of the 2003 version,
but it's still a great value in a bike!

--
Remove the ns_ from if replying by e-mail (but keep posts in the
newsgroups if possible).

David Kerber said:

In article <[email hidden]>, bmcilvan@mouse-
potato.com says...

...

Quoted message said:

I love the Tiagra integrated shifters, am so so about the Avid Shorty
brakes (tho I like the simplicity of cantis), the standard rear rack
seems sturdier than any I have owned to date, and fitting some full on
Planet Bike fenders was no problem. The light road toe traps that came
with it were just not for me, so of course I put on a pair of Mt.Zefal
toe cups for riding with any footwear. Nice low key colours too: metal
flake dark green with sand highlights - they call it Aztec Green.

I happen to prefer the Maroon and black treatment of the 2003 version,
but it's still a great value in a bike!

Well, after the loss of my Marin hybrid - it was looking too clean and
sharp 🙂 - I want a rather plain looking set of wheels for a low key
image. Besides, green is my colour.
I'm riding nearly every day - lately 120 - 200 kms a week, depending.
Wear and tear is always on my mind. Do you have any durability issues
with your bike? Does yours have the Tiagra brifters? Any problem witht
the brakes?
How bout the tires? Mine came with Hutchinson Globetrotters. They can
be had online for $9.99 usd so I wonder about the quality. They ride
fine though.
I think I'd like the bars better if they had a flatter ramp behind the
hoods to rest my hands on, but maybe that;s just because I haven't
ridden drop bars in such a long time.
Overall, I am enjoying the 'road' features. It helps to get down on the
drops in the headwinds that are part of my daily commute.
Bernie

Quoted message said:

In article <[email hidden]>, bmcilvan@mouse-
potato.com says...

....

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

I happen to prefer the Maroon and black treatment of the 2003 version,
but it's still a great value in a bike!

Well, after the loss of my Marin hybrid - it was looking too clean and
sharp 🙂 - I want a rather plain looking set of wheels for a low key
image. Besides, green is my colour.
I'm riding nearly every day - lately 120 - 200 kms a week, depending.
Wear and tear is always on my mind. Do you have any durability issues
with your bike? Does yours have the Tiagra brifters? Any problem witht
the brakes?

I've only had mine since last September, and have around 1500 miles on
it, but no issues so far with the shifters. At the end of the winter,
it was missing down shifts a lot, but a thorough chain, cassette and
derailleur cleaning took care of that problem.

I really like the brakes, though the pads seem to be rather bad about
picking up grit, which then scrapes the Al wheels and occasionally
leaves Al particles embedded in the pads. Of course, my previous bike
had center-pulls and steel wheels, so any modern brake system would seem
great compared to that setup.

Quoted message said:

How bout the tires? Mine came with Hutchinson Globetrotters. They can
be had online for $9.99 usd so I wonder about the quality. They ride
fine though.

The 2003 came with Ritchie Tom slicks in 32mm width. They rode nice,
but seemed to have a lot of rolling resistance even when pumped up to
their rated max, so I swapped them out for a set of Conti Sport-1000's
in 25mm, and I really like that combo at around 100psi front/110 rear.
I still have the Ritchie's stored away for future use on rough road,
dirt road, or loaded touring use.

Quoted message said:

I think I'd like the bars better if they had a flatter ramp behind the
hoods to rest my hands on, but maybe that;s just because I haven't

I felt the same way, so I rotated the bars back a bit so the ramp is now
nearly flat out to the hoods. That has the nice (for me) side effect of
slanting the drops a bit down toward the ground, which my wrists prefer
when I have to stay down for an extended time. I also put a set of
cheap aero bars on, which gives me yet another hand position with NO
weight on my hands.

Quoted message said:

ridden drop bars in such a long time.
Overall, I am enjoying the 'road' features. It helps to get down on the
drops in the headwinds that are part of my daily commute.

Same here.

Quoted message said:

Bernie

--
Dave Kerber
Remove the ns_ from if replying by e-mail (but keep posts in the
newsgroups if possible).

David Kerber said:

I've only had mine since last September, and have around 1500 miles on
it, but no issues so far with the shifters. At the end of the winter,
it was missing down shifts a lot, but a thorough chain, cassette and
derailleur cleaning took care of that problem.

It's good to hear that, because I hear brifters are not repairable. The
wrist shifters (grip shifters?) on the Marin failed fairly quickly.
It's only been a few weeks on the Fuji, but the brifters are very
slick, no change noted from day one.

