I think I found the perfect touring bike but...

[biscaystorm]

That is

Well, I'm certainly biased on your second question, so I'll just quote Chris Juden who wrote "this is probably the best touring bike you can buy for under a grand."....

Quite an endorsement alright!

But going back to Fuji Tourer, another poster on the Evanscycles site (when you click on View Comment) states that:

"I've been told by independent bike shops that the rear drop out slots combined with a quick release wheel is a major design fault"

Does this sound plausible?

[531colin]

...........
"I've been told by independent bike shops that the rear drop out slots combined with a quick release wheel is a major design fault"........

Complete tosh. Except maybe if the Q/R skewer is an external cam type......the internal cam type give more clamping force for critical applications......google Sheldon Brown for an explanation

[biscaystorm]

Ok last question, which brake types are most likely to give the least trouble on a touring bike?

Cantilever or V-Brakes

i.e. which brakes are most likely to survive a trip through an airport? at least

[531colin]

Vee brakes for me every time. More powerful, no fiddling to set up (and less protrusion for damage)......BUT the best are full size Vees, and they don't work with STIs

[biscaystorm]

Interesting...but looking at cantilever brakes - they look like a simpler mechanism to repair than Vee brakes?

[Spinners]

I've got a 2014 Fuji Touring Bike and whilst I've not toured on it I've grown quite fond of it over the past year.

In commuter mode, it IS a blast to ride! Mine has 32mm tyres and Evans were doing £50 worth of free accessories last Spring so I banged mudguards on it and there's plenty of clearance for 35-37mm tyres. IMHO 32 spokes are not ideal but the wheels are fine and coped with my 17 stone bulk and this bike got me down to 15 stone! I've not pulled the rear wheel over but do like my QR's tight.

The cantis are fine for what I use the bike for but I think they'll be the weak point for fully loaded touring.

[Vorpal]

Interesting...but looking at cantilever brakes - they look like a simpler mechanism to repair than Vee brakes?

Simnpler to repair, harder to set up correctly. But once they are set up correctly, and you understand how the mechanical advantage works, there's nothing really wrong with them. I have cantis on two bikes and they are absolutely fine. Colin is right that vees are better, but I don't think it's a large functional advantage, as long as they are adjusted correctly.

[531colin]

Interesting...but looking at cantilever brakes - they look like a simpler mechanism to repair than Vee brakes?

Simnpler to repair, harder to set up correctly. But once they are set up correctly, and you understand how the mechanical advantage works, there's nothing really wrong with them. I have cantis on two bikes and they are absolutely fine. Colin is right that vees are better, but I don't think it's a large functional advantage, as long as they are adjusted correctly.

Beg to differ. My estimate is Vees are twice as good as cantis for actually stopping with, and are simpler to set up and live with. For drop levers, mid-profile cantis are the best, modern cantis are mostly either wide profile or low profile.
See here for the details....http://forum.ctc.org.uk/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=57410&start=30

but doesn't the current Fuji have vee brakes and 36 spoke wheels?

[iviehoff]

..............Looking at it, this particular bike doesn't seem to know what it is. They have put 25mm tyres on it,...............

My suggestion is that the reason it is cheap is because it has been put together by someone who has observed the fashionable features of good touring bikes and created a Frankenstein's monster of a bike because they don't really understand what those features are for. ...............

Iviehoff, did you by any chance read the bike spec. on Evan's website? The fourth item down lists Deore shifters, a fairly obvious error.
Perhaps you should read the spec. on Fuji website before you wade in with the heavy sarcasm.

I certainly wasn't being sarcastic, I was calling out straight what looked like nonsense as nonsense. You are right, it did not occur to me that the nonsense might be Evans failing to report the spec properly. I think it is an easy mistake to make, no one else seems to have spotted it either. It would have been kind, given your evident considerable expertise, and rightful claim to know how to design a touring bike properly, to actually go a bit further and give us a roper evaluation of the spec and design from you. What is this bike? Is it a camping bike or a fast tourer? Can something really be both?

Anyway, here's the proper spec on Fuji's own site. It is actually a much more consistent spec, for example with 32mm tyres not 25mm.
http://www.fujibikes.com/bike/details/touring

They have a 490mm frame for this bike, but, since it is sloping top tube, such frame sizes do not compare to frame sizes for traditional horizontal top tube touring bikes.

