Inakamono

Hey, so I am looking into getting a new bike. Living in Japan, my options are somewhat limited, but I have three bikes in mind, the 2017 SE Lager, the 2017 Fuji Feather and 2017 Fuji Stroll. The SE lager and the Fuji Stroll I think would be the best for my riding style. I don't have a car and I bike everywhere and use it for everything, so having the option to attach fenders and baskets would be great. Furthermore, I don't commute very far, probably less than 10k a day, but it would be nice to have something to putz about on during the weekends too.

The Feather looks like fun, and from what I can tell has the highest quality components, but realistically would not be a good fit for the type of riding I do.

Currently I am strongly in favor of the Fuji Stroll, since the frame is made from CrMo, it is more oriented towards commuting, and there is more support for it (lots of bikes shops sell Fuji, I have only found one that sells SE).

I would love to hear what you all have to say about these bikes, and if you have other suggestions for getting fixed gears in Japan, I would love to hear that too. I can find lots of track and racing bikes, but relatively few commuter oriented bikes and frames.

Thanks so much everyone

Philasteve

No matter what the components on the Fuji will be nicer than the SE Lager. I would pick either one of them over the SE, but I'm clueless as to what other options there are in Japan.

Zoroman

There are no bikes or biking in Japan. It is a lost cause. Forget about it.

Inakamono

Yeah, the Lager's geometry looks like it would be good for what I need, but I was a bit wary of the components too. So it looks like Fuji it is.

There are a few dedicated fixed and single speed bike shops in Tokyo that I can find. A lot of their offerings are in English, stores like Brotures, W-base, Hakkle, and Diner Tokyo.

I would still consider myself a beginner, I have only been riding fixed for about a year, so a lot these shops' complete bikes are a bit outside my price range. Also, like I said earlier, it would be really nice to have something I can attach fenders to, because there is very long (and getting longer) rainy season every year. Most of the bikes these shop sell, and especially the higher end models, don't seem to accommodate attachments.

One thing that has been a concern is that I can find very little information about the Fuji Stroll. I have found one sort of review that gives it about a B grade, but nothing else. Fuji has a detailed spec sheet on it's website, and the components seem to check out, but it is very disconcerting the lack of other information about the Stroll. Everyone seems to love the Feather though.

And yeah, bike culture in Japan is weird. Mama Charis (Mother's Chariot) are ubiquitous, but these are cheap, heavy (40 pound) city bikes that no one takes care of, are often abandoned, and the standard saddle height is as low as it can possibly go. My girlfriend and I both have one and she was legitimately dumbfounded when I adjusted the saddle on mine, and was puzzled as to why I had it "so high."

Philasteve

I could be wrong about this but I never heard of the Stroll until today. It might be a brand new 2017 model they just introduced. The feather model has been around for a really long time. I would think it's just about the same quality as the feather which is decent just set up differently with a more urban style featuring rack mounts and riser bars.

Inakamono

So, after some more investigating, I learned that the Stroll was originally a three speed, but the 2016 and 2017 models are single speed.

I found a bike shop a few towns over that has a stroll they will let me test ride, so I will see how it feels.

Zoroman

Sorry, there are so many commuter bikes in Japan and not just junk.


What's the COOLEST singlespeed bike you can think of? - Page 2 - Weight Weenies


That was from 2006 and the conversation about bikes clearly shows a lot of diversity and quality in Japan. and I have been there 3 times in the past 18 months and I saw a lot of nice quality commuter bikes. I just do not comprehend this lack you speak of.

crinale

do you speak japanese? that'd help to talk to guys about what the local market looks like.

brotures offered fyxation bikes for a while, as a cheaper option.
check out y's road in shinjuku or shibuya. there's potential for fixed gears at those locations; other locations cater to different niches.

i got my bike off craigslist off an expat so i avoided the whole japanese and retail parts. which i came to learn later as i had to fixed up my bike to my liking.

ADAP7IVE

Going by your name, you're out in the inaka. Where are you at? I've been in Tokushima for a few years.

