Here’s a real blast from the past! I have recently acquired a large number of Japan Bicycle Guides from the 1960’s and 70’s. Pictured below is a 1966 Fuji Dandy. It has very nice lines and a very 60’s look. Sure would love to find one of these!
I had heard about oxalic acid and its power to remove rust from bicycle as well as many metal parts. In my research I also found out the active ingredient in Bar Keepers Friend is oxalic acid. It just so happens that I had just received a rather rusty Fuji Feather Professional Ishiwata BMX fork and have a bottle of Bar Keepers Friend under the kitchen sink.
So, here’s what I did. I got a large plastic bin I had purchased at Costco some time ago. I put one cup of Bar Keepers Friend in the bin and then filled it with hot water until the fork was completely covered. I carried the bin outside to let it sit for a few hours. Before walking away, I couldn’t help but pull the fork out to see if any thing was happening. Sure enough, with the wipe of my finger rust was already coming off! I was looking forward to the result!
3 hours later I began to lightly scrub away the rust with a Scotch Brite blue non-scratch sponge. Below are the results.
After and Before
After/Before
Spent a couple hours this morning on the 83 Fuji Cruiser. First challenge was the seat tube and chain guard decals. These were both removed from the bicycle at some point. I am trying to get the color as close as possible to the current decals, and this has proven to be a real pain and ink waister but, I’m very close now. I used Photoshop and Microsoft Word to create the decals and then manually cut them out with scissors.
I got the sticker paper from Onlinelabels.com; quality stuff. I am finding the OL177WI weatherproof gloss white paper to work the best. The OL177CK (or clear back) seems ok too. Either way, do not touch the printed part with your fingers regardless how long you let it dry; otherwise you will leave finger prints.
The decals I got from Velocals, while a quality print job, were way off in regards to color and the spread between the two vertical “Fuji” texts on the seat-tube decal is too narrow. So, when you wrap them on the seat-tube you can never line them up on each side. Keep in mind I’m trying not strip the current surviving decals even though the frame has many chips and scratches. A survivor is only a survivor once, right? If I did strip them, then I would repaint the frame and likely use the Velocals after requesting a re-size for the seat-tube decal. Then all the decals would match, but not be their original color.
Next, I got to work mounting the chain guard. I forgot I had yet to find a 40t chain wheel and the 44t on there made the chain guard a tad too small. Thankfully I had a 42t and I can make it work with a little tweaking of the mounting hardware. Once I find a 40t gold Sugino chain wheel it should be a perfect fit.
1983 Fuji Cruiser Catalog Page
The 1983 Fuji Cruiser was offered only in the 1983 and only in a 19″ frame. You had a choice of white or black. It was equipped with largely BMX related components, except for the seat and handles bars. In the BMX world this would be referred to as a 26″ cruiser however, in the BMX world cruisers typically had straight-back drop-outs and not the road style as seen on the Fuji Cruiser.
1983 Fuji Cruiser as-found
The Fuji Cruiser pictured above was acquired a couple years and so far is the only one I have ever seen come up for sale. I’m guessing in relative terms, few of these were sold and even fewer remain. The bike had most of the original parts minus the cranks, pedals, chain wheel, front tire and chain-guard (you gotta have the chain-guard right!?). Also the seat-tube decal is missing.
*UPDATE* You can now see photos of the completed 83 Fuji Cruiser in the bicycle gallery here