can fuji transonic climb?

shiznit76

Hi, i am thinking of getting a fuji transonsic 2.5 as my first venture in to carbon bikes, but have read some reviews saying that it is no good at climbing, can anyone expand on this? It has a 52/36 chainset with 11/28 cassette so i thought this would be ok, but some reviews slate it when coming to climbing, is it to do with the frame or gearing? Any info much appreciated

cougie

Maybe link to the reviews ? Surely they'd have explained themselves ?

frisbee

Reviews over emphasise differences between bikes, its going to climb 99% as well as any other bike around the same sort of price.

Even then, a bike 10x the price will hardly make any difference.

webboo

At 8.15 kilos it's a bit portly but how well it climbs will depend on how good you are.

shiznit76

"But while the flats and downhills were a blast, climbing was not as much fun. It seems Fuji has dialed in degrees of comfort at the seat tube to offer a more compliant and comfortable ride. And sure enough, the bike rides very smoothly and doesn’t beat you up. But on slower and longer climbs, the bike performed best via higher cadence and smooth pedal stroke. Trying to push a bigger gear felt sluggish, even slow."

imposter2.0

Bikes don't climb - riders do.

Magazine reviewers are paid by the word.

shiznit76

Imposter wrote:

Bikes don't climb - riders do.

Magazine reviewers are paid by the word.

haha, cheers was thinking along same lines!

orraloon

Imposter wrote:

Bikes don't climb - riders do.

True. Though a motor helps. Or magic induction wheels.

pblakeney

Dunno.
Put one at the bottom of a climb and start a stopwatch. See how long it takes to get to the top.

philbar72

friend has one and he says it climbs fine. its the person on top of the bike that makes the difference.

ben@31

Surely the difference between decent roadbikes will be very marginal. If you're unfit and a bit on the heavy side, buying a different road bike won't suddenly make you climb like Marco Pantani. I'd still be on page 24 of the Strava seg.
Just get whatever bike you like the look of.

bobmcstuff

shiznit76 wrote:

"But while the flats and downhills were a blast, climbing was not as much fun. It seems Fuji has dialed in degrees of comfort at the seat tube to offer a more compliant and comfortable ride. And sure enough, the bike rides very smoothly and doesn’t beat you up. But on slower and longer climbs, the bike performed best via higher cadence and smooth pedal stroke. Trying to push a bigger gear felt sluggish, even slow."

The bit in bold is just utter rubbish.

52/36 ("pro compact" I believe...) is obviously higher than a regular compact which would have 50/34, so it will have slightly harder gearing than a bike with a standard compact (or whatever the official technical term is for a 50/34 these days). On steeper stuff 36:28 is going to feel a bit harder than 34:28 might but that has nothing to do with how the bike feels at different cadences.

As above 8.15 kilos isn't exactly super lightweight but nor is it all that heavy. At about £1,300 (on Evans) you might be able to get a bike that is a bit lighter if you went for something not "aero", but ~8kg for £1,300 doesn't sound bad.

N0bodyOfTheGoat

I know I wouldn't fancy climbing the steepest ascent on Butser Hill, namely Harvesting Lane, with 36/28 as my lowest gear... It's bad enough trying to maintain ~80+rpm with 34/32 for me!

And while the top ~0.6 miles is pretty steep, it is still only a Strava cat4 climb.

shiznit76

cheers folks.
Buying it off someone at work for a steal, he bought it and only used it for about 50 miles till he decided that cycling wasn't for him so jacked it!
Just thought the review was kinda odd with the climbing bit. To be fair, i don't do much climbing, be lucky if over 1,500ft on a ride so shouldn't really be an issue either way

mamil314

They tried Fuji Transonic as their only bike and decided cycling is not for them? Holy Pasta! It's a bit like buying a stripped down track car and deciding that driving to the mall is not all that. If you are OK with with slightly faster/harder gears and if it takes at least 25mm tyres, i'd say go for it

twist83

It will be fine. If you struggle with gearing. Easy enough to change out the crankset and/or rings alone.

davep1

I tried a Transonic when I was looking for my next bike a couple of years ago. It felt harsher than the Propel I eventually settled on, although if you are getting a bargain that would make a difference too.
It came with a 52/36 and 11-28 too, I've since gone for an 11-32 (and longer rear cage) to get a little more help on the steep climbs.

shiznit76

cheers, getting it for £500, which I think is pretty good for almost full Ultegra groupset and like new. If gearing doesn't suit, like others have said, will change the chain rings,
Will let you know how it goes

philbar72

that's a steal frankly. its been used in the world tour as you can build it to current 6.8KG minimum, even if its the heavier frame. cheapest solution is go mid cage rear mech and have a bail out gear (11-32). 11/28 would get you up most uk hills to be fair on a mid compact...

burnthesheep

I'm going to put in my $0.02 on this. The price is good enough, get it. But, as soon as you do, place an order for a true compact crankset.

Unless you're in the 250w ftp or 3.3w/kg level or better, you'll struggle on longer climbs with decently steep pitches.

I've got a Propel with true compact 50/34 and an 11-28 and I'd say it's just about perfect for anyone who will never ride above a Cat 2 level. I'm down around a US 4/5.

I did a 3 hour HC climb here in the US (6200 feet) and I'd deem if you ever ever ever want to do something like that and aren't a race strong rider............get a true compact.

You can't just throw an 11-32 on there, as there is no way a Transonic has a medium cage RD. You could change the RD instead AND buy an 11-32 if you want to go climb.

w00dster

Give it a good few rides with the current 52/36, this may be all you need especially as you won't be doing much climbing. As you point out most of your rides only cover approx. 1500 foot of climbing.
I use 53/39, 52/36 and 50/34 - my personal preference is the 53/39 on flat routes (which 1500 foot of climbing would likely be counted as) and the 52/36 for hillier rides. I'm not a fan of the 50/34 but I understand why other people prefer this.
You may find for your rides on not very long / steep hills that you find very little difference between the 52/36 and the 50/34.
The upgrade I would do is to look at getting some deep carbon rims, aero bikes with shallow rims just don't look quite right in my opinion.