1997 Team Fuji
12-03-18, 07:29 PM
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1997 Team Fuji
I picked this up a few months ago and I'm trying to figure out what I have. I know it's a Team Fuji from 1997, the year Fuji America went bankrupt. It's fairly light and fairly fast, and it's well equipped with the full Shimano 600 Tricolor group. But the frame baffles me. If the labels are to believed, this Japanese bike was made in Taiwan out of triple-butted American-made True Temper steel. When I see a Miyata Nine 14 I know what I'm looking at. I don't have a clue with this. Are bikes of this era at all well-regarded? Does a TIG-welded bike even belong in the Classic and Vintage forum?
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12-03-18, 07:33 PM
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Bikes: Current: 1991 Miyata 914, 2006 Fuji Team Pro, 1988 Nishiki Intternational
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Oh, and the Oval Concepts bar and stem were my idea. It came with an Profile Hammer bar.
12-03-18, 07:50 PM
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I have the same bike, but mine's a 1995. It's a True Temper RCX2 Double Butted ChroMo frame with a Kinesis 6061 Aluminum fork.
I could not find much information on these bikes. Not much about them on the web.
I could not find much information on these bikes. Not much about them on the web.
02-21-23, 12:54 PM
#4
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I picked this up a few months ago and I'm trying to figure out what I have. I know it's a Team Fuji from 1997, the year Fuji America went bankrupt. It's fairly light and fairly fast, and it's well equipped with the full Shimano 600 Tricolor group. But the frame baffles me. If the labels are to believed, this Japanese bike was made in Taiwan out of triple-butted American-made True Temper steel. When I see a Miyata Nine 14 I know what I'm looking at. I don't have a clue with this. Are bikes of this era at all well-regarded? Does a TIG-welded bike even belong in the Classic and Vintage forum?
Never seen one like it but I bet the frame is superb. The rear dropouts look like a Tom Ritchey design, and he does have ties to steel, America, and Taiwan - he remains an advocate of steel frames and last I checked Taiwan are where his are manufactured from triple-butted tubing. I am a sucker for the aesthetics of a level top tube and oversized steel tubing, not to mention the very tidy TIG welds; it was like the pinnacle of steel framemaking.
I have a similar oddity: a Concorde Prestige made from Tange Prestige OS TIG welded. It features an internally routed rear-brake cable, Ritchey stamped dropouts, seatpost, saddle, and tires. Also equipped with tricolor 600 componentry. It is a fantastic ride.
Ritchey dropouts
Internal brake routing
Last edited by mruneedahelmet; 02-21-23 at 12:58 PM.
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02-21-23, 01:42 PM
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Wow, that Concorde is beautiful.
Thanks for the information about Ritchey, TIG welding, etc. Steel road bikes were definitely out of fashion at that point, but the few I've seen from then have been very nice.
Thanks for the information about Ritchey, TIG welding, etc. Steel road bikes were definitely out of fashion at that point, but the few I've seen from then have been very nice.
02-21-23, 01:57 PM
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You can clearly see the influence that mountain bikes had on road bikes of the era.
02-21-23, 04:50 PM
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Tig welding appeared mostly in the late 90's for economical reasons and also it was better suited for mass production. Also some tubesets like the Columbus Genius or Dedacciai DR Zero or the TrueTemper OX were better suited for TIG welding. These bikes are still classic and vintage. The 1inch threadless headset started to be adopted in 1997/1998 and then later in 2004/2005 later road frames went to 1 1/8 inch steerers and being threadless headsets only. Ultegra 6400 is bulletproof and oversized 31.8mm bars appeared approximatively in 2009-2010.
