One of the dangers of gaining a local rep. as an "old bike guy" is that people tend to give you rusty, middle of the road bikes. Many of these bikes have been neglected to the point where it hurts to look at the amount of easily preventable corrosion, but the opportunity to put things right is somehow therapeutic for both the restorer and the machine. No doubt this same sensation of healing causes some folks to restore old tractors and others to go into medicine. So much for philosophy...
More to the point, the latest neglected orphan to come my way is a Fuji. Being, up to this point, more or less a Raleigh kinda guy I know v. little about asian bicycles. This bike while appearing to be well made is obviously nothing too lofty. Hopefully someone in the group can give me an education and perhaps steer me towards Fuji web sites.. I assume that this bike is on topic (the wheels are 27" rather than 700c) but I may be wrong about that. Apologies in advance if this bike besmirches the hallowed CR premisses.
The particulars: this machine, finished in a coffee brown color, is marked "Team Fuji" on the down tube. The seat tube measures 24", center to the top of the lug--a bit big for me, but ridable. The seat tube bears a decal indicating that the frame is built of chrome molybdenum double butted steel tubing "331". The serial nr (on the under side of the bottom bracket is KE20175. The brakes are Diacom. The derailleurs are Suntour ARX. The stem and bars are Nitto. The head set is Tange "falcon". The seat post bolt is marked Sugino. The down tube has a sticker from "The Missing Link" bike shop in Berkeley, California--don't know if that provides a clue to date the bike or not. The stem interestingly bears a small oval sticker from Princeton Sports Travel, so this machine saw both coasts.
Can anyone provide an approximate date for this machine?
George Albaugh
Bowie, Maryland
USA