Depending on your Japanese ability or having someone to help, you could try Yahoo Auctions. I've found some interesting options there, and my last bike was half-MSRP and quite nice, despite being too small for me.

robsta

I've had a Lager for about 5 years. Never had a problem with it. Easy enough to put a rack and mudguards/fenders on if you wish. I'm sure the Fuji is a fine bike as well.
Regarding shops, I've used Brotures in Kichijoji for bits and pieces. There is a guy there who speaks really good English. They have quite a few fixed bikes in stock.
Close by is a place called Velocraft. Mainly classic type touring bikes, Panasonic, Raleigh, Bromptons etc but also shelves of quality parts (think hubs, brakes etc) if you want to build up something. Not cheap but you will get good service.
In between these two shop is CWS. They have a great range of bikes, mainly road, mtb and decent commuter bikes. Not a bad place for tyres, lights etc.
Now, more importantly. Close to Brotures is one of my favourite ramen shops. Worth the trip to Kichijoji alone.

Inakamono

Hey Zoroman, I realize that my wording was poor and I was over generalizing a bit, and I apologize for that. I didn't mean to imply that there is a dearth of bikes in Japan, as you've seen it's quite the opposite. I was referring to single speed bikes that could easily accept a fixed gear, or some track bikes. For example, I was really interested in the Kilo TT when I first started looking into riding fixed gear, but I couldn't find anyone that sold it here in Japan. Oh how I would like to be wrong about that, and turns out there is some little bike shop tucked away that has them. That's why I said it was somewhat lacking, just not as many options I would like. Admittedly too, Before I moved to Japan, I lived in a town where local bike shops were much more abundant, so that probably skews my perception.

But totes yeah, there is a very vibrant bike culture in Japan. I see a bunch of people commuting on cross bikes, and some people on nice road bikes, and even a couple of fat bikes in my small city. Just not a lot of fixed gears, relatively speaking. I have only seen two people riding fixed gear in my city. And I have seen multitudes more well used mama chari city bikes than anything else, and unfortunaly I have seen many an abandoned mama chari, covered in dust and rusting away.

And yeah ADAP7IVE, I live up in Tochigi, in the city of Ashikaga. It's actually a sizeable city in it's own right, but still considered countryside.I have been here in Ashikaga for almost 5 years now, and I love it. Where abouts in Tokushima do you live?
I am pretty comfortable with my Japanese, but I know I am not perfect. I have been on yahoo auctions before, but not recently. I have seen some great deals there, but what concerns me about getting a bike online is sort of the issue you had,I want to make sure I get a bike that fits and I would really like to test ride a model first. Part of the reason I am in the market is because my first fixed gear, a 2015 Schwinn Cutter I was able to pick up from a recycle shop, is pretty big for me. I would like to get something, or at least try something, that is smaller. Although if possible, I want to refurbish and repaint the Swchinn Cutter and then pass it on to someone in my town that needs a bike. Try to spread the fixed gear love, ya'know. Oh, and Crinale I have been to Y's in Shibuya, and they did have the Feather and Stroll, but I don't think they had test bikes of either. But I will check with them again and make sure. Also, do you still live in Japan? Where about did you/ do you?

Robsta, I went to the Brotures in Harajuku, and the people there were awesome. I think I might have talked to the guy you're thinking of on the phone. I did really like the shop, the bikes there are awesome, but a bit outside my price range at the moment. Although I would be so down for getting a really nice bike from them when I save up. I will definitely check out CWS and Velocraft too, and what is the name of the ramen place? I will plan a pilgrimage to Kichijoji soon.

Thanks again everyone, I really appreciate the help, and it's nice to meet some more cyclists here!

ADAP7IVE

Cool! Good idea, offering the bike up; I recently did the same with some guitars. I'm near Tokushima City in Aizumi, but moving up to Yokohama soon. The sizing and test-ride issue is so frustrating! I avoided shops for a long while after being refused test rides or a proper fitting before dropping serious cash. I recently sold the Bianchi endurance bike I got on Yahoo for being way too small...Now I'm ordering custom from the US, but basically down to two options--do I go SS, or do a Di2 1x? I'm disabled and Di2 would let me shift the rear derailleur, but it's expensive and electronic, so I'm a little concerned about rough riding in mud/rain. SS would take shifting and major maintenance out of the equation and there are riders who do my kind of riding exclusively on SS, but I'm worried I'll just be killing my knees and/or hate climbing mountains.

robsta

Ramen place is called Kouchan. It looks a bt run down, gets average reviews (one person marked it down because they felt the bean sprouts were too dark) but I like it.
Another option for second hand bikes is to try the Tokyo Cycle Club website. Their classifieds often have people selling (usually) road bikes before heading back to Euroland, USA, Aus etc. Dont see many fixed gear but could convert a road bike to single speed. You could put up an ad looking for a FG and see what happens. I think it is free.
A lot of the people in that group either bring bikes with them or order from Wiggle or similar in order to obtain the larger frame sizes.
Gambatte.

