We Get Mail - Andrew's 1987 Fuji Titanium

This just in from Andrew, whose Touring Series IV we just featured.  Andrew has got Fuji fever bad and is on a roll.

"Fuji Otaku,

Thanks for hosting my adventures into and subsequent fever caused by Fuji acquisition.  Does vintage Titanium from the Steel age qualify as "non carbon" vintage cycling?

As mentioned previously, a couple weeks after I picked up my first Fuji (the Touring Series IV), I had talked about the bike finishing process so much that all friends and coworkers were aware of it.  That’s when one of my coworkers asked if I could grab something out of her car and when I went down there, the attached was staring back at me.  

Over lunch she asked if I wanted to bring it into my office (I did) and she gave me her husband’s email so I could initiate negotiations.  I began with, “I didn’t wake up this morning planning on buying a bike and can’t give you what its worth but can promise it a good home”.

I learned that Frank purchased the ride from a bike shop owning friend in Wichita where it had been on display many years.  Upon purchase he immediately switched out the Suntour components for Dura-Ace and got rid of the tubular tires.  The frame was a little small for Frank so he didn’t log as many miles as he planned with it so it waited for years in the garage (from what I’m told, Frank has a fleet of other high end bikes).
 
At the price I paid for it, it was basically a gift and other than replace the tires/tubes, I’ve had to do nothing to it.  The ride is darty (responsive) and quiet (I’ve never previously accelerated up some of the hills which now I can).  We put it on a scale at the local bike shop and it weighed a little over 21 lbs.
 
I rode both the Titanium and the Touring this past weekend.  One would think they could satisfy my Fuji needs, but then when at a wedding reception Saturday (I rode the Touring bike to) a 20-something-year old commented, “hey, my dad has a Fuji that’s been hanging in his garage since I was a kid”, I asked, “what kind?”…”white”…”sight unseen, tell him I’ll give him $100 for it”. 

I don’t feel the fever subsiding.
 
Until then,

Andrew"

Andrew,

That is a phenomenal score.  While it may not sit well with some C&V riders, titanium is a-ok with me.  In my opinion, it has the desirable characteristics of steel while being lighter and more corrosion resistant.

Beyond that, I was relieved to see the "Made In Japan" sticker.  We're sticklers for that sort of thing around here.

I looked around the catalogs on classicfuji.com, looks sort of like a 1987, which would be the first year the catalogs offered a titanium model.  Maybe some helpful reader has more info.

And now you've went and done it, you've given me a flare up of my ever incubating Fuji fever.  But no telling how long I'll have to wait for one of those to come along.

Until then, I will have to console myself with the fact that the claimed weight for my 1983 Fuji Opus III is 21 pounds as well.

Best,

Fuji Otaku