2bfree

Nice stuff, indeed! I'm still riding my '72 Fuji Finest (white: the "other" color)--double-butted chrome-moly.
Recently, I found a vintage Fuji Roubaix on eBay, and I don't know where it fits in the Fuji hierarchy. It has:

• lugged, quad-butted Ishiwata SI-45 "Feather" tubing,
• mostly 105 components (FD, RD, down-tube indexed shifters, crankset, pedals, headset, side-pulls with SLR aero levers, 1050 hubs, 6-cog 13-24 indexed cassette),
• Nitto stem and bars
• Sakae seat post
• Selle San Marco Lazer saddle
• Ukai 700Cx25 rims with bladed spokes
• internally-routed rear brake housing
• rounded, one-piece "Italian style" fork crown, not the older lugged crown.

I suspect it's from the late '80s: it's not listed in the 1986 Fuji catalog; it says "Made in Japan" under the seat-tube Ishiwata label, and about that time Fuji production was shifting to Taiwan. I don't know the time-line of the 105 group or Shimano 6-cog indexing, and since Fuji has changed hands several times, the serial number trail is cold. Can anyone help date this? I've read that "triple-" and "quad-butted" in that era were mostly marketing hype, but the Ishiwata tubing is the real steel deal: very sweet ride!

J.Knecht

I'm riding a Fuji Team right now. It's my "tester" bike (I bought it instead of dropping a bunch of cash on something I might decide I didn't want). I love it, and now I don't feel the need to by something newer. I'm trying to determine it's vintage, but my best guess (from this Suntour timeline) is that it came out around 86. Features Sprint components with the exception of the Superbe Pro derailleurs.

I've posted a picture here

mstrpete

Check this one out:

I scored this one from my neighbor. "You want it? Take it!" is what he said. I've got a seat on it, and a working front brake, and it just soars like a falcon! I love it. S/N dates it to Jan. 1977, and it's supposed to be a 12-speed. I'll take care of that soon enough.

flatlander_48

Is this a Fuji? I thought they didn't have 12spd until the early 80's...

roccobike

I hope this helps answer questions about the Team. I have a 1986 Team. It was purchased from the original owner who said it was purchased it in 1986. The Sprint derailers were manufactured in Sept, 1985, so the dates line up. It has Quad butted tubing, according to the decal on the down tube, but it does not say Valite. The Accushift index shifters were added after I purchased it. The originals were Suntour Sprint. It's a nice bike, but I doubt top of the line. Fuji made no claim that the tubing was special other than quad butted. They did not claim it was seamless or made by Tange. Still, the bike is relatively light for the time period weighing in at 21 lbs and it has a nice ride.
BTW, I also have a 1985 Espree that has quad butted, Valite tubing. Just thought I would add that.

mstrpete

OMG I can't believe my POS laptop just ate my post! I was going to say that Bill from Kansas sent me a spec sheet, based on the s/n, which shows a Suntour "Mighty 6" 14-30 cog as OEM spec. Plus there's a decal above the shifters of a chain link with a "12" in it. So, that's what I'm going on.

John Z

The 1977 S10-S i just picked up also has the little "12" decal above the shifters. I did not know what that referred to since it is a 10 speed, and i really doubt that anyone has changed it.

BlankCrows

This page has a Fuji catalog. Not sure what year it is, but probably mid to late 1980's.

dougb

I think it's from 1989, but I could be wrong.

KLW2

I have a mid 80s Espree and was wondering where it sits in the lineup...

reverborama

I have 3 Fuji's and have never seen a catalog on-line other than that late 80's one. Even my two Supremes, both dated to 1982 by their components, are different. I would love to find some old literature about them but apparently it's unobtainable.

fbagatelleblack

As far as I remember, the "Team" was always at or near the top of the Fuji line of race bikes.

fbagatelleblack

I bought my Fuji Sports 12, my first "real" bike, in the summer of 1980. It had low end Suntour stuff on it, but it was certainly a 12 speed. It replaced the "Sports 10," but I am not sure if 1980 was the first year the low-end model went to 12 speeds. It's likely they had a few higher-end models with 12 speeds in the late 1970s.

fbagatelleblack

The quad-butted Valite tubing was a seamed tubeset made for Fuji by Ishiwata. Ishiwata marketed it as EXO-V. It was a manganese-moly steel alloy (similar to R531, if I remember right), and many consider it to be the first "decent" tubeset to come out of Japan at a price sustainable by the mass market.

