Fuji Palisade: is this a good starter bike?
Kevin Medlin
If you read about the LeMans Centurion, this is the Fuji I was talking
about.
Fuji Palisade
12 speed
down tube shifters
Feather Si35 Triple butted Cro-Mo Channeled Tubing Ishiwata
Component Mixture of Exage Biopace, Exage Motion, and Exage Action
Chainring is Exage Biopace
Giant Worldwide seat
Geltech seat cover
Profile Aerobars
Continental 28-630 (27 - 1&1/8) Super Sport Tires
This is all the printed info I could find on the bike.
I also have some general upgrade questions.
Can I get smaller sized wheels, thinner ones?
Can I retrofit and how much should STI shifters be?
Thanks for all your replies. I really appreciate it.
Kevin Medlin
Remember the credo of Walt Disney:
Think. Believe. Dream. Dare.
(Remove * from email to reply)
Michael Edelman
Kevin Medlin wrote:
>
> If you read about the LeMans Centurion, this is the Fuji I was talking
> about.
>
> Fuji Palisade
> 12 speed
> down tube shifters
> Feather Si35 Triple butted Cro-Mo Channeled Tubing Ishiwata
> Component Mixture of Exage Biopace, Exage Motion, and Exage Action
> Chainring is Exage Biopace
> Giant Worldwide seat
> Geltech seat cover
> Profile Aerobars
> Continental 28-630 (27 - 1&1/8) Super Sport Tires
That's an old bike- worth about $50 in excellent condition. Probably
been sitting around since the early 80s.
> Can I get smaller sized wheels, thinner ones?
They'd cost you at least $100, and then your brakes wouldn't fit. Might
not even be able to get brakes that *would* fit the smaller wheels.
> Can I retrofit and how much should STI shifters be?
Well over $200, and it would be a tremendous waste of money.
-- mike
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Michael Edelman m...@pass.wayne.edu
Wayne State University voice: (313) 577-0742
Computing & Information Technology fax: (313) 577-8787
Academic Computing & Support Services
Detroit MI 48070 http://www.pass.wayne.edu/~mje/home.html
Barry Sanders
In article <34225d01....@news.dukepower.com>,
*keme...@duke-energy.com (Kevin Medlin) wrote:
> Fuji Palisade
> 12 speed
> down tube shifters
> Feather Si35 Triple butted Cro-Mo Channeled Tubing Ishiwata
> Component Mixture of Exage Biopace, Exage Motion, and Exage Action
> Chainring is Exage Biopace
> Giant Worldwide seat
> Geltech seat cover
> Profile Aerobars
> Continental 28-630 (27 - 1&1/8) Super Sport Tires
Sounds like a great bike for training and commuting - and perhaps even some
racing, if you're racing just for fun.
I'll bet this bike has braze-on eyelets at the dropouts for rack and fender
mounting, making it a very versatile bike. The triple-butted Ishiwata
tubing is very, very nice. Personally, I used to like Biopace chainrings;
but they fell out of fashion. Change to round ones when/if the Biopace
rings wear out. Otherwise, you needn't make apologies for them. Also, the
handlebars are very likely 25.4 clamp diameter, making the switch to a flat
MTB-style bar easy, should you decide to do so for commuting (though
there's no need to).
I've had good luck with the Exage components, and theres' nothing wrong
with downtube shifters for most applications (including road racing). If
you want something a bit like STI; but much cheaper, try to find a set of
6- or 7-speed Shimano bar-end shifters (RX-100, Ultegra, etc.) These are
great shifters and almost as convenient as STI (notice I said "almost").
If you're thinking about criterium racing only, though, I wouldn't buy this
bike. Spend some more money on one with STI. (I don't race - that's just
what the racers say.)
BTW: This bike is worth about $50-100, depending on its condition. I'm
guessing here; but it was probably about $400-450 new in 1985-86. I
recently found a somewhat similar Univega bike in *like new* condition for
$20 at a garage sale (no aerobars, but hey...)
