This is a project that I've had for a while now but I'd like to ride it this summer so it's time to get busy. From a previous musing of mine:
"I worked at Backroads for ten years beginning in the late 1980's as a regional manager, and a tour guide.
From roughly 1989 to 1997, they had their road/touring frames made by Fuji, with spec'd componentry of Backroads' choosing. They went through three iterations of Fuji lugged steel frames, beginning with the steel blue Mistaya in 1989, then moving onto the Blue Chimayo in 90/91, and finally the red Chimayo frames after that.
The blue Chimayo paint was somewhat defective. It faded prematurely, as shown by the band of darker blue on your frame, which was probably the result of a Zefal pump peg being attached there, inadvertently protecting the new paint.
The silver sticker on the top of the down tube had a four digit number on it for the company's inventory. The first digit referred to the frame size in inches: 1=19", 2=21", 3=23", and 4=25".
The stock componentry was usually of Shimano LX variety with some substitutions on brake levers and bar end shifters if it was a drop bar bike. An Avocet Touring 1 or 2 seat, and Blackburn rear rack was part of the standard equipment as well."
My Fuji frame appears to be a '91 judging by the parts group that was on it, mostly Shimano LX. It's very well used, ie totally thrashed, and the paint is Fugly! So it's time for some fresh colors.
Backroads is a touring company that rents bikes and you can buy your rental bike if you fall in love with it. Here's some info I found online:I built up this gravel bike on my dad's old hybrid, Spindatt style. It's a cool bike. I haven't ridden it much and never got the brifters to work quite right. I came across this cool old Fuji touring bike for $20. It's ugly and had no usable parts on it but I like the lugged frame and the fork so I've been planning to transfer my gravel build to this frameset and utilize the downtube shifters with the brifters becoming just brake levers.
"I worked at Backroads for ten years beginning in the late 1980's as a regional manager, and a tour guide.
From roughly 1989 to 1997, they had their road/touring frames made by Fuji, with spec'd componentry of Backroads' choosing. They went through three iterations of Fuji lugged steel frames, beginning with the steel blue Mistaya in 1989, then moving onto the Blue Chimayo in 90/91, and finally the red Chimayo frames after that.
The blue Chimayo paint was somewhat defective. It faded prematurely, as shown by the band of darker blue on your frame, which was probably the result of a Zefal pump peg being attached there, inadvertently protecting the new paint.
The silver sticker on the top of the down tube had a four digit number on it for the company's inventory. The first digit referred to the frame size in inches: 1=19", 2=21", 3=23", and 4=25".
The stock componentry was usually of Shimano LX variety with some substitutions on brake levers and bar end shifters if it was a drop bar bike. An Avocet Touring 1 or 2 seat, and Blackburn rear rack was part of the standard equipment as well."
My Fuji frame appears to be a '91 judging by the parts group that was on it, mostly Shimano LX. It's very well used, ie totally thrashed, and the paint is Fugly! So it's time for some fresh colors.