Strengths: Nice components without requiring alot of "upgrades" to make it a more comfortable/faster ride. Reasonably priced (if it had held together).
Weaknesses: Cracked frame during race. Wasn't riding too hard, being neglectful, just a poorly built composite. Need I say more?
Bottom Line:
I loved this bike, right up until the moment the carbon composite frame cracked 10 miles from the end of a 200 mile road race (the Seattle to Portland Group Health Ride)this July. Fixing the frame is ridiculously expensive, so Im shopping for another bike (this time not a Fuji). I had ridden it in a few shorter races earlier this summer, but otherwise have confined myself to weekend rides (ranging from 20-50 miles, so it is not as if the bike was getting ridden too hard or abused. It was a comfortable ride that I could feel good about racing without breaking the bank. I bought it to replace another older Fuji that I now use a as a stationary bike and hasn't cracked yet. Unlike alot of other reviewers here I didn't replace or upgrade any parts- saddle, breaks, seat post, etc. are all what came with the bike. Im a recreational cyclist, not a professional, so when I pay $1900 for a bike I expect the components to be good to go and to last more than a few years. We bought my wife a Fuji crossover earlier in the Spring of this year for her commute to work and now I wish we had looked around for another brand. The folks at Performance Bike where I bought all 3 of our Fuji bikes were sympathetic to the cracked frame but ultimately it wasn't their fault or problem. I've never had a bike frame completely snap in the middle of a ride before, and the bike was relatively new. Anyway, lesson learned.
Strengths: Full carbon frame and fork provides a comfy ride. 105/ultegra components are responsive and reliable. It's light weight enough that at this point the only thing that can improve my ride speeds is if I improve the engine--me.
Weaknesses: Stock wheel set is heavy, stock seat is a throwaway, seat post is aluminum.
Bottom Line:
I love my Team Fuji, not only is it pretty light but it has solid, reliable components, and provides a smooth ride. I ride every weekend long distances on it and enjoy the contrast between it and my heavier weekly commuter bike. The Fuji is definitely a dependable ride, and it's perfect for the recreational rider.
Strengths: It's a great looking bike.
For what I paid it was a great deal
Weaknesses: The stock shimano wheelset is pretty bad.
Bottom Line:
This is actually a 2009 model. I bought it a few mouths ago on sale before the 2010 came out. I took a break from cycling for a few years and I'm just getting back into it. I've heard mixed things about Fuji bikes, but for the price it was hard to pass up. It's a solid bike, nothing mind blowing. I've owned other carbon bikes that felt quicker, but I blame a lot of that to the stock wheelset on the bike. All in all though, everything on this bike pretty solid. It's nothing brilliant, but it definitely isn't lacking anything, and once you get a good wheelset on it your set.
Overall, and incredible value for the money. I really wanted to go all carbon again after riding alum/carbon combo bikes for the past 7 years. I really loved my Kestrel 200sc back in the day and and gave Fuji the nod here. It a great in the climbs, nimble handling and the quality is quite good.
Bike Setup: Full Sram Rival, Shimano 500 wheels, Victoria Rubaix Tires, Terry Buzz-off seat
Overall Rating:
Value Rating:
Submitted by
LOannSharkie
a Recreational Rider
from
Date Reviewed: November 12, 2009
Strengths: Price point
Ride quality in relation to above
vibration dampening
Takes a beating ((several hard crashes)
Weaknesses: Orig tru v crank was junk.. Lots of slippage as well and did not shift well despite tuning. New fsa kforce works flawlessly w orig 105 front d.
Bike orig came out of tune relatively quickly, but I was 30 lbs heavier then.
Wheelset ?
Bottom Line:
Going on 1.5 years, 6,000 mi and some change. Great experience for my first road bike. Orig. truvative cranks had a bolt issue ( would not stay tight) regardless of of all the usual remedies being tried. Eventually left arm was stripped to the point of being useless. Replaced at 1500 mi. w FSA kforce. Got a great deal online and had my lbs mec install. It has performed flawlessly for 3500 miles with no issues. AleK wheels are supposedly junk, but I don't know any better other than to lust vicariously through the experience of others for some american c's and mavics. X mas is comming! Test road every bike in the shop and could not tell any difference between 105 and ultegra. The cane creek sr3's get a bad rap as well, but I have not had any issues despite doing hill work and riding hard; again I just may not know better. Carbon felt a little strange when I compared it a quality alu frame when test riding. Not in a bad way. Stiffness seemed to be about the same, but it had a more muted feel as far as "road feedback" goes. Almost went with the alu, as it felt a little zippier despite the same weight. The bike shop guru convinced me that my body would thank me as the carbon has about the same effective stiffness/ power transfer and the feel is a result of vibration dampening, which is a good thing. Look sprint pedals have been great. I've got the roadie bug!
[url=http://velonews.competitor.com/2012/01/news/road/behind-the-scenes-at-the-bmc-camp_204842]Behind the scenes at the BMC camp[/url]
Also some good pix on Cycling News: [url= Read More »
I purchased a 2011 Focus Izalco Team 1.0 frame used from eBay. I built it up with some new and used parts from my previous road bike. I thought I'd share the result.
[img]http:/ Read More »
BMC has an official Flickr account:
[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/bmcproteam/]Flickr: BMC Racing Team (Continuum Sports, LLC)'s Photostream[/url] Read More »