Quoted message said:

I really like the brakes, though the pads seem to be rather bad about
picking up grit, which then scrapes the Al wheels and occasionally
leaves Al particles embedded in the pads. Of course, my previous bike
had center-pulls and steel wheels, so any modern brake system would seem
great compared to that setup.

Ya, been there myself. Remember attempting to make a fast stop in the
rain with steel wheels? The previous brakes were vee brakes and they
work better than the Avids, imho.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

ow bout the tires? Mine came with Hutchinson Globetrotters. They can
be had online for $9.99 usd so I wonder about the quality. They ride
fine though.

The 2003 came with Ritchie Tom slicks in 32mm width. They rode nice,
but seemed to have a lot of rolling resistance even when pumped up to
their rated max, so I swapped them out for a set of Conti Sport-1000's
in 25mm, and I really like that combo at around 100psi front/110 rear.
I still have the Ritchie's stored away for future use on rough road,
dirt road, or loaded touring use.

Don't think I will go skinnier just yet. Will stay vigilant about
keeping tires pumped to the max and carry on.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

I think I'd like the bars better if they had a flatter ramp behind the
hoods to rest my hands on, but maybe that;s just because I haven't

I felt the same way, so I rotated the bars back a bit so the ramp is now
nearly flat out to the hoods. That has the nice (for me) side effect of
slanting the drops a bit down toward the ground, which my wrists prefer
when I have to stay down for an extended time. I also put a set of
cheap aero bars on, which gives me yet another hand position with NO
weight on my hands.

Fitting is interesting, isn't it? Especially when pain is motivating
one. I had the shop add a quill to threadless adapter and a rising stem
to get the bars up to seat level. In combination with losing the gel
gloves and a small fore and aft adjustment of the seat, I was much more
comfortable right away - very little weight on the hands now. Because I
bought the bike from them, they did the alterations at cost - this is a
shameless plug for the LBS! Now if I can just find a pair of those
cheap and tough crochet and leather gloves... they seem to be gone from
the local scene this spring.

David, thank you for the great feedback! I'm off for a spin.
Bernie

Bernie said:

How bout the tires? Mine came with Hutchinson Globetrotters. They can
be had online for $9.99 usd so I wonder about the quality. They ride
fine though.

Cheap tires are often more durable and/or long-wearing than
expensive tires.

Quoted message said:

I think I'd like the bars better if they had a flatter ramp behind the
hoods to rest my hands on, but maybe that;s just because I haven't
ridden drop bars in such a long time.

If you can measure and mark everything to be able to put it back
where it was originally, it might be worth some experimentation. You
could move the brifters back and change the tilt of the bars
accordingly and may find the flatter ramp that you want...but that's
a tough guessing game, so make sure you can figure out where
everything started.
--
Rick Onanian

Rick Onanian said:

Bernie said:

How bout the tires? Mine came with Hutchinson Globetrotters. They can
be had online for $9.99 usd so I wonder about the quality. They ride
fine though.

Cheap tires are often more durable and/or long-wearing than
expensive tires.

Generally speaking, I agree. My Cheng Shin nylon 700 x 35's were very
durable, and rode fine too. However, here's what happened today.
Went for a spin. Rode about 12 miles to where I start to loop back
home. Heard a small scuffing noise, so I stopped, suspecting something
was stuck onto or into one of the tires. While I was looking/feeling
the tires my rear tire blew very hard. Couldn't find anything stuck in
it, so removed tire and tube, inspected tire, found nothing. Tube had a
1/8th" diameter hole in it. Inspected tire again, still nada.
Installed spare tube, started pumping. Pumped tire up to ready to ride
hardness and blam!
Reinspected tire and found a break at the edge of the bead and the
sidewall. There was no obvious cause, just that the threads had parted.
Came home on the bus.
There's no need to mention my eyesight, it's awful. But so was the
tire. Has maybe 350 miles on it. Is there a high defective rate for
this tire? Anyone?

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

I think I'd like the bars better if they had a flatter ramp behind the
hoods to rest my hands on, but maybe that;s just because I haven't
ridden drop bars in such a long time.

If you can measure and mark everything to be able to put it back
where it was originally, it might be worth some experimentation. You
could move the brifters back and change the tilt of the bars
accordingly and may find the flatter ramp that you want...but that's
a tough guessing game, so make sure you can figure out where
everything started.

It's a thought, but small adjustments keep improving the comfort, so I
think I will leave the levers where they are at least for now.
Thanks for the feedback.
Bernie