Folding Bikes - Now I had the ride of my liiiiiiiiiiffffffeeeee. (Photos)

Beautiful day on Ie Shima island near Okinawa Japan where I'm stuck working for a couple months. Stuck is a relative term as this is a wonderful place to be. Did about 70 km in two different rides today. Photos all from the first ride. Second ride was just a transportation ride to the store that got out of hand and turned into a sightseeing ride.

Photos as follows:

1.Dahon MuP8 overlooking the Ie Shima Lilly Festival early in the AM before it opened up.
http://homepage.mac.com/hagensieker/.Public/ieride.jpg

2. Bike overlooking some random field by the ocean.
http://homepage.mac.com/hagensieker/.Public/ieride2.jpg

3. Hey, I'm made of metal too! the man seems to be saying.
http://homepage.mac.com/hagensieker/.Public/ieride3.jpg

4. MuP8 rides the abandoned US runway on the island. I've been on this island many times and I've never ridden on the old runway. Very cool. The locals use it for a short cut so it's open to vehicle traffic.
http://homepage.mac.com/hagensieker/.Public/ieride4.jpg

5. MuP8 by one of the original buildings left shot up from WWII. This is (was) a Pawn Shop blasted during the invasion in April 1945
http://homepage.mac.com/hagensieker/.Public/ieride5.jpg

6. MuP8 by what I'm told is an entrance to a headquarters bunker used by the Japanese during the war. The entrances inside are sealed.
http://homepage.mac.com/hagensieker/.Public/ieride6.jpg

7. Screen shot of my Garmin Edge 705 dump into Ascent software on the first ride. You can see I blanketed most of the island. The area in green on the left hand side is USMC property. I can ride there but to have ridden there today would have meant swinging by work. Not part of the plan. Other area missed on the right pretty much covered on the afternoon ride.
http://homepage.mac.com/hagensieker/.Public/ieride7.jpg

Awesome ride. Weather permitting I'll do it again tomorrow. And the next day. And the next day.

John

having been around the island, i guess you've got nothing else to go to that will excite you but as usual GREAT pics.

Great to see. Thanks!

Not many surprises left on this island, that's for sure. I've been here at least 30 x's and have ridden around this island at least 10 x's. However, that being said this place is mega beautiful and worth seeing again and again. And I get pleasantly surprised every time I ride. Always manage to find something new or meet someone new.

I'm sure I'll ride it many more times in the next couple months and won't grow tired of it at all.

John

Cool! Looks like a great ride/trip.

Just purchased (literally 15 minutes ago) a MUP8 for my wife, and tested it myself for a quick ride - what a superb bike!!! I bought the Vitesse P18 for myself for the higher number of gears, and it is a faster bike - but what a great ride on the MU!

It combines a lot of the comfort of my beloved - but sadly sold Jack - with a lot more speed. Just a great bike, highly recommended...

My MUP8 was my first foldy and I bought it from a chain department store here. From day one the hinge was damaged and pretty sure I bought it like that. Probably got messed up on the showroom floor by some customer or employee. Brought it back in to fix and the people there literally told me they had no idea how to fix it. They got parts which took a couple weeks then told me to wait a couple more weeks while they waited on explicit instructions. Of course the parts came with a drawing. Not sure what else you need.

So I demanded the parts and "fixed" it myself. Unfortunately I could never get it right and decided the frame was bent and that I'd been screwed because by taking the parts the store told me they'd no longer recognize the warranty.

So one day I completely disassemble the bike on a bike stand and am just going to keep all the parts. I literally take EVERY SINGLE THING off the bike and then decide to break the bike in half to make it easier to throw away. As I removed the hinge stuff I looked at the cam and noticed the hole was offset and wondered if maybe I put it in upside down. I did. Put it back together and the hinge operated perfectly.

Had to build the bike back up from the nothing which however was fun and helped make me a smarter bike wrench.

All things considered I love the MUP8 as much as any of my other foldies. Had it been good from the get go I'd probably have never bought another one. Now I have 5.

John

TrekJapan,

any new toys for you ?

Haven't gotten any new toys but I did put a trigger shifter on the MuP8. Other than that I haven't bought any bike stuff in a season because of having lived through my first winter in some years. Now that bike season is here I'd say it's on. I almost bought a Trek Madone 4.5 a few months ago. Broke my MASI road bike out not long ago and decided I don't need a new road bike.

I think this year I'll abstain from buying another folder. Heck I think I have 5 now. Will just ride the heck out of them. Soon as I get home I'm going to dust off the Speed TT and Speed TR.

John

that's what i thought so - it's an addiction but may be manageable though. i myself can't control it - been looking at all the possible upgrades also for my folders. just got myself a vdo wireless cyclocomputer but somehow it's giving me incorrect speed sometimes. i have 3 folders currently but i am selling my curve d3. might be wise for me to just keep 2 for now.

Great pictures, looks like a nice place to tour.

Regarding the pix, the 1st, 2nd, and 4th may have also been good as panoramas with the top & bottom cropped off.