Here is a link to an old Ishiwata catalog shot showing the tube specs:

https://www.equusbicycle.com/bike/ishiwata/page-02.jpg

Because the tubing was seamed, Ishiwata could (more or less) contour the wall thickness any way they wanted to. They could put it lots of different butts, with nice tapered transitions between the different wall thickness sections to minimize stress risers. Once they tooled up, they could just roll out the steel in sheets with the right thickness profiles, bend the sheet over a mandrel, and weld them together at the seam.

'Course, seamed tubing has its drawbacks relative to seamless tubing, but I've never seen a tube come apart at a seam, even after catastrophic crashes that buckled the top and down tubes. Seamed tubing is a bit heavier, but (I hear) it's a bit stiffer as well.

My Two Cents,

Danddd

Here is one of the few Fuji pages I've found from searching in the past.
https://www.classicrendezvous.com/Japan/Fuji.htm
The above page has pic's and a spec sheet from mid 70's

Another has a short history of Fuji from Sheldon Brown
https://sheldonbrown.com/japan.html#fuji

I bought a Fuji Finest in 1976. It was used then and didn't know what year it was or forgot. It had 12 speeds(now 14). It was my only road bike for about 30 years until I picked up a Litespeed Classic last fall.

Dural

Sounds like my second-hand 59c Roubaix which has Shimano 105 components dating from june to december 1987, making the bike a likely 1988 model. This is a great bike. Took it out today for a bumpy 38 miles along country streams. My project bike this past winter when I stripped it to the frame then built up with a seven speed Sora STI brifter setup.

The fork crown is internally lugged, which gives the fork a very smooth look. My bike is black with a clear coat, (and a chromed chainstay under the chain). Back in the day this model was one step below their top of the line bike.

The only thing I don't like is that top tube internal cable routing. The brake cable comes out on the side where it hits my leg. Got it held down with a tie-wrap.

robtown

I just flipped a Fuji S-12 today. It had a 14-30 freewheel, Suntour Superbe Pro RD, and Vx FD. I replaced the derailleurs with Suntour AR. The superbe will go on a Schwinn Prelude that has a Cyclone RD and Accushift downtube levers.

matt0ne

I have this old Fuji, but I don't know what it is. When I got it it had F-Racing Decals all over it. The spec seems older than the mid-seventies/eighties stuff. Any thoughts?
This is it in its fixed mode, but you can still see what's going on.

peterbarson

They are also bringing back the BMX names, I have had some reminising oldtimers checking outht enew Quadrange, and PK ripper in my shop window (and catalog)

tihara

Hi, I just came across this post and I was wondering if you found out anything else about your Fuji. I just bought the same model off a local party who had it listed on Ebay. Seems like a nice bike, but I wonder how hard it will be to find parts for it.

dahoss2002

I have a Fuji Roubaix from the late 80's. Very nice bike with shimano 105 components. I modernized my Centurion but I will keep my Fuji stock. I use the Fuji for my daily rides.

Bikedued

I have two Club Fuji's! Identical tubing, paint color, and components. They are a few centimeters different in size, but both in my range. Both are VALite quad butted "1769". Which one should I build? Decisions, decisions......,,,,BD

tihara

Your Fuji looks like mine except for color, mine is mostly white with a little purple. The bike is in good shape expect for the Ukai front rim. It has a couple of deep cuts in the rim where the brake pads touch. I can't figure out how the cuts were made. Am I going to be able to replace the rim with a new one, or they no longer made?

jgedwa

Can't really answer your question, but having one of them, I can say it is a very nice bike. The components on mine were pretty good. But the frame was excellent. One of the few bikes I regret selling.

jim

dtipton

Looks liks an early 70's finest to me.