Challenge Fujin, first proper ride

At last I was able to take advantage of part of my day off to finish assembling my new bike and ride it.

The bike is a Challenge Fujin which won the Bentrider online magazine 2004 Readers Choice European Bike of the Year, you can also read their review.

Setup is a little bit fiddly due to the internal cable routing, initially I tried without shortening the jacket for the front gears and it meant the cable did not run smoothly. A couple of gripes are that fitting a rear light is not sorted out at all and you can't fit the neckrest and rear rack at the same time (well it might be possible later with some drilling.

My reasons for getting this despite my continuing love affair with recumbent trikes are

• I hope it will be a bit faster than my XXL so that I can make Andrew work a bit harder when we go out for rides together.
• With full suspension I hope it is going to prove smooth enough for me to carry a laptop and projector to services in the more distant churches that I preach in.

I have gone for a fully fitted model (full suspension, disk brakes, side and rear racks, mudguards, dynamo front hub).

Tonight I did around 10 miles (no computer yet), on the way back it rained really heavily (flooded road and I had to slow down as it was hurting my face - I know, what a wimp). When the road is wet it is drier than the trike as the water spashing sideways off the wheels does not hit you. When it rains the water runs down from your wrists into the jacket by your elbows.

It certainly felt quick, the steering is very quick and will take some time to get used to it and stop weaving rather a lot. Coast downs were amazingly fast and long. No problems starting or low speed or clipping in.

The suspension is wonderful, the road seems much smoother even with 100psi in the quite narrow tyres.

Can't wait for my next ride (aiming for the harvest service at Old Weston on Sunday, about a 20mile round trip).

I need to stop the idle side chain tube moving out of position and I want to adjust the right brake lever position as my thigh just knocks it sometimes. I need a longer cable to fit my rear dynamo light, plus I need a mirror and a front LED light as I don't have a standlight on the front.

Unsurprisingly enough at 10pm on a Friday night in Raunds it does attract quite a bit of attention, will have to see if it is more or less than the trike.

Comments

[erik forsgren]

Hello! I'm Erik. I purchased my Fujin last year and although I was very impressed by my former touring-recumbent Radius Marco Polo I realize now that the Fujin is a much better bike. I made the Czech Republic on it this summer. As a matter of fact I made most of it on my Fujin( 1800 km)I brought a tent a matress a sleepingbag and other items of equipment that together with the bike weighed 25 kg. The bike and all the luggage didn't cost any extra as I took the flight from Stockholm to Praghe. I spent more than a month travelling around and made the most interesting journey I have ever made. Why? Because I can't think of a more suitable vehicule than a recumbent if you want to get in touch with people and get to know the country. I have written down my impressions from that journey and if you care to read about it i can send it to you.
My best recumbent regards erik f

[DaveW]

Erik, I very much enjoy reading about peope who do things I only dream of. Love to see what you have written. Looks like my Fujin will allow me to do lots ofd exciting things.

Dave