Porteur Bike for Convenience with Bicycle Commuting
'87 Fuji Sundance Juice Sparkler with Origin8 Classique Cargo Basket.
I have enjoyed observing the Porteur bike gaining popularity over the past few years. As companies like Velo Orange and Portland Design Works have added some very nice products to create a market demand while tending to and meeting the needs of the newly established Porteur bike market. It seems only natural that with the bike communities taking shape in major cities around the country, more and more bicycle commuting solutions are hitting the market place.
Affectionately dubbed "The Roller Coaster"
A couple months ago a bike tech colleague contacted me to share his most recent bike build. A beautiful Surly three speed with a very large front porteur rack from Velo Orange that he affectionately dubbed "The Rollercoaster". It's a beautiful bike built by a very talented bicycle tech from Colorado and inspired me to look at building something similar.
I found an '87 Fuji Sundance Juice Sparkler a bit rusted with paint oxidized and in need of wheels and some TLC. I then researched availability of bike basket or front rack options for commuting and decided the Origin 8 Classique Cargo Basket as the most economical option for the build. Here's a link for more information about Porteur style racks and basket options for bicycle commuting. However this post is more of an appreciation of that funky old Fuji I was able to find and restore for our Porteur project.
Fuji put the Sundance Juice Sparkler out as a promotional bike for the Sundance Juice company of the late 80's. Other than that there was nothing "special" about the bike. Components were inexpensive but had obviously held up to years of neglect and abuse for the past twenty six years and the stem shifters provide convenient shifting while pedaling a load around with the basket. Anyhow, I had the idea of using it as a bike for selling organic juices made by a local vendor's juicing business. Very cool and these are the qualities of that Fuji which helped to define it as a Porteur bike; Comfortable, casual riding posture, chain guard for simple easy pant leg protection so as to be ridden with any type of street clothes, fenders because well they're just bicycle commuting friendly and of course a Porteur bike just wouldn't be a Porteur bike without a bike bell.
I found an '87 Fuji Sundance Juice Sparkler a bit rusted with paint oxidized and in need of wheels and some TLC. I then researched availability of bike basket or front rack options for commuting and decided the Origin 8 Classique Cargo Basket as the most economical option for the build. Here's a link for more information about Porteur style racks and basket options for bicycle commuting. However this post is more of an appreciation of that funky old Fuji I was able to find and restore for our Porteur project.
Fuji put the Sundance Juice Sparkler out as a promotional bike for the Sundance Juice company of the late 80's. Other than that there was nothing "special" about the bike. Components were inexpensive but had obviously held up to years of neglect and abuse for the past twenty six years and the stem shifters provide convenient shifting while pedaling a load around with the basket. Anyhow, I had the idea of using it as a bike for selling organic juices made by a local vendor's juicing business. Very cool and these are the qualities of that Fuji which helped to define it as a Porteur bike; Comfortable, casual riding posture, chain guard for simple easy pant leg protection so as to be ridden with any type of street clothes, fenders because well they're just bicycle commuting friendly and of course a Porteur bike just wouldn't be a Porteur bike without a bike bell.
 Nice paint and lugs for that Frenchy Porteur bike appeal, very nice. |  Integrated chainguard on chrome crankset of original ten speed drivetrain Whereas my buddy's Surly cost somewhere between two and three thousand dollars to build, the Fuji with basket, tires and stem cost about $150 and I sold it for $250. I also enjoyed riding it some as a fast moving cargo carrying fun bicycle commuting machine. Hard to put a price tag on that kind of fun. Here's to ya Porteur Bikes. Cheers! |
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