2011 Fuji Altamira 1.0 Review

Fuji Altamira1.0

(I was lucky enough to get the chance last week to get a morning out on the brand new Fuji Altamira 1.0 - rumoured to be our team bike for next season.)

Fuji have been undergoing somewhat of an revolution in the past couple of
years with an overhaul from within Fuji of all aspects of the design
process. The aim was, simply, to make better bikes.

This year, 2010, saw the introduction of the sizzling Fuji SST1.0, a bike
so aggressive, stiff and easily excited that you needed a license to
ride it. Well, not quite, but you get my meaning. The SST range
marked a new path for Fuji and served to announce the arrival of a
company that has shown that they have the ability to produce bikes
every bit as well-designed and engineered as any other - and better
than many, some might argue.

So, when news filtered though about a new top-of-the-line offering from
Fuji for 2011, I was eager to have a look at it. And when I did I was
slightly suprised...

First Impressions:

On first viewing, the Fuji Altamira looks an altogether different animal
than the SST 1.0. The SST sits slightly hunched over, always ready to
attack like a crouching feline. The Altamira, as even the European
sound of its name connotes, is a different kettle of fish. Elegant,
clean lines with a shallow slope to the top tube and ultra-thin seat
stays give it a more upright, traditional look, balanced by the beefy
bottom bracket section with its press in BB and the sturdy-looking
symmetrical chain stays.

The head tube looks immediately more forgiving than that on the SST1.0,
and there is a 0.5mm difference there between the two - not much, but
visibly more upright. Fuji’s graphic design team have done a
tasteful job on the standard Altamira 1.0, and although there are 5
Fuji logos to each side of the bike, they compliment the finishing
rather than detract from it like some other brands.

Colors are of course a personal thing, but I am a big fan of this
understated black/white/gold combo. The M size that I tested comes
in at a super-skinny 815 grams, light enough for even the steepest
climbs.

On The Road:

With the first few pushes of the pedals you know you’re on a different
bike to anything Fuji have produced yet. The bike seems at first to
lack the directional force of the SST1.0 - meaning that when you
pedal it seems slightly less responsive - but this is, as I was soon
to learn, an illusion brought about by the fact that the Altamira is
just a seriously comfortable bicycle.

As I moved out of the city I started to gather speed on long, straight
roads, and put the hammer down, hitting 45-50km/hr. The frame
responded immediately to the force I put into the crank, making it
quite obvious that very little power was being wasted in the transfer
from rider to bike. The back end twitched just enough during sprints
to let me know that I was on a serious, ready-to-race bike here. I
came to a series of chicanes that I took at high speed, able to trust
the handling instinctively even though I’d only been on the bike
for 40 minutes. The marriage between the Shimano DA groupset, the
Oval 45mm carbon wheelset, Oval seatpost and stem and the Altamira
frame is a fine one.

On small climbs the bike glides with you over the peaks and bites into the descents, a sign of quality engineering. The slightly more
forgiving geometry lends a noticeably more relaxed feel, but it’s
not detrimental to the feeling of speed. The SST1.0 does however feel
like a pure race bike, whereas the Altamira has more in common with
the Cervelo R3-SL. Not a bad compliment to receive at all, by any
means.

Finally I headed back over a notoriously bumpy and jarring stretch of road, a
journey I always take with my hands in the drops just to be safe.
Here I was impressed with the Altamira because despite the fact that
I was going fast I still felt comfortable with my hands on the top of
the bars. Possibly the wheelset contributes to the smoothness but
certainly the frame offers a silky smooth ride.

the special edition Altamira

Final Verdict:

This isn’t the bike I would choose to do inner city criteriums on - for
that I’d be looking for a beast of a bike, a little Tasmanian Devil
on wheels, something like Fuji’s SST or a Scott Addict perhaps.
However, if you are doing longer racing or weekend club rides, out
climbing and descending on either smooth or bumpy roads, then the
Altamira will take very good care of you indeed.

The engineers who worked on this bike have achieved a balance between
stiffness, comfort and weight that most bikes would find hard to
match. It’s a suprising direction to see Fuji take, given that
Fuji’s 2010 flagship SST is a different breed of bike altogether,
but certainly the Altamira is a very welcome addition to the Fuji
stable, and one that should get the competition to sit up and take
notice.