Fuji Sportif 1.3 (2013)

Fuji's Sportif 1.3 does a good job of being a well-rounded all-round winter workhorse. The frame's good, new Sora is good, the wheels are good and the £700 all-in price (even cheaper online) is good. As a first sportive bike, a winter trainer or an all-year commuter it's definitely worth a look.

The Sportif frame is the geometry of Fuji's carbon fibre Gran Fondo frame re-imagined in Aluminium: A2-SL alloy with a hydroformed top and down tube. It's a tidily-built machine with chunky-but-even welds and a pearlescent white finish that's proven itself to be fairly hardy. That frame is mated with a colour-matched carbon fork with an alloy steerer, a thin-bladed affair with a mudguard-friendly long drop. They really do take a mudguard, too; we stuck a set of 28mm SKS Chromoplastics on the Fuji with no problems at all, so you're not restricted to raceblade-type protection.

Geometry-wise it's quite a tall bike, with a 225mm head tube in the L/XL size we tested (about a 59cm). Coupled with the long-drop fork that's a pretty high front end. Everything else about the geometry is pretty standard, 73/73 angles in the large size slackening at the front and steepening at the back as you go down the sizes. 420mm chainstays leave enough room for a mudguard and the wheelbase (1029mm on our bike) is a touch longer than a standard road bike as a result.

On paper that sounds like a bike that'll be nice and stable but a bit upright for the quicker stuff, and in the flesh that's exactly what you get. The Sportif is a great bike for just getting some miles in. Handling-wise it doesn't really have any major foibles, and the slightly more upright position is plenty comfy. I don't mind a high front but this would be about the limit of what I'd consider for a road bike; I found myself reaching for the drops and staying there for much longer than I normally would, even on climbs. With a shallow-drop bar and that long head tube and fork, the drops aren't far away from where the hoods would be on a race-spec bike, really. That makes them nice and comfy but it means in the wind you'll present more of a frontal area.

The Fuji isn't super-stiff, and stamping on the pedals in a sprint for the town sign or up a sharp climb can eke a bit of flex out of the frame. It's noticeable but it's not really an issue, and the flex seems to be confined to the rear. the tall head tube and narrow fork don't quite have the point-and-go feel of a stiff, oversized front end but the bike never felt vague and turns in pretty well at speed. At cruising velocity, or in traffic, the steering is nice and neutral.

Shifting is brought to you by the new Sora 3500 shifters, with Sora front and Tiagra rear mechs. New Sora is great. It's proper Dual Control (little lever behind the brake lever) rather than a thumbshift, and functionally and ergonomically a league apart from its predecessor. With Tiagra moving to 10-speed, the logical step was to use the old 9-speed internals for the next groupset down; Shimano won't confirm or deny whether they're the same but they certainly feel similar. The throw is much reduced on the upshift from the 3400 Sora lever, the shape of the hood is a bit nicer and the quality of finishing better. Sora now ranks, for me, as the cheapest Shimano groupset that's basically fit and forget. It's nowhere near as refined as their top-end stuff but there was never a point during testing when I was fighting with the levers and wishing I had something a bit dearer. It really does the job well. I piloted the Fuji though some frankly atrocious conditions on the Chippenham Flapjack audax and the gears clicked and whirred away with nary a single complaint.

A compact chainset (Fuji branded) on the front and a SRAM 11-32 cassette to the rear give a broad enough range of ratios for any unloaded riding. Stick a rack on (rack mounts are provided) and load up with touring gear or shopping and you'll be wishing for a triple in the hillier parts of the UK. The brakes are non-branded long-drop callipers and at first I was pleased to see cartridge pads on them, until I actually tried them. Most brake blocks are fashioned from some kind of rubber but these seem to be made of some hellish combination of blackboard shards and fingernail clippings. I've never heard such a racket, it was almost embarrassing in group rides. Thankfully the war of attrition that was the Flapjack destroyed them entirely, so I can slip something a bit quieter in.

The wheels (Vera Corsa double wall aero rims on alloy hubs, 20/24 spokes) are actually pretty good. The rim is a similar profile to the popular Velocity Deep V, and they were tightly built, mostly. Well, all except for one spoke that worked loose on the first ride. Once that was tightened up they stayed true and were reasonably stiff too, certainly more so than some budget wheels. The Vera Helios tyres find their limit fairly quickly when you're scrabbling up a steep, slimy back-road climb but they're fairly predictable so long as you don't throw yourself pell-mell into the corners.

Oval supply the finishing kit. The aforementioned shallow bars (Oval 300S) are 6061 alloy and a decent shape. The stem, seatpost, saddle and bar tape are also from Oval's 300 series, and it's all good budget stuff. No complaints there.

Overall this is a likeable bike, and one that'll eat up winter or commuting miles without complaint. Brake blocks aside the spec is solid and dependable, the new Sora STI levers are excellent, the wheels are pretty good for the money and as a package it's a good-looking decent performer, for not much cash. Get one on Cyclescheme and you could have a dependable everyday bike for about £40 a month; what's not to like?

Verdict

Well-specced first sportive bike, winter trainer or commuter. A good ride for the money.