After my initial impressions of the Fuji flat Bar road bike and replacing the pedals, I have the following comments:

• Shimano Sora gear shifters – I am sure more expensive shifters would be better, but this is my first time using indexed gears and I love them.
• Kenda tyres – no punctures in the Kenda tyres and wearing well. I am planning to replace them with 700 x 25c Vittoria Rubino Pros when the original tyres wear out.
• Rims – the wheel rims are slowly going out of true, but that is after smashing through some large potholes at high speed carrying my fat 80 kg arse.
• Hubs – front hub is becoming a bit rough when you spin the axel in your fingers, rear hub is running okay. I am thinking of stripping the hub and repacking it when I get some time.
• Riding position – I have dropped the handle bars and made a more aggressive riding position – it is still fairly upright in terms of race bikes though. I have move the seat slightly backwards to give a better balance.
• High speed – I rode down the back of Mt Coot-tha the other day. In 24th gear and pedalling quickly, I was hooking into the corners and loving every minute of it. I slammed into a pot hole mid-corner and stayed on the bike. That said, I noticed some instability in the bike going around corners at high speed – in a straight line, it felt okay.

Fuji Absolute 3.0 flat bar road bike stripped of reflectors and some decals, but with a few extra accessories fitted

I am currently planning on getting a drop bar road bike. I also would like to add a fixie to my fleet. The flat bar will become my wet weather bike that cops all the abuse. I am planning to upgrade the wheels at some stage.

In its current spec, with everything original except for the pedals (I have replaced them with Shimano SPDs), I am thoroughly enjoying this bike. It is quick enough that I can enjoy the rides, but still has a fair amount of comfort.

I quite regularly pass guys who are 20 years younger and 20 kilograms lighter on race bikes wearing all the lycra gear. They must feel embarrassed when a fat old guy on a cheap bike passes them!