Wspsux

go to blue lug!!!

Inakamono

Hey, so I went to that bike shop a few towns over. It's called Trail Lovers, in Oyama city. The Ojiisan there was really nice, and let me test ride a few bikes there. If you find yourself in Oyama, go check him out. He had a 52cm Stroll, a 49CM Fuji Ballad (which has pretty similar geometry to the Stroll), and a 50CM Tern Rivit, which was basically a geared track bike.

The 52CM stroll did feel big and sluggish. The 49CM ballad felt much better and manageable. The Tern Rivit was strange. It had Keirin style drops, but with the gears. It doesn't feel like you can really utilize the drops because the brake levers are on the (very small) tops.

I only had a small stretch of road outside the shop, and all of the bikes were free wheel, so I don't know how great of a feel a got for the bikes. I do feel much more confident about my sizing though, I think that the 48 to 50CM range is probably my sweet spot, which gives me more courage to get a bike online, or get a used one from Tokyo Cycling Club for Craigslist. Oh, and thanks for suggesting the Tokyo Cycling Club Robsta, I signed up for it this morning.

I plan on coming down to Tokyo at some point and looking around at all the shops you've all suggested. There is one shop I found too that will let me try out the Fuji Track ARCV. Oh and thanks Wspsux for suggesting Blue Lug. The bike catalogue there is amazing.

I did realize something I should ask. Do any of you know any amateur velodromes in Tokyo? I looked briefly, but most of the stuff I found was keirin exclusive, so I thought I would ask. It would be really cool if there was a place you could rent track bikes, and it would help with my decision making.

ADAP7IVE, I looked up the Di2 1x and it looks really cool, but yikes it is expensive. I understand your trepidation. Is it all possible to get a bike that suits your needs with a single speed, and then later replace the bottom bracket with the Di2 1x, or are they mutually exclusive? Something that comes to mind too, and this probably a really stupid idea, but you could attach a homemade shield to the underside of the bottom bracket to protect it from the rain and mud.

Sorry my posts are so verbose, but I really do appreciate all of your help and suggestions. I thought I had looked around a lot, but I've realized that you miss a lot going solo. Thanks again everyone.

ADAP7IVE

Thanks, it really is expensive, and I keep coming back to the obsolescence problem: (even getting past the cost and the risk of being unable to repair on a remote bikepacking trip) if I get a custom Ti frame I want that puppy to last a long time. But getting into electronic drivetrains that require specific frame features, I'm wondering how much the hardware will change over just a few years and potentially require different frame features. Going traditionally-geared with a SRAM gripshift could work, too, without concerns about requiring an entirely new frame just because the drivetrain isn't supported anymore.

Swapping the BB wouldn't be a big deal, but you're onto something else: I could go with sliding dropouts and run SS now, and if I find it necessary to gear up, that design would accommodate a Rohloff setup later when money allows.

Ideally I'd tour in Japan, then do offroad tours and trail riding back in the States; going SS eliminates ALL the maintenance/failure/obsolescence concerns, but then you get into the issue of managing mountain inclines on long trips. There are people who do it (Alice Drobna who did the Triple Crown offroad tours in the US is one) without issue, so I'm just wondering how much I'm psyching myself out about nothing. After all, I was riding a 2x10 Bianchi last year and barely shifted across three cogs.

Sorry to hijack your thread--it's helpful to talk this out with someone who has more experience with SS than me, and who knows the kind of riding Japan has.

DanBell

A couple of thoughts:

I second the Blue Lug recommendation. Great shop with great staff.

ride2rock.jp is the website for the Japanese distributor of what looks like most of the QBP lineup. You can check the dealers of various brands on there. That might help you find more stores that stock the bikes you're looking for.

