The wheels are solid and unremarkable other than the surprising spec of bladed spokes. The stock tires are well suited to urban thrashings, but we’ll be switching gears here for the gravel soon…. too much! I admittedly am partial to having shallow and flared drops. The Tektro Mira disc brakes are decent stoppers, and the standard drop bar, a Fuji Oval branded number, I didn’t mind…. Push a little further, remember that the front shifting is a bit slower, and the ride comes back to you. If you’ve been using newer and nicer Shimano, (or SRAM, for that matter), you’ll be a bit off on shifting at first, perhaps, like I was. The Shimano Sora drive train is decent, clicks off shifts well, but the throw of the lever and the ergonomics come from previous generations of STI. The longer wheelbase, bigger tires run at lower pressures, (I ran them at 40psi rear/38psi front), all certainly contribute to a muted, smoother ride experience, but I have to say that the Tread 1.3 has, so far, given me reason to believe that an aluminum bike can actually ride fairly well. Aluminum has a bad reputation in the cycling industry, which is too bad, because when you get aboard the Tread 1.3, you might be fooled into thinking it is made from something else. Maybe it’s almost too plain, but we’re here to talk about how this bike rides, so let’s move on…….įirst of all, the frame is aluminum, but it is not what you might think, or expect. I liked the way the red accents jump off the slate grey frame and the minimalistic branding is a refreshing take on livery for bikes these days. The overall understated look fits in with the “not too flashy” trends for urban bikes. The tires are typical looking street treads and the pedals are some minimalistic flats, which were surprisingly nice, actually. The Sora shifters are solid, but don’t expect the crisp, short throw of the upper end Shimano ranges.įirst Rides: The Tread comes out of the box with a definite commuter bent to the set up. Here I am going to focus on my impressions so far after the first several rides on this subtle looking rig. In the opening post for this test, we published all the specs, so check that link for the techy bits.
It is in this arena where we will be seeing if the 1.3 model can hang with rigs costing hundreds, and sometimes thousands, of dollars more than the sub-thousand dollar Tread 1.3.
FUJI BIKES 2015 SERIES
Fuji also sees the Tread series as a bike line up that fits in with the gravel/back road/ultra-cross scene. It isn’t really a cyclo cross bike, but you could do worse than this bike and it would get you by just fine. This isn’t necessarily a commuting bike, but it would make a great one. Getting Rolling: The Fuji Tread 1.3 represents a part of the cycling industry that is aiming to help cyclists see riding as a bigger part of life.