[iviehoff]

Ok last question, which brake types are most likely to give the least trouble on a touring bike?
Cantilever or V-Brakes
i.e. which brakes are most likely to survive a trip through an airport? at least

The way you make brakes survive a trip through an airport is to disconnect them, ie take the curved metal tube out of the catch on the brake arm on V-brakes; on cantilever brakes this can usually be done by taking the cable out of the brake hanger, but there can be other options, if for example you have a quick release on the brake arm.

[Vorpal]

Interesting...but looking at cantilever brakes - they look like a simpler mechanism to repair than Vee brakes?

Simnpler to repair, harder to set up correctly. But once they are set up correctly, and you understand how the mechanical advantage works, there's nothing really wrong with them. I have cantis on two bikes and they are absolutely fine. Colin is right that vees are better, but I don't think it's a large functional advantage, as long as they are adjusted correctly.

Beg to differ. My estimate is Vees are twice as good as cantis for actually stopping with, and are simpler to set up and live with. For drop levers, mid-profile cantis are the best, modern cantis are mostly either wide profile or low profile.
See here for the details....http://forum.ctc.org.uk/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=57410&start=30

but doesn't the current Fuji have vee brakes and 36 spoke wheels?

I've read those threads and agree with CJs calculations. And it obviously depends a great deal on the geometry of the cantis. I've never calculated the mechanical advantage for any of my specific brakes, and I wouldn't bother unless I was planning to change one of them over to a different type of brake. But if I consider stopping capbility on my various bikes, while the full size V brakes on the tandem are the best, my next best brakes are older centre-pull cantis. And while they only seem to lack a little over the tandem brakes (it's a little hard to make a comparison between such different bikes), the cantis are much better than the mini Vs on my road bike. The other bike I have with cantis, the brakes are adequate, but probably not quite as good as the mini Vs on my road bike. There's nothing wrong with any of them, and I ride my road bike more often than the others because I commute on it. I certainly won't argue against V brakes being easier to set up and maintain. Full V brakes would be my brake of choice for a new bike, but I'm happy enough with the other brakes I have.

[mercalia]

Vee brakes for me every time. More powerful, no fiddling to set up (and less protrusion for damage)......BUT the best are full size Vees, and they don't work with STIs

unless u use travel agents ( I know u will come back and dismiss them, but they work ok on my Dawes 1-Down, just an extra expence as they are not cheap £15 each? I am not into heavy braking, always of the opinion from m/c that if u have to brake hard u are not looking ahead enough)

[531colin]

Its much easier to criticise a bike using the wrong information than it is to make an accurate assesment using incomplete information.
If they are full-size Vee brakes, they get top marks from me for that.
I don't see the point of external bottom bracket bearings on a tourer, but its widely done, and the gearing is similar to what i would choose.
The geometry table is incomplete; I have to guess at the fork offset, hopefully its in the 50-odd mm range. There is a 2 degree range in head angle across the sizes, and they don't tell me the offset is different to compensate, so I'm assuming the same offset is used for every size. I don't like that, I think ideal steering can only be achieved with the proper offset for the actual head angle, but again, its widely done. If I'm right, the small bikes will have different steering characteristics than the big bike.
The chainstays are short for a proper load-lugging tourer, and the wheelbase see-saws, so that the 58 is longer than the 64, and the 54 is longer than the 56. It seems to me that the wheelbase drops each time they steepen the head angle; top tube length has been chosen to show a smooth progression across the sizes, and wheelbase is the prisoner of the variable head angle. Head tubes are all pretty short.

Can you beat it for £600? Maybe not. But if you look at the price difference between Spa's Ti tourer and Ti roughstuff bike, as far as I know that price difference is made up of STI lever and chainset price.....a Spa steel tourer for less than £800 with bar end levers and 104BCD chainset is an interesting comparison with the Fuji.

[biscaystorm]

The way you make brakes survive a trip through an airport is to disconnect them, ie take the curved metal tube out of the catch on the brake arm on V-brakes; on cantilever brakes this can usually be done by taking the cable out of the brake hanger, but there can be other options, if for example you have a quick release on the brake arm.

Thank you for that excellent tip Iviehoff. Anytime I have taken my bike through an airport (about 15 times) 4 or 5 times the only thing which was a little bit displaced was the brakes...so this tip should come in very useful.

In commuter mode, it IS a blast to ride!

Glad to hear you enjoy your Fuji. I think that after reliability, loaded-handling ability and long-distance comfort...I think the "fun factor" is so important for a bike (even a touring bike).