Fuji Touring

Come the zombie apocalypse, the Fuji Touring just might be the only bike you’ll need to survive.  Forget about those 15lb carbon superbikes, they won’t last more than the first day on the back roads you’ll have to flee on.  This bike is very understated with its gunmetal paint job and minimal decaling so it shouldn’t draw unwanted attention.

Fuji Touring

It comes with a sturdy steel frame and fork that is designed with loaded touring in mind and will stand up to abuse much better than a racing bike.  The Fuji Touring comes stock with a rear rack and extra eyelets for mounting fenders and an optional low rider rack to the fork.  The wheels are 36 spoke, double wall touring wheels mated to 700 x 32mm touring tires.  There’s room for fatter tires or cyclecross knobby tires if you want to take it on dirt roads or paths.  A nice feature Fuji added is a special mount to carry extra spokes on the left chainstay-that’s a sign of a well thought out touring machine.  Another well thought out addition is the use of v-brakes instead of cantilever brakes.  V-brakes are stronger and easier to find brake pads for on a tour.  Fuji also used special brake levers that are designed to work well with the v-brakes.  They fit my hands nicely and stop with authority even with a heavy load.  I’m glad to see they use bar-end shifters on this bike.  They are simple to use and dependable with few moving parts.  The more common STI style shifters you find on race bikes are much easier to break and impossible to repair while on the road.  If I could only have one bike to do everything this might be it.  For commuting, touring, joy riding, gravel grinding and winter training this bike would be perfect.  And at around $800 it’s affordable for almost everyone.