ダンボの旅: Bohan Tokaru???

Today was awesome, 

I found a sweet thrift store and a cheap bike. Good day in my book.

So here's my ghetto cruiser that I'm going to leave in town for when I end up getting out late or just don't feel like walking all the way back to my place and then just ride :). Key points: Huge basket, Straight handle bar, 6 speeds, Non-descript & 27" wheels (25/26 are the norm here) Add to that handle bars are normally the U shaped ones so turning gets kinda weird. 

So after riding her back home I took car of a little tune up. Got the brakes tightened up, Seat & light lined up and decided to set of for a ride. So I headed out for the next town over, there I found a nice park and then stopped for a little while relaxing watching the river flow by. It was a rather good ride, bike rode/handled well on the ride out and a almost the whole ride back. I was about 5 minutes away when my front tire went flat :(. Thankfully I always carry a pump and tools on me, so I was able to get it aired up enough to walk it back, but upon getting back discovered 2 things. 1 It had a decent leak in the tube & 2, there's more than just the Presta & Schreader valve... Like they say, you learn something new everyday. Yesterday I found out there's a thing called the English or Wood's valve. Size is the same as a Presta, but it uses a small rubber tube as a valve instead, pretty much as simple as you can get.

So after talking to the ever friendly hotel staff I made my way down the block to this sweet little store. I don't even know how to explain it except awesome chaos. There were bikes everywhere outside and Inside! After a brief broken Japanese conversation  I walked out with a new inner tube for ~$3.50. 

And with most maintenance, car or bike I picked up some other necessary tools along the way. About 5 minutes later I had it all aired up and good to go, then it was Ume-shu time :).

So that's my ghetto rider, well the other weekend I met up with 2 of my former co-ordinators and we too went out bike shopping. I was looking for something a little nicer for riding to work on. So after stopping at a few different shops we ended up at Cycle Base Asahi and some how started looking at small folding bikes. And the more I thought about it the more I wanted one, it can fit under my desk at the hotel, has a rack. Seat raises up high enough to get a good stroke & it was cheaper than a 27" bike with similar attributes. So after 5 minutes of internal debating 15 minutes of paperwork insued. (Bike Info: 20"s, 6 speed, LED Light, folds down into the space of 4 milk crates.)

Enter the Bohan Tokaru: So while Japan is an overly safe country, cashiers chase after you if you give them too much money. If you drop money a wallet or such chances are extremely high it'll show up at the police station. However there are a few exceptions to what won't get stolen. Bikes and Umbrellas are two of them. For some reason, maybes it's because all the bikes here are the same, seem to get stolen here n there. Japan has a means to combat that. It's a voluntary registration system. Fill out some paperwork, give the shop $5 and now your bike will be on computer for 10 years as yours. So if its ever stolen just call the police, tell them what the bike was, what it looks like and they'll start looking. So say my blue bike here were to get stolen. After I called it in you'd see police stopping small blue bikes the next week or so in my area checking the small yellow tags and frame number to make sure it's actually their bike. It's pretty cool.

P.S. Forgot to mention this in the last post about riding in Japan. One thing that I've noticed here quite often and had only seen once in the US. Women riding in heels and skirts.... Alot... I mean almost every lady I see on a bike has heels, it's pretty impressive. And while we're on the tangent of women's clothing/fashion, the side pony is alive and well here, it's kinda awesome!