| Re: Fuji Bikes and Trek
David Kerber wrote:
>
>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.
>
>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.
>>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.
>
>>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
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