CenturionIM

I have a Ultegra 6700 group that is looking for a frame to hang on.

BD is having a sale on Fuji Connoisseur, which has a Reynold 725 frame, for only $400. Some ebay frames alone cost that much.

Is it worth the effort in your opinion to turn this bike into a 10 speed?

bikemig 

Nice looking frame and you own the parts. Sounds like a fairly straightforward project and the price is very good for the bike. Nashbar sells it at $500 and that price doesn't include shipping; BD's prices do. It's a deal if you like the frame.

Edit: sigh, I wish I hadn't seen it. Now I'll have to figure out why I don't need it,

Alan Edwards

The Fuji as new is a good bike. Better components will make it a better bike. If your just looking for a frame with good tubing 725 is vary good stuff. If your looking for a lugged Fuji frame there are a lot out there used.

dailycommute

No idea about those components and assume they are not worth much stripped, but that seems like a good deal. I was curious about this frame when it came out and for 400 for a ready to go rider seems like a worthy deal to me. Wonder what it weighs as described.

bikemig 

The frame is clearly the nicest part of the bike. The parts look fine. This would make a lot of sense if you have another frame you want to sell and you use the parts to set it up. Heck I might have just talked myself into a summer project.

F red

The spider looks like stamped metal, the chainrings have no pins or ramps, the Sunrace stuff are the cheapest things you can find on Niagara Cycle, and the derailers are less than $30 at CRC. So I'd say the parts really aren't worth much unless you want to ride it as it, or you have another frame you will move them down to.

In retail prices, theres probably not much more than $100 retail in drivetrain components on the bike. If you want to sell them second-hand, they're pretty undesirable, being indexed for 8 speeds and of not so great quality. I'd feel lucky to get $50 for them.

SvenMN 

My daughter bought one new last spring. Loves it with one exception... the downtube 8 speed index shifters were sloppy. The LBS just replaced them with Shimano Sora 8 speed brifters as he wasn't able to adjust to his satisfaction. Ultegra would be significantly nicer.

Puget Pounder

I agree. I think this would be one of the few times where you can put these parts on a frame you were intending to sell and get more than piecing out. In my market, any CV steel bike fitted with alloy wheels, no turkey wings, and any level of components will get you about $300.

CenturionIM

Yeah, the parts are really not worth much at all. Sadly I do not have a frame to hang them on. I might just keep them as back ups. Wish there is a frame only version of this bike.

Also just noticed that there is no fender braze-on on the fork. Is it possible to replace the fork and go threadless? Would a new generic carbon fork fit in there?

F red

A couple years ago, they were selling this as a frame-only for less than $300, but having wheels, tires, tubes and other misc parts is worth something it you just want to swap the drivetrain.

If you find a 1" threadless fork and a 1" threadless headset you can. That is the setup on my Lemond. Otherwise the head tube might not be wide enough. You can always buy one of those threaded carbon forks.

dphilips

I just ordered a 56cm thanks to this thread. I've been thinking about a lighter bike to complement my Bianchi Volpe, which is very comfortable but not so light with its 35mm tires, fenders, front rack, etc. This ticked all the right boxes for me and I couldn't pass it up at this price. I plan to ride it as is and upgrade as things wear out.

CenturionIM

nice. Please uploads pics and ride report if you can

Alan Edwards

On the fork replacing Nashbar has a threaded 1" carbon fork and other places still sell steel ones.

dphilips

I received my 56cm yesterday. The bike is very nice in person, the frame and fork are the standouts but the Sunrace shifters have a nice finish and feel to them. According to the spec sheet the right shifter can be switched to friction mode and I may try that down the road. The Tektro levers feel great and the brakes seem to be decent too. Between the release tab on the brake and the release on the lever the brakes open nice and wide.

I have not yet ridden the bike as it arrived with one of the fork ends pinched so the front wheel will not fully enter the dropout. BikesDirect was very quick to respond to my e-mail and offered a reimbursement if I was willing to adjust the dropout myself, which I will do tonight.

The Formula hubs were shipped way too tight (this has been the case with most unassembled bikes I've seen) but after a quick adjustment spin smoothly. I put the front wheel in the truing stand and adjusted the dish, brought up the tension, and tightened the runout; will do the same for the rear tonight.

As delivered, minus a few stickers and reflectors, the 56cm bike weighs 23.8 lbs. I said earlier that I planned to ride it as is but that's not completely true. The stock pedals are being replaced by some Shimano A520s. I have already changed the wirebead UltraSport 23mm tires for some Resist Nomad 28s adding ~90g. I will also be changing the 52/42 crank for a Sugino 48/34 because I can't push a 42/25 low gear up some of the local hills.

I hope to have some pics and a ride report soon.

dphilips

Oh, I'm not sure if this is a deal breaker for you but I don't think the frame is Reynolds 725; mine came stickered as 525 and Nashbar lists it that way also. Maybe the 725 on the spec sheet (it's on Fuji's site too) is a carry over from the fancy lugged frame the Connoisseur had in it's first year (2009).

MetalSlug

Strange... I owned one and it had a Reynolds 725 sticker on the frame. I'm not sure what's going on with this recent batch of Connoisseurs.

dphilips

That's a great looking bike. Fuji's site doesn't show the model after 2010 so I assumed these had been sitting for a few years (I should check my frame's S/N). I suppose there's always the chance these actually are 725 and were mislabeled?

striknein

Thats a pretty common occurrence with BD bikes.

MetalSlug

Thanks.

These should all be leftover 2010 Connoisseurs since the 2009 had a lugged frame.

noglider 

I prefer to be careful with money spent on component upgrades. You don't get the same value as you get when buying a bike. The most cost effective way to upgrade a bike is with the tires.

thirdgenbird

I think that would be a killer bike with 6700.

Those tektro brake levers are NLA and very popular. They would probably bring more than you think. I think you could offset enough of the price to make it worth purchasing the whole bike. You could throw the take offs on a flipper in need of components.

CenturionIM

hmm, i was initially attracted to this bike because of the 725 tubing. It seems like it does indeed has 525 instead:

https://www.nashbar.com/bikes/Product...49652____10001

In this case the price makes sense. Thanks dphilips.

Have to watch out for this kind of stuff on BikesDirect.

dphilips

Fuji lists it as 725 also. It's hard to know which is more likely, that some 2010 Connoisseurs were made with 525 instead 725 tubing or that some were mis-stickered as 525 and are being sold as closeouts. Nashbar's specs don't really tell us either way; they could've listed 525 because that what the sticker says. Still, since the tubing type matters to you then you may be better served looking at another frame rather than taking the chance.

MetalSlug

I was thinking about getting another one but now I'm unsure. Can someone post a picture of your bike?

bikemig 

The BD website says reynolds 525 . . . very, very odd. I thought it said 725 when it was first listed on their website (and so did a few other people on this list apparently as well).

Edit: don't get me wrong, it's still a nice bike at that price.