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Fuji Team SLAlthough you won't see any names (big or small) racing it in this year's Tour de France, the Team SL is not your average bicycle. Like the rigs you'll see racing around France, the SL is made for one thing: going really freakin' fast. To that end it's been tweaked, shaved, honed and generally stripped to produce a racing bike that comes within a whisper of the UCI's minimum legal weight limit of 14.9 pounds.
But the SL is not some unrideable "project" bike. It arrives at its fantastically low weight via an obsessively shaped frame and parts picks that are light on the scale and the wallet: notable are Vittoria's Diamante Pro Light tires (180 grams each, in a true 23mm width) and American Classic's Sprint 350 wheels, which weigh just 1,344 gram--lighter than any clincher wheels except boutique all-carbon models that cost more than this bike. The wheels are a bit high-strung, though. There's a 200-pound rider weight limit, and though I'm 50 pounds shy of that, our front wheel went out of true after only two rides, a problem American Classic's owner, Bill Shook, traced to poor assembly; he says he fixed this problem by switching vendors. Shook emphasized he stands behind his products and encouraged any owner to contact his company (amclassic.com) with problems. After the wheel was fixed, we experienced no further issues.
On flats the bike felt remarkably comfortable for an all--aluminum rig, with little of the harsh ride we expected. It's not the stiffest frame (an external-bearing bottom bracket-and-crank combo would help), but its low mass was a blessing on the 14-percent grade of Boulder, Colorado's Lee Hill Road. Most impressive were the SL's confident and stable descending chops. On one descent, racing a looming thundercloud back to town, the bike responded quickly and surely and delivered a personal record time for the (dry) ride down.
The Team SL is not perfect, but, given its price, it's a great deal. If you're a racer looking for a competitive ride at a steal of a price, this might be your pick .Joe Lindsey
RollsRite Bicycles Genuine Fuji Sales
& Service
