Fuji Bicycles Finest

Price Paid:  $600.00 at LBS

Model Year:
2005

Favorite Ride:
Anything

Bike Setup:
Stock except installed a longer stem and seatpost.

Summary:
Rip off.

Strengths:
Hmmmmmmmmm...........I can ride it in the rain and on my trainer now?

Weaknesses:
Cheap components - crankset problems after 1 year 1500 miles only; is not at all a 'forgiving ride' but rather it leaves your spine to do all the shock absorption; skinny handlebars make it hard to relax your grip; extremely relaxed geometry leaves handling twitchy (ie the bike will not ever follow a line), paint has chipped easily, also had to replace the very short seatpost; after 2 months of riding the rear wheel had to be rebuilt after losing 2 spokes; sloppy shifting needs lots of adjustment, etc. etc. etc.

Similar Products Used:
First road bike

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Price Paid:  $500.00 at eBay

Model Year:
2004

Bike Setup:
Mostly stock, upgraded to a set of Ultegra brakes (I had a pair lying around), swapped the included seatpost for a longer one. Shimano Flightdeck installed.

Summary:
I bought the 58cm size. I am 6', 195#, with a 35" inseam, and had to replace the stock seatpost with something a little longer.

Overall, I consider this bike to be excellent value for money. I purchased it as a 'backup' bike for training in poor weather conditions (to save the drivetrain on my $3k bike).

I'm not a big fan of the Sora shifters, as the mechanism uses a thumb and finger levers (unlike 'reguler' STI, where the up/down shift levers are right next to each other). I require a slightly different hand position to comfortably reach the thumb levers, despite my large hands. Not a big deal anyway, as I'm not racing this bike. The shift mechanism itself is fine, no problems with up- or down-shifting.

It serves the purpose quite well, and I won't be afraid to thrash it around in the trainer this winter. I am also using it to commute occasionally.

With the bologna fork and narrow-diameter tubing, the bike doesn't look (or feel) much like a racer. Steering is very predictable.

Strengths:
Forgiving ride, good stability (steering is not 'twitchy'). Lighter than I had expected.

Weaknesses:
Flexy, particularly noticeable in the fork/bars. If you're not racing, this isn't really much of a weakness...in fact, it may help increase your comfort on the road.

Similar Products Used:
2005 Giant TCR Composite 2 (if you call that similar)