Fuji-san, Part 1

     At this point in my life, I have a stable of four bikes: two of my own bikes, the mountain bike I inherited from my dad, and I have current custody of my mom's road bike.  I guess you could say five if you count my fiancee Keri's bike.  Between the two bikes that I ride, my 1980 Fuji is by far my favorite.

The beautiful crank arm, on the day I got my Fuji.  August 11, 2011

     In the middle of August, 2011 I was starting my last month of work at Ike's Bikes, the small bike shop in Richmond, Indiana that I consider myself to "come from."  Our work day was over, and as we were locking up the place a guy rolled up to the store on a bike.  Frustrated , I opened the door and asked if there was anything we could do for him real quick.  He said he was wanting to sell the bike, and as I was explaining the shop policy--"We don't buy bikes, but we will sell it for you on consignment"--I took a look at what he rode in on.  The first thing I noticed was the head tube; this thing was huge!  It probably fit me.  It was an old steel road bike.  It was a Fuji.  And it actually looked to be in halfway decent shape.  I wanted to buy the bike, but I was not in any financial position to shell out the amount of cash I figured the guy would want.  I mentioned this, and after some back and forth prodding he gave me a price:  $30.

     Thirty dollars!  My manager had to spot me some cash, but we gave the man his money and the bike was mine.  I'll probably never forget my manager's comment after we wheeled the bike back into the shop.  "Man, you need to make sure you never get rid of those crank arms."  As seen in the above picture, the name Fuji is molded into the crank arm in an almost art-deco style.  I've never seen a crank arm that I like more than these.

The original setup, granny reflectors and all.  August 11, 2011

     I rode the bike home and excitedly started planning what I was going to do to it.  The giant reflectors--front, rear, and one on each wheel--had to go.  The saddle wasn't in good condition, and neither was the bar-tape.  The wheels were probably the least-impressive part of the bike:  single-walled rims and un-extraordinary.  But the frame and drivetrain were beautiful.  I knew I had a real gem.

Left:  The rear derailleur.  Top Right:  Rear drivetrain.  Bottom Right:  Dia-compe ratcheting friction shifters.  All taken the day I got the bike.  August 11, 2011

The drive side cup.  Note the Mount Fuji
stamp at the top.
August 26, 2011

     For this particular blog post, I'll recount what I did to the bike while still in Indiana.  In the next post, I'll tell what I've done more recently.  I essentially broke the bike down as far as it would go, removing and cleaning the componentry and prepping it for the more essential upgrades that I could afford at the time.  I discovered that even the bottom bracket was special:  stamped on both cups was a very tiny outline of Mount Fuji--Fuji-san in Japanese--which is Fuji Bicycle's logo.  I was surprised and very excited to find this.  It's not every day you find unique markings on a bottom bracket.  The bottom bracket--the bearings and spindle which your crank mounts to, allowing your feet to spin and pedal--is rarely embellished or adorned, especially nowadays.

Non-drive side cup.  Again, note the
smaller Mount Fuji Stamp.
August 26, 2011

     A few weeks passed as I waited for funds to accumulate and parts to come in.  I had to change the brakes for a few reasons.  First and foremost, I was going to eventually replace the 27" wheelset for a 700c wheelset.  I needed to do this because the bike actually ended up being just a hair too tall for me.  I could ride it, but the top tube was just high enough to make it slightly uncomfortable.  Since the 700c wheel size is slightly smaller than a 27" wheel, I figured this would alleviate enough of that to make the bike tolerable.  Lucky for me, I would end up being right.

     But first I had to get new brake calipers.  I briefly went over this in my post about Keri's Motobecane, but I'll go over it again here.  Because 27" and 700c wheels are so close to one another, brake calipers exist out there that can work with either wheel size.  These "long reach" calipers are great for exactly what I was wanting to do:  convert a bike to a smaller wheel size.  Luckily at the time I was able to get my hands on some Tektro R536 long reach, standard bolt calipers.  They don't make these anymore, or at least I can't find them.  They're great because they were actually affordable, being around $30 each.  The closest part I can find now is much more expensive, I believe about double the price.  I've actually contemplated cleaning up those old calipers and reinstalling them on the bike.  But I would have to return to 27" wheels, and I just can't do that.  So these Tektros will have to do for now.