The Japanese bikes from the '80's are a great value, and well worth buying
as a trainer, commuter or bad-weather bike. Also nice as a spare, for
when friends and houseguests want to go for a ride with you.
Just my $.02
Barry
Rick Denney
This is an old bike, probably from the early 80s. Even in good shape,
it is worth well under $100. But, assuming it fits, I'd rather have
this bike than a new bike of similar price from a department store. At
least the frame is reasonable, and the components somewhat
upgradeable. See comments below.
On Fri, 19 Sep 1997 11:17:19 GMT, *keme...@duke-energy.com (Kevin
Medlin) wrote:
>If you read about the LeMans Centurion, this is the Fuji I was talking
>about.
>
>Fuji Palisade
>12 speed
You can get a 7-speed freewheel. The dropout spacing is 126 mm, which
would have to be widened to 130 mm to install 8-speed equipment. Any
good shop should be able to do that for a few dollars (just for the
frame asjustment)
>down tube shifters
Nothing wrong with that.
>Feather Si35 Triple butted Cro-Mo Channeled Tubing Ishiwata
Again, nothing wrong with that.
>Component Mixture of Exage Biopace, Exage Motion, and Exage Action
>Chainring is Exage Biopace
The Shimano Exage line is well down on the food chain, but it works. I
would replace the Biopace chainrings with round ones, but a few would
disagree with me on that.
>Giant Worldwide seat
>Geltech seat cover
I would definitely get a decent saddle. This ain't.
>Profile Aerobars
>Continental 28-630 (27 - 1&1/8) Super Sport Tires
>
>This is all the printed info I could find on the bike.
>
>I also have some general upgrade questions.
>
>Can I get smaller sized wheels, thinner ones?
700C wheels will require 4 mm longer brake reach. Look at your brakes.
If you can lower the pads by 4 mm, then you can install 700C wheels. I
think Shimano has a long-reach version of the RX-100 brake caliper,
which Rivendell sells, if I'm remembering correctly.
(http://www.rivendell.com).
>
>Can I retrofit and how much should STI shifters be?
If you install a 7-speed freewheel, you can use 8-speed STI stuff,
assuming the proper cog spacing. Get help from your local bike shop.
You will need to replace the freewheel (which you'd probably want to
do anyway), the rear derailleur, and the STI brake leve/shifters. You
might look into the lower Campagnolo lines, such as the Mirage, which
is quite inexpensive. Mirage Ergo shifters cost about $60 in a bike
shop, and a Mirage rear derailleur is about that or just a little
more. A Sachs 7-speed freewheel would be about $40. The shifters come
with all the cables, so you'd get all new cables in the bargain. You
might need other bits and pieces, but the bike shop could help you
there. The 8-speed stuff will work on a 7-speed freewheel, but of
course you'll only get 7 speeds. Similar Shimano gear would be the
RX100 line.
If you spread the dropouts, then you could replace the wheels also,
and get all 8-speed stuff.
At the end of the day, you will have spent about $250-$500 on buying
the bike and upgrading it. But you could do the upgrades over time, so
you aren't in for the whole pop right away. But if you have all the
money right now, look at your local bike shop and see what else they
have that's used in that price range.
Rick Denney
Take what you want and leave the rest.
Rick Denney
This is my day for screwups. Rivendell's correct URL is
http://www.veloworks.com/rivendell/index.html
but I was unable to find information on their page about long-reach
brakes. You might give them a call if you need to.
On Fri, 19 Sep 1997 20:25:03 GMT, rde...@mail.viggen.com (Rick
Denney) wrote:
>700C wheels will require 4 mm longer brake reach. Look at your brakes.
>If you can lower the pads by 4 mm, then you can install 700C wheels. I
>think Shimano has a long-reach version of the RX-100 brake caliper,
>which Rivendell sells, if I'm remembering correctly.
>(http://www.rivendell.com).
>