Japan Cycling

[mountainchick]

Hi All!

I'm new to the site and wanted to see if anyone has cycled in Japan, and has any good routes. I've found a lot of websites, but I also like hearing opinions first hand.

Thanks in advance! And if anyone comes to visit, let me know, I'd love to go tour around!

[remigo]

Could you post some of those websites?

I'm moving to Japan in May, probably Osaka, but I'm not sure yet.

I'm wondering would there be any point in bringing my road bike...

[snapdragen]

If you go over to roadbikereview.com, and do a search on Geocyclist you'll find a bunch of ride reports from Japan. I think you have to register - but his pictures are worth it! Until his recent move to the middle east, he was living in Japan.

[Susan Otcenas]

Bring your bike.

I lived in Japan for 2 years.

Imabari-shi, Ehime-ken, Shikoku. Bike touring is awesome in Japan. I toured on every island except Hokkaido. Even Okinawa!

Get a mamachari (black, 3-speed city bike) for day to day stuff, though.

Susan

[mountainchick]

http://www.kancycling.com/index.html

http://www.bikely.com/
(search for Japan)

http://www.mlit.go.jp/road/road/bicycle/road/index.html
(this one is in Japanese)-I don't know if any for Osaka area...

Let me know when you get here, Osaka is about 5 hours from me and I'm always up for a weekend road trip! Its easy since I've got a car that fits my bike.

[SalsaMTB]

Hey all!

There is an extremely high possibility that I'll be sent to Japan from the end of this month/beg of July to Oct 31st. I'll be staying in Aiko Ishida (near Machida). I really want to do some road and off road riding during my stay. If any of your girls are in this area and want to meet up to ride, please let me know. I'm thinking of purchasing a mountain bike while I'm there, I'm not sure if there are road bike rentals, if not, I figured the mountain bike is more multi purpose, it will just be slow on the road.

I'm hoping to get confirmation of my trip in the next week or two. It's for work, so it's never finalized until the flight is booked, but it's looking extremely likely.

Jenn

Edit: OK, I just realized this post is quite old....Anyone still in Japan??

[Susan Otcenas]

If you can bring your own bike, do it. Decent bikes are VERY expensive there, and can actually be quite hard to find unless you will be in a reasonably large city. Most bike shops just have the mamachari variety (3 speed town bikes).

Susan

[mountainchick]

Don't buy a bike here....I just ordered a new FS Santa Cruz online because they were 2-3x more expensive here.

I'm fairly close to Machida so shoot me a message when you're around and we'll go riding!

**And depending on what size you ride you can borrow my husbands road bike, he won't be around. I think his is a 54...he's about 5'9 I think.

[SalsaMTB]

Susan, MountainChick

Thanks for the feedback on how expensive bikes are there. I was hoping to get a bike I couldn't get in the US as a memory, but maybe I'll look for a jersey instead while I'm there

MountainChick,

I'll DEFINITELY hit you up when I get there. I'm actually 5'8 so maybe your husband's bike would work. I'll have to look start looking in to shipping my mountain bike.

[mountainchick]

He actually has a hardtail/FS/road bike so any and all are up for your use. I'm hoping my new FS comes in the mail sometime soon. If so you and I will go riding. If you have some free time we'll go up to the Nagano area, I've got some Aussie friends that run a little hotel/B&B and know some tracks. There are also some Kiwis that know some good areas as well. I haven't been yet here in Japan so it'll be nice to try them out, I've only been road biking.

[SalsaMTB]

I'm here! Are you riding in this heat? This is going to take a little getting used to! I did ship my mountain bike and look forward to trying some of the trails here. Actually, just riding anything here (roads or trails) seems exciting. I'm a little hesitant about roads though, it doesn't seem anyone rides in the street and traffic is nuts. I'm thinking I'll stick to the sidewalk.

Let me know if you're up for a ride sometime. I still need to get settled in and build my bike, so I can't commit to anything in the next week. Plus, I need to get used to this time change!

[mountainchick]

Hey! Welcome to Japan!

I'm actually heading off to Korea for a few days but maybe if you're up for some rides the weekend of the 25th-27th we can head out. There are a few places around me, or we can head up to the mountains.

How long are you going to be around? If you want a road bike to use let me know. I actually don't mind riding on the roads here, the Japanese are used to people on bikes and are fairly respectful.

[SalsaMTB]

I’m here for work, so currently I’m scheduled until Nov 7, but it’s possible I could be here as late as early March or I could leave in a few weeks. That’s how work is  There is supposed to be an announcement on July 22 and it should make the length of my trip much more clear. The weekend of the 25th works well for me. I don’t think there is a need to go anywhere crazy yet, I’ve been off the bike for a bit so I’m feeling really out of shape and well, in Michigan we don’t have mountains! So, if there is something sort of close, we can do that but I’ll leave the final decision up to you since I don’t know anything about the riding here. If you want to do a nice road ride, I’m good with that also.

Did your new bike arrive yet??

[mountainchick]

Yup, there's a picture of her in the mountain bike section. Santa Cruz Juliana.

There's actually some good stuff close to me (within a 15 min drive) that I just discovered this past weekend and am wanting to go out again to explore a bit more.

It's definitely doable since I took a newish person and a pregnant lady who both rode just so so bikes but they walked down some of the steeper stuff. You wouldn't guess you were in the city.

When I get back from Korea on Sunday I'll shoot you a message and we can plan the following weekend.