My bikes and why I love them: Early 1970s Fuji Special Road Racer
I inherited this bike when my cousin Steve fled Minneapolis for the PNW
After he fell on a patch of ice and broke his collarbone, my cousin Steve had enough of Minneapolis.
As he was packing up his stuff, ditching things he didn’t think he would need in the Pacific Northwest, he offered me his Fuji road bike. I accepted it with gratitude.
The bike had special meaning. I was a kid when Steve (who is my mother’s cousin) bought the bike. I think he might have been a student at the University of Minnesota at the time.
When I was a little boy, my mom, dad and me would often visit my great aunt Virginia, who also lived in the Twin Cities area. We’d do city things such as going to the zoo or museum or whatever. But mostly it was just staying overnight with Virginia and visiting. I got to sleep in the living room, on the couch that unfolded into a bet.
We were in the midst of one of those weekends once when Steve showed up with the bike. Oh man, was I smitten, and oh boy, did I want to ride that thing. Of course it was impossible, so I just looked at it. And dreamed.
When Steve gave me the bike, I took it out for a ride. This was in the mid-1990s, I reckon, when my main bike was a quite excellent aluminum-framed Trek 1000. The Trek was an entry level bike, but it had what, 18 gears with a triple crank, index shifting and quite a comfortable seat. It was a Camaro, and the Fuji was a Ford Model T.
I didn’t ride the Fuji much. If it all. But I put the bike in the basement, and would look at it every once in a while. I especially liked the Minneapolis city bike registration sticker from 1986–88.
I took the bike with me when my wife, Kris, and I moved from White Bear Lake, Minnesota to Wausau, Wisconsin. I kept it even as I got rid of the Trek and got a Specialized Allez, another aluminum-framed ride. I kept it after I got rid of the Allez and got a carbon-framed Tarmac.
Somewhere along that line I got caught up in the fixie fad emanating out of NYC bike culture, and I paid about $250 to have Brett from Rib Mountain Cycles to convert the bike into a single-speed with a flip-flop hub.
I rode it more often in that incarnation, mostly because fixed-gear riding was unfamiliar and interesting. But that quickly lost its luster. As much as I respected the simplicity of the fixie, I loved coasting a lot more.
Fast forward a few years to a couple of years ago. I was fiddling around with the Bianchi Volpe and decided that I wanted a different stem and handlebar for that bike. I took the Bianchi’s stem and handlebar and transferred it to the Fuji.
Went for a ride. And whoa. Game changer. I’m not exactly sure what it is about the different handlebars, but suddenly the Fuji felt a lot more comfortable and downright sprightly. Then, thinking that wider, beefier tires will add to the comfort level, I made that change too. I was right again!
I swapped out skinny road tires for some absurdly-named WTB All Terrainasauruses (I reckon I am NOT the target audience for that particular piece of branding.) Despite the over-the-top name, these tires have been splendid paired with this old-school frame.
The bike had become my go-to ride when I’d rather be Nordic skiing in this winter of my discontent. (We’ve had a nonwinter kind of winter, with very little snow and a worrisome lack of cold temperatures.)
And it’s been great. Been loving it! Except.
Every time I wanted to climb any kind of hill or incline, I found that I got bogged down like an ancient diesel engine being asked to do too much. I never had to actually get off the bike and walk, but it was perilously close. Every time I rode the Fuji, I found myself thinking at some point, “Gee I wish I could shift.”
Back to Rib Mountain Cycles. Brett is long gone from there, now down in Madison, but the crew at the shop took a bunch of old parts I had scattered in the garage, some original from the Fugi (the front and rear deraileurs) and some from the Specialized Sirrus that I purchased at a fundraiser for $75.)
I got the Fuji back from the shop a few weeks ago, and man, it’s become my main winter ride. I just find the stance and the comfort level to be in tune with the kind of riding I most love to do. I’m not a fast cyclist, but I like to carve around corners and I like the feel of liveliness emanating from the bike. This one does it, and how.
What was old is now new again.
