In case you are out there for a brand new touring bike, you’ve in all probability heard concerning the Fuji Touring.
The Fuji Touring is the one touring bike mannequin from the Fuji Company. Regardless of it’s small potential market of touring cyclists, the Fuji Touring has remained a preferred alternative amongst many people wishing to journey by bike. Sadly it’s a bike that isn’t as in style I as I imagine it must be.
I’ve personally been using a Fuji Touring bike for the previous seven years. I’ve used the bike on 5 lengthy distance bicycle excursions (each in the US, Canada and Europe) and I’ve additionally been utilizing the bike at residence as my fundamental commuter bike for transporting groceries, working errands and visiting pals.With all that have underneath my belt, I really feel like I lastly have sufficient expereince with the bike to provide it a correct assessment.
On this article I’ve got down to describe why this bike is made for long-distance cycle touring, what elements and items are included with the bicycle, learn how to go about buying a Fuji Touring bike (as they are often troublesome to seek out in lots of native bike outlets), and I’ll inform you whether or not or not the Fuji Touring is a motorbike I’d advocate for you.
Are you prepared then? Nice! Let’s get began.
What Makes This Bike Constructed For Touring?
The Fuji Touring bike is a long-distance touring bike made for these people wishing to journey lengthy distance whereas carrying a full set of panniers and who want to spend their days in relative consolation.
The body of the Fuji Touring is constructed out of Cro-Moly metal, which is strictly what you wish to see on a superb touring bike. Metal is the preferred alternative on the subject of touring bicycles as a result of it’s sturdy, versatile (which makes it extra snug for lengthy rides), and it’s simply repairable (which is essential should you plan to journey together with your bike to a distant nook of the world the place they might not have the tools essential to restore aluminum, carbon fiber, titanium, or platinum bike frames).
The bike is available in six totally different sizes: 43cm, 49cm, 54cm, 56cm, 58cm, 64cm and every year the bike obtained a brand new paint job in order to differentiate it from the earlier 12 months’s mannequin. The photograph on the op of this assessment is the 2010 Fuji Touring, whereas the photographs you will notice in only a second of my Fuji Touring bicycle are of the 2003 mannequin.
The Touring’s fork can also be product of metal, which is nice for a touring bike comparable to this. Touring bikes with forks product of lighter supplies can sometimes break underneath the calls for of long-distance loaded touring, so whereas metal is a heavier constructing materials, it’s nice to be used in touring bike fashions comparable to this.
The body itself additionally options the usually lengthy chainstay size that you simply see on most touring bike fashions. What this implies is that the bicycle is a bit more stretched out from one finish to the opposite than you would possibly count on to see on a conventional highway or mountain bicycle. This makes the bicycle extra snug to experience and it helps to make sure that your ft received’t hit your rear panniers while you’re pedaling.
The Fuji Touring’s wheels are additionally constructed for the calls for of life on the highway. The edges are made out of double walled aluminum and the spokes are stainless-steel. Whereas there isn’t actually something too particular concerning the bicycle’s Alloy hubs, the tires are your commonplace 700c tires, however they measure 32c throughout, which means that they’re tremendous large when in comparison with a conventional highway tire… and the explanation for it is because the additional width permits the bike to face up to the calls for of the extra weight that touring requires.
On the again of the bike’s body there are braze-ons for a rear rack and rear fenders… and the entrance fork has all of the mounts mandatory to connect a entrance rack and fender as effectively.
So far as long-distance, self-supported bicycle touring goes, the Fuji Touring has all of the traits you count on to see in conventional touring bike.
What Comes With The Bike And What Doesn’t?
Whenever you buy a Fuji Touring bicycles, there are just a few little issues that include the bike that make it form of particular.
To begin, the bike comes with an 8mm aluminum rack (not the very best rack on the planet, nevertheless it’ll work), pedals and toe clips and straps, mounts for 2 water bottle cages (not three), and (my favourite characteristic of all) two additional spokes which are hooked up to the rear chainstay and are there simply in case you break a spoke whereas out on the highway and want a alternative in a rush.