Don't forget to check Rakuten and Amazon. Rakuten is all resellers who are all competing with each other on price so sometimes you can find crazy deals as someone needs to get rid of last year's stock. Of course, no test ride this way...

I also second the Tokyo Cycle Club recommendation. You can post a wanted ad there. Some of those guys have several bikes and might have a currently unridden fixed gear in the lineup.

There's a guy named Tim Smith who runs his own shop called GS Astuto (gsastuto.com). He's hooked into the track racing scene and can let you know about open days at the velodromes. He may also be able to help you find a bike, and will certainly let you do some test rides if he has something in stock. He might be able to help you find something nice but second hand. He's also just an awesome guy.

Hope some of that helps! Good luck in your search.

Inakamono

ADAP7IVE, no problem at all. I am glad you can get some help with your issue too. It sounds like you would really need to build a bike around using the Di2 1x, and that limits your options down the road. I am not very familiar with the SRAM shifter, but it looks like a vialable option, especially if you can upgrade the bike with out necessarily getting a new shifter. Personally though, I think that going for a single speed that can then accomodate that Rohloff device is your best option. Like you said before, you avoid the potential pitfalls of a motorized system, and if you try it SS and then find you really want to have an electronic system, that Rohloff device looks like you can drop it right in, and vice versa, take it out again if you needed too.

And this may sound a bit odd, but I would also try to look at the "benefits" of tackling difficult areas on a single speed. For example, there might be a mountain route that is too much for a single speed, but that might mean you plan another route off the beaten path to account for that. Or converserly, if you do tackle a difficult route and you find you need to take more breaks, that can lead to discovering things you might have missed riding by. In my experience, I have discovered a handful of small temples, shrines and neat little areas that I would have completely missed if I had been driving or riding by.

But yeah, I wish you the best with that. I say go for single speed, give it a shot, and then go from there!

And Danbell, thank you so much for all your suggestions, especially getting in touch with Tom Smith. Initially, I thought the Stroll would be perfect, but really comparing the components to the Fuji Feather, the Feather looks like a whole lot more bike for just 10,000 yen more, and that got me interested in track bikes. I will be sure to get in touch with Tom Smith and see if I can try track bikes, and see what he has to offer.

Thanks again everyone, I really appreciate it.

Zoroman

Track Cycling in Japan


Japanese Track Cycling ... Just SOME of the Track Cycling centers in Japan:

Aomori Keirin Stadium, Aomori City
Beppu Keirin Stadium, Beppu
Biwako Keirin Stadium, Otsu
Chiba Keirin Stadium, Chiba City
Fukui Keirin Stadium, Fukui City
Gifu Keirin Stadium, Gifu City
Hachinohe East Athletic Park Velodrome, Hachinohe
Hakodate Keirin Stadium, Hakodate
Hankyu Nishinomiya Stadium, Nishinomiya
Hiroshima Keirin Stadium, Hiroshima City
Hofu Keirin Stadium, Hofu
Hyogo Prefectural Velodrome, Akashi
Ichinomiya Keirin Stadium, Ichinomiya
Ito Keirin Stadium, Ito
Izumizaki International Cycle Stadium, Izumizaki
Japan Cycle Sport Centre (250m), Shuzenji
Japan Cycle Sport Centre (400m North), Shuzenji
Kagetsuen Keirin Stadium, Yokohama
Kanonji Keirin Stadium, Kanonji
Kansai Cycle Sport Centre, Kawachinagano
Karigane Velodrome, Matsumoto
Kawasaki Keirin Stadium, Kawasaki
Keiokaku (Tokyo Oval) Keirin Stadium, Chofu
Kishiwada Keirin Stadium, Kishiwada
Kitakyushu Mediadome, Kokura
Kochi Keirin Stadium, Kochi City
Kokura Keirin Stadium, Kokura
Komatsushima Keirin Stadium, Komatsushima
Koshien Keirin Stadium, Nishinomiya
Kumamoto Keirin Stadium, Kumamoto City
Kurayoshi Velodrome, Kurayoshi
Kurume Keirin Stadium, Kurume
Maebashi Green Dