Gear Review: First Impressions of the Fuji 2013 Sportif 1.5

As I'm sure most of you are tired of hearing, I got a new bike this past weekend. So after all the excited bouncing around and jumping up and down at having a real road bike to ride, I thought I'd share my first impressions of Fuji's Sportif 1.5.

First, let's look at the specs for the bike:

Sizes: XS/S (42cm), S/M (46cm), M (50cm), M/L (54cm), L/XL (58cm)

Color(S): Red w/ Silver

Main Frame: A2-SL compact double-butted alloy w/ hydroformed top tube & down tube, integrated head tube, double water bottle mounts

Rear Triangle: A2-SL alloy tapered seatstays/chainstays w/ rack mount, forged-road dropout w/ 1 eyelet and replaceable derailleur hanger

Fork : FC-770 carbon integrated w/ 1 1/8" alloy steerer

Crankset: Fuji forged alloy, 50/34T

Bottom Bracket: FSA Sealed cartridge bearing

Pedals: Aero Road platform w/ clips and straps

Front Derailleur: Shimano 2300, braze-on w/ 34.9 clamp

Rear Derailleur: Shimano Sora

Shifters: Shimano 2300 Dual Control shifter/brake, 16-speed

Cassette: SRAM PG-820, 11-32T, 8-speed

Chain: KMC X8, 8-speed

Wheelset: Vera Corsa double-wall aero alloy clincher, 20/24H alloy road rims, bladed spokes

Tires: Vera Helios, 60 tpi, 700c x 25mm, wire bead

Brake Set: Alloy dual pivot, 47mm-57mm reach

Brake Levers: Shimano 2300 Dual Control

Headset: FSA Orbit CE 1 1/8" integrated w/ alloy top cover

Handlebar: Oval 300S 6061 alloy, 31.8mm

Stem: Oval 313 3D-forged 6061 alloy, 31.8mm, +/- 7 degrees

Tape/Grip: Oval 300 suede-padded tape

Saddle: Oval R300

Seat Post: Oval 300 double-bolt, alloy 27.2mm x 350mm

Stock Photo court. of dandq.com

I'll be the first to admit, a lot of that was greek to me. I'm a bike newbie. I had a lot of the various components explained to me by the guys at Danzeisen & Quigley. (Disclaimer: D and Q are sponsors of my Tri Team.) Before setting on this bike, I had looked at and test rode a Trek and a Scott. Both are also very good bikes. What sold me on the Fuji was my body position on it as I rode. I'm going to be spending a lot of hours and miles on this bike this year, so I wanted something that felt good off the shelf. My thinking was if it felt good off the rack, after a fitting it'll feel even better. 

Friday arrived and with great joy and excitement, I dashed out of work, knowing that in just a short amount of time, I would have in my possession this thing of beauty. I was as excited as a kid on Christmas morning.

This was the first time I had ever gone through a bike fitting. The process to about 30 minutes or so for what D and Q calls a Level 1 fitting. This basically sets the bike up for your body. I have short legs and I'm long in the torso, so a bit lower of a seat was needed. The stem was adjusted to a touch more aggressive profile as well. The bike tech said that normally he wouldn't do that for a first fit, but I looked to be in pretty good shape, so why not. Agressive profile, I like the sound of that. 

True to their word, after about 45 minutes, I was out of the store with the bike loaded on the rack of the car. Sadly, it was raining Friday, so I had to wait until the next day for the first ride.

Speaking of the next day, it arrived in fairly short order. I only had a 30 minute ride scheduled because of a later run scheduled. Two a days yay!  Before I rode off into the sunset, I did a bit of customizing of the bike. The bike comes with nylon toe cages. I removed the straps that cinch down on the foot. They're cumbersome to get in and out of. I didn't want to spend a bunch of time futzing with getting my feet in the cages and dorking around with the straps. Off they went, leaving the rubber toe bit on the pedal. I also installed a spare water bottle cage we had here. Other than that, the bike was as stock as you can get. 

So how did it ride you might ask. This bike is not a comfort cruiser. It's a road bike, and you will feel bumps and rocks and cracks as you go over them. That's not a shock, it's expected. For a sub $1k bike, I thought she was VERY agile and handled very well to my novice mistakes. Good stability and easily recovering from wibbles and wobbles. The lightweight frame makes it easy to get up to speed and keep a good cadence. 

Shifting on this bike is pretty good. It's not as crisp as some of the more expensive bikes, but again, I expected that. For a first road bike, the shifting feels fine. The only issue I had was I had the chain come off the crank. Is that the bikes problem? I doubt it. I'm still learning how to shift properly on the bike, so some missteps are going to happen. 

All in all, I think this is a very solid choice for someone looking for an entry level road bike. It doesn't have all the nifty keeno things of some of the $1k and over bikes. But it's not skimpy either. The carbon fork seems to smooth out the ride a bit more, and the nimbleness of the bike is ideal for riding in more populated areas where dodging kids, dogs, cars and aardvarks is necessary. 

Overall Rating: 8/10