In addition to all that, the bike comes with every little thing you want on your first bicycle tour aside from a entrance rack, fenders, lights and panniers.
How To Buy A Fuji Touring
In case you do resolve to get a Fuji Touring bicycle for your self, it’s possible you’ll uncover that really discovering one such bike on show at an area bike store is proving to be troublesome, if not unattainable.
The unhappy fact of the mater is that this: Touring bicycles are usually not massive sellers for many native bike outlets. In terms of earning money, mountain bikes, highway bikes an hybrids are the place most bike outlets make their cash, so touring bikes are not often ever saved on the store ground. If you’ll be able to discover a touring bicycle of any variety in your native space, contemplate your self very fortunate.
That stated, discovering a Fuji Touring bike on show may be troublesome. And even should you do discover one, it may not be the best dimension on your particular physique sort.
If, nevertheless, you’re positive that you simply wish to order a Fuji Touring for your self, it’s best to first discover a native Fuji seller in your space. You’ll find your native seller by utilizing the search type on this web page.
When you’ve discovered a seller, go and pay them a go to. Inform them that you simply wish to buy the Fuji Touring bike and that you simply’d like them to order it for you. The particular person on the bike store ought to then measure you to see which dimension body you will want (should you don’t know what dimension you want, make certain the bike store helps you. Getting the best dimension bike is essential.), then they may have y ou fill out some paperwork and your order can be positioned.
After that, you’ll have to sit down and wait whereas the bicycle is shipped to your native bike store. This might take anyplace from 3 days to a few weeks, so be sure you order your bike effectively earlier than you intend to ever use it. Usually t shouldn’t take rather more than every week on your bike to reach.
As soon as the bike does arrive on the sop, nevertheless, the individuals who work there’ll put the bike collectively for you and name you when it is able to choose up. Then you definitely simply drive your self right down to the store, pay for the bike, and experience it away! It’s that simple.
The Fuji Touring at present has a retail asking worth of $1,089 USD. That stated, should you take care of an area bike store you possibly can often get a reduction of no less than $100 USD by merely asking for a reduction. And should you occur to discover a Fuji Touring bike in one in all your native bike outlets through the late fall or winter, it can save you as a lot as $400 just by buying the bike at a time of 12 months when few different folks want to buy a touring bike mannequin.
My Experiences With The Bike
Earlier than I inform you about a few of the experiences I’ve had with my Fuji Touring bicycle, I believe it can be crucial so that you can know what I purchased a Fuji Touring bicycle within the first place, as there are lots of different bicycles I might have chosen from.
The story is that this: In 2001 I went on my first long-distance bicycle tour. I used to be seventeen years outdated on the time and the journey I deliberate to take was a 30-day journey by bike down the California shoreline – from Oregon to Mexico. As a result of this bike tour was imagined to be only a once-in-a-lifetime form of factor, I didn’t use a conventional touring bike for that individual journey. As an alternative, I used my father’s outdated mountain bike – an outdated Sierra Schwinn that had been sitting within the storage, unused, for greater than a decade.
Whereas the mountain bike labored to efficiently get me from one finish of California to the opposite, tradgety struck on the final day of the tour when my bicycle was accidently run over by a Volkswagon Van. The bicycle’s wheels had been destroyed, the body was dent, and the derailleurs had been each past restore.I used to be positive I’d by no means be capable of experience that bike once more.
However, when the subsequent summer time rolled round and I started planning one other long-distance bicycle tour, I didn’t come up with the money for to buy a model new bike. Bear in mind, I used to be in faculty, eighteen years outdated, and had by no means labored a day in my life. The one cash I had was cash I had saved up from birthday presents and from odd jobs in my neighborhood. So with no cash within the financial institution, however desires of biking throughout the US, I hammered out the body of my dad’s outdated mountain bike, put some new wheels and deraiullers on it, and used that very same outdated bike to slowly pedal my method throughout the Rocky Mountains. Sadly, by the point I obtained to Wyoming, the bike was on its final breathe. As a result of the body was so bent out of practice the bike was 3 times tougher to pedal than it ought to of been, and the every day process of pushing that twisted hunk of metallic up and over numerous mountain passes made biking throughout the nation something however enjoyable.