Left:  Original brake calipers.  Nasty.  Right:  New brake calipers.  Shiny.  September 6, 2011

     In addition to the calipers, I wanted new levers.  What came on the bike were the older, non-aero style levers that I just don't like.  It's purely an aesthetic issue for me.  Even though I tend to love old things on bikes, this style of brake lever is one place where I need something more modern.  To clarify what I'm talking about, aero style brake levers are what you could say is the modern norm.  The brake cable and housing leave the brake lever through the rear, and run under the bar tape along the handlebar until it exits the bar tape, where it then heads toward the brake caliper.  The older non-aero style has the cable and housing exit the lever at the top, looping up and around to wherever it needs to go.  I don't find it very elegant, and it has always bothered me.  Some people like this style, and I can respect that, but I'll just never be able to appreciate it.  I ended up getting some nice Dia-Compe BL-07 levers, a nice and affordable, and appropriately retro looking, set of levers.  I've been very happy with them.

Left:  The non-aero style on the Fuji the day it came home.  August 11, 2011  Right:  An example of the routing of cables on an aero style setup, before the bar tape is applied.  September 14, 2011

     With the brakes sorted out, the other adjustments I made were rather minor.  I got a new seatpost, an Origin-8 Sport Lite Alloy Post, in silver.  Nothing too fancy, I mostly upgraded this because I don't much care for the pillar style post and the mounting guts that come with it.  The Sport Lite uses a double bolt setup where each bolt essentially counter-tensions the other.  It is admittedly not the most elegant adjustment to make, at least in my opinion, but I love the way it looks and it felt right on such a classy bike.  The saddle I got for the bike at this time was an Origin-8 Pro Fit, an affordable, sleek and lightweight saddle that is honestly a bit more serious than anything I should ever need.  But to be truthful, it has been one of the most comfortable saddles I've ever owned.  I would eventually replace the saddle with a Brooks, as I discussed in a previous post.

The Origin-8 Sport Lite post and Pro Fit saddle.  Ignore the improperly placed plate on that bolt, I wasn't finished yet.  September 6, 2011

     The last part I swapped out at the time were the pedals.  It came with what you should expect from a bike of this era, "quill" style road pedals.  I like the visual aesthetic of the pedals, but I hate riding with them.  They are designed to have a "right" side and "wrong" side, the "right" side being raised and the "wrong" side being convex and difficult to keep your foot on.  I recently learned these pedals are like this to allow for tighter cornering.  It makes sense, but I want to know why an "equal" sided pedal in this visual style hasn't been made yet.

The Origin-8 Track Pro pedals.  September 6, 2011

     I have a somewhat strange affinity for track pedals.  I know, they run on the same idea of a "right" and "wrong" side, but it is usually much less pronounced and flipping them is, I've found, much easier.  They can also look pretty sharp.  They may look odd on a bike like mine to some people, but I enjoy it.  I splurged a little on the pedals, getting the Origin-8 Track Pro pedals, coming in at about $30.  It was splurging at the time.  These sleek, silver pedals look great, and with sealed bearings they have been great.

     The frame was overall in great condition.  No rust, and the paint job was almost pristine.  I did notice on the top tube what appeared to be a series of scratches and scrapes, covered in blue touch-up paint that wasn't quite the right tone.  The fork was also in good shape, although the chromed parts did have some spots of surface rust.  I improvised and used a small amount of Tri-Flow with a very high grit sand paper to very lightly rub off the surface rust.  It may have not been the best solution, but I feel I did a good job.

Left:  Surface rust on the fork, before touching up.  Right:  After touching up with Tri-Flow and sandpaper.  September 6, 2011

     Finally I wrapped the bars with one of my standbys:  Origin-8 Cork Handlebar Tape.  Black, of course.  I kept the original wheels, as they would be expensive to upgrade, and I was going to get some Continental Gatorskin tires of course.  I was only a few weeks from moving to Arizona anyways, so that could wait.  The bike sadly saw little use during my first half year in Arizona, for I was in the biking hell-hole that is Bullhead City.  I rode my bikes only twice in the six months I lived there.  Finally, when Keri and I moved to Tucson, was I able to enjoy my bike again, and I soon began to like my Fuji more than my Cannondale.  Not too long after the move, though, I noticed a tear in the sidewall of the old, decaying tires on the Fuji.  Too poor to even buy a new tire--and not wanting to due to my plans to eventually go to 700c--I actually took the relatively new 700c wheels from my Cannondale, complete with Gatorskin tires, and put them on the Fuji.  Thank goodness for forward thinking with those brake calipers!  Since then, the Fuji has become my main bike, and I love it.  In my next blog post, I'll go over the recent cleaning I've done with the bike.

The awesome Fuji head badge.  August 11, 2011