Fuji MTB

A while back I had a little indecision between two bikes, an old funky Mongoose ATB and a newer boring Fuji MTB. I ended up keeping the Fuji as a trail bike because it fit me so much better, and really didn't need any work. I rode it stock once, and it performed quite well for a heavy lower-end mountain bike. I was able to climb well enough, it felt stable, and the brakes worked. Once I had made the decision to keep it, I went about trying to solve the boring factor.

First, I changed out the black stem and riser bars to these old-school bullmoose type bars that were OE on the Mongoose. They're actually the wrong diameter stem, so I had to shim them in the Fuji with aluminum stock (Sprite can). They're nice and wide, and ugly in a good way. The Mongoose also donated its old beartrap-style pedals. The grips got changed to these gray and black salsas, and I swapped the saddle to a Brooks professional I had been given by a friend. I wasn't sure how the Brooks would feel offroad, but I actually like it quite a bit.



The Fuji graphics were very "90s," in that they had that tealish blue color, cartoony font, and a silly name to boot, "Sunfire." The Sunfire was a terrible car, and in no way do I want to be associated with it, if even in passing. So out came the heat gun, and off came the decals. It looks pretty clean now, with its Silver-and-Black scheme. I tried to swap the nasty black crankset for a nice Takagi triple I had on the Mongoose ATB, but it turned out the Fuji's bottom bracket doesn't provide enough clearance. I may do the swap eventually, but we'll see.



If I had my druthers and money to burn, I'd probably powdercoat this bike a light pink, and get all-silver components. I dunno why, but a light pink MTB seems to me like the perfect dichotomy. Maybe I'll compromise and spring for these when the time comes to switch out the tires.