I had deliberate to cycle all the way in which to the coast of Oregon, however I stop within the tiny city of Rawlins, Wyoming and took a bus again residence from there.I vowed I’d by no means do one other bike journey that was longer than two weeks in size.
However that didn’t occur. The next summer time, I felt the necessity to go on yet one more long-distance bike journey. This time I set my sights on the East Coast of the US – a route that will take me from North Carolina to Maine. However I nkew that if I used to be going to pedal myself via a dozen or extra states, I used to be going to should get a brand new bicycle. My father’s twisted mountain bike merely wasn’t going to chop it. And that’s once I found the Fuji Touring bike and realized that it was precisely the bike I wanted.
The rationale I purchased the Fuji Touring bicycle over another bicycles is as a result of it was a full-fledged touring bike (which means that it might deal with the calls for of long-distance highway touring), it might carry the panniers I would want for my bike excursions, it was in my worth vary, and I might use the bike at residence for commuting functions, and it was a motorbike that I knew I’d be capable of hold for a number of years to come back. I noticed it as an funding!
I bought my Fuji Touring bicycle from an area bike store close to my faculty. They didn’t have the bike in inventory, in order that they ordered it for me and I went to select it up on my nineteenth birthday.
I then used the Touring on my third long-distance bike tour up the East Coast of the US.
Whereas I had by no means earlier than ridden a bicycle with dropped handlebars earlier than and that did take some getting used to, the bike as some time was a lot quicker, extra snug, and higher geared up for my life as a long-distance cyclists. After I reached New Jersey in 2003 I got down to cowl as a lot of the state as I probably might within the shortest period of time. And with my Fuji Touring bike beneath me I used to be in a position to cycle almost the whole state of New Jersey (from south to north)in a single day – a feat I by no means would have been in a position to do on the outdated mountain bike I had used on my earlier two excursions.
It was on days like that, biking my method throughout New Jersey in a single day, that I noticed simply how essential it’s to have a superb bicycle when you find yourself touring.
The next 12 months I rode my Fuji Touring bicycle from Chicago, Illinois to New Orleans, Luoisiana. And the next 12 months I cycled via British Columbia and far of Washington and Oregon state. The next 12 months, I used the bike once more to return to Wyoming and concquer two extra states by bike – Idaho and Utah. After which, in 2007, I took my Fuji Touring bicycle to Germany, the place I rode it up the Rhine from Frankfurt, throughout the nation to Berlin after which traveled with it briefly in each Poland and the Czech Republic.
In each occasion the bicycle carried out simply precisely because it ought to. It carried my gear in model; It saved me snug on lengthy arduous rides; and most significantly, I’ve by no means had any issues with it (aside from the occasional flat tire, which is to be anticipated with any bicycle that you simply purchase).
At the moment, I nonetheless have my Fuji Touring bike and whereas I’ve in all probability put effectively over 15,000 miles on the bike, it performs as if it had been virtually model new. I exploit the bike on an nearly every day foundation now to run errands and go on quick multi-day bike excursions close to my residence… and once I go on my subsequent long-distance highway tour, the Fuji Touring will doubtless be the bicycle I take with me.
The one drawback I’ve had with the bike in all my years of proudly owning it’s that about yearly I’ve to tighten up the underside bracket. I’ve discovered that each as soon as and some time, the underside bracket can wiggle itself unfastened and must be tightened up, in any other case you’re compelled to experience with an annoying squeaking sound in your ear. In addition to that, I’ve changed the grip tape only a couple instances, put in new tires two or 3 times, solely as soon as have I modified out the chain, and every little thing else is strictly because it was once I bought the bike again in 2003.
Would I Advocate The Fuji Touring Bike?
The Fuji Touring bike might not be probably the most high-end touring bicycle available on the market. It’s not even the preferred. however the Fuji Touring bike is one hell of a motorbike and I really feel actually good recommending it to you.
In case you are planning a visit by bike that requires you to experience primarily on paved roads (it could take a bit of off-road using), carry a full set of panniers (on each the back and front), and also you desire a bike that’s cheap and can be utilized for functions different than simply touring, the Fuji Touring bike is one unbelievable bike. I’ve had mine for seven years now and it each appears and performs as if it had been almost model new.
Pictures From The Street – 2003
These are photographs of my Fuji Touring bike once I rode it from North Carolina to Maine in the summertime of 2003.
Stopped at an intersection signal close to Raleigh, North Carolina
Cape Hatteras Lighthouse – Outer Banks, North Carolina
Crossing to the Outer Banks on a ferry boat. My Fuji Touring bike sits on the far proper.
Kitty Hawk, North Carolia – Wright Brothers Monument
Pictures From The Street – 2004
These are photographs of my Fuji Touring bike on my 2004 bike tour from Chicago, Illinois to New Orleans, Louisiana.
Posing for a photograph with one of many resort managers that gave me a free place to remain.
My bike and a reproduction of the Leaning Tower in Niles, Illinois.
Camped out someplace in Illinois.
Sitting on a park bench exterior the house of Abraham Lincoln in Springfield, Illinois.
Stopped for a photograph with an outdated basketball I discovered on the aspect of the highway.
Crossing a big dam. The set of panniers you see on the bike are Lone Peak P-500 and P-100 panniers.
My first photograph in Nashville, Tennessee.
Tenting alongside the Natchez Hint Parkway within the state of Mississippi.
Hiding from the rain inside a public restroom.
Cycle touring alongside the Natchez Hint.
Pictures From The Street – 2005
After I graduated from faculty in 2005, I spent the next summer time using my bicycle round British Columbia, Canada in addition to via the states of Washington and Oregon on the West Coast of the US.
That is me and my Fuji Touring bicycle crossing leaving Seattle, Washington on our method to one of many close by islands.
I spent three days initially of my tour attending the Journey Biking Management Coaching Camp. Word how my entrance fender is on backwards. On the time, I assumed it appeared cooler like that, however the folks on the camp actually had fun making enjoyable of me for using my bike with the fender flipped round like that. Ugh! No matter. It must be famous that I’m additionally carrying a skateboard on this photograph. On this specific tour I finished at over a dozen totally different skate parks alongside the way in which. I obtained made enjoyable of for this as effectively.
I stayed with one in all my finest pals’ mother and father who occurred to dwell alongside the route that I used to be touring. That is my pal’s mother standing with my bicycle.
The Fuji Touring bicycle and a planter filled with Washington tulips.
Crossing Deception Cross Bridge – Oak Harbor, Washington
Crescent Lake, Washington.
Bicycle tenting someplace in Washington state.
Cycle touring with my Fuji Touring bike alongside the coast of Washington State.
Camped out within the snow – Someplace north of Klamath Falls, Oregon.
Pictures From The Street – 2006
I purchased my first property in 2006, so cash was tight and I solely had time to go on a brief bike journey close to my residence. So I cycled via simply three states that 12 months: Utah, Idaho and Wyoming.
Parked out within the shade of a avenue signal on a flat nation highway in Western Wyoming.
After I consider Wyoming, that is what I consider.
Pictures From The Street – 2007
In 2007 I flew with my Fuji Touring bicycle to Germany and spent a month and a half exploring Deutschland, Poland and the Czech Republic.
My Fuji Touring bicycle is within the massive cardboard field on the again. My panniers and the remainder of my gear is within the smaller cardboard field within the forefront.
Biking via one of many small forests close to Frankfurt, Germany. The Fuji Touring performs excellently on these kind of non-paved roads.
Biking over a bridge into the town of Frankfurt. Within the background are a bunch of the little backyard plots which are scattered via out the nation.
Right here I’m with my bicycle alongside the Rhine River close to the town of Bingen, Germany.
My Fuji Touring bicycle leaning up in opposition to one of many Rhine River kilometer markers.
I put purple handlebar tape on my Fuji Touring for my 2007 bike journey via Europe.
I did lots of quick day journeys once I was in Germany. Right here I’m close to Helmstedt, Germany carrying only one pannier on the rear rack of my Fuji Touring bicycle.
One other day journey photograph – biking from Helmstedt to Wolfsburg, Germany and again.
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