Fuji SST 3.0 (2012)

Pros

Great looking bike with proven Shimano 105 Groupset

Cons

Paint finish, non Shimano brakes.

Review

The history of Fuji bike dates right back to 1899 where the “Nichibei” trading name was established in Japan. The origins of this company was as an importer and marketing agent of products from the USA. Translated the word ‘Nichibei’ means ‘Japanese-American’.

In 1919 the Nichibei Fuji Cycle Company Ltd was formed by the merging of Nichibei and a Japanese Mechanical Engineering company. This is when the company commenced production of bicycles for the Japanese market.

By the late 1950’s Toshoku Japan has obtained the rights to distribute Nichibei Fuji made bicycles to foreign countries.
Toshoku America, wholly owned by Toshoku Japan, has been established to distribute Nichibei
Fuji bicycles in the U.S. Nichibei Fuji bicycles are private branded and sold through Sears & Roebuck and Montgomery Ward’s as house brands.

The Fuji brand is now owned by Ideal Bicycle Company which is the third largest bicycle manufacturer in Taiwan after # 1-Giant and #2-Merida

I always find it interesting the history of bike manufacturers hence the history lesson on Fuji.

Now to the bike,

Fuji SST 3.0. SST stands for SuperStiff and is produced using C7 plus high Mod carbon. The aero frame will suit Triathletes with the seatpost design allowing for a -5mm setup or up to 25mm of rearward offset. The post arrangement also allows for separate seat angle adjustment and the standard seat rail adjustment.

This basically translates to being flexible enough to clip on a set of aero bars and utilising the bike for both road and time trail positioning. For those whose budget won’t stretch to running two bikes this is the best of both worlds.

The Fuji ride gives you a sense of strength and confidence that this frame has been built well. There are two tests’ I conduct on a new frame to help me to decide the build quality. The first is the no hand riding to see if the frame tracks straight and doesn’t get up the speed wobbles. I have had a couple in the past where this wasn’t possible and for the poor lady in the bus shelter who thought I was going to land on her lap can testify to this.

The second is test is to grab both hoods while seated and to twist them side to side. On a good solid frame the top tube and seat tube do not start doing figure eight’s. Again I have not purchased some models due to this test. A tip here for people wanting to use these tests it is important to test a bike in the size that you will purchase. This is due to the different tolerances that are apparent in frame sizes. A larger frame will have more flex than a smaller of the same model.

Internal cables seem to be a trend amongst frame manufacturers at present. Not a fan form a mechanical point of view as they are time consuming and as in this case can rattle in the frame. Yes it looks nice and clean and can avoid the need for braze on cable mounts but I prefer external cabling.

The drivetrain is predominantly supplied by Shimano 105 except for the Oval branded brake set. Now I am a complete snob when it comes to mix and matching component’s and still to this day fail to understand manufacturers who continue this trend. Eleven years working in retail and one thing that were consistent from customers is the search for complete groupset.

The wheels, bars, stem and seatpost are all supplied by the Oval brand. Saddles are personal so there is no point in comparing this as you will soon work out after a couple of hours in it whether it is going to work for you.

The main area you might want to look at if you are planning on racing the Fuji is a set of race wheels. The Oval set are purely designed as a solid training wheel and if you are not a Coffee shop want to be then you can keep your racing rims for their desired purpose.

So there you have it the Fuji SST 3.0, an excellent entry level race bike that also isn’t too hard on the eye.