
I recently heard from two people; each had a story of how they came across a Fuso bike under unusual circumstances and how they purchased those bikes at a bargain price.
Ed Arlt who lives in Northern California was telling a friend he was thinking of upgrading from his hybrid to a road bike. His friend told him of a neighbor of his, an older gentleman in his eighties, who wanted to give away his Fuso because he could no longer ride it.

Ed had never heard of a Fuso, but did an online search and within minutes knew he was on to something special.
He jumped in his truck, drove over and introduced himself to his friend’s neighbor. He was taken to the garage and there behind the lawnmower was a red Fuso in nearly new condition.
The owner told Ed he bought the frame from a Bay Area bike shop in the early 1990s and he hand picked all the other parts and had it built. He then rode it for a couple years until poor health caused it to sit for the last 10 years.
He wanted to give it to someone who would use it. Ed, to his credit, did not feel comfortable accepting such an offer, and paid the old gentleman $200 for it. Still a tremendous bargain.
The serial number on the frame is #100 which makes it even more interesting. It would have been built in 1984 the first year of production, but must have hung in the bike store until the early 1990s. The bike is pictured above.
The second story I received from Mark Worden who told me he came across a 30th Anniversary Fuso (1987) at a garage sale in Encinitas, CA. The owner told him it had been sitting in his garage for the past 18 years.
The frame was near pristine, but the components were slightly pitted, and the front derailleur clamp was broken. It had a $300 price tag on it, but after some wheeling and dealing, Mark came away with the bike for $75. The owner’s wife told her husband “Just get rid of it.”
Unfortunately, the frame was too small for Mark, but he passed his good fortune on to a friend of his who loves the bike. He wasn’t able to send me a picture, but told me he is now looking for a 58 – 59 Fuso and hopes he can repeat his good fortune. You never know he might just do that.
I built close to 3,000 Fuso frames from 1984 to 1993. Most were sold in Southern California. San Diego, Orange County, Riverside, and Los Angeles. A fair number also went to the San Francisco Bay Area. The rest in smaller numbers went to various parts of the US.
Where are these bikes now? I believe a lot of them, like these two examples, are sitting in garages unused. They are just waiting to be liberated, and I’m sure I will be hearing more stories like these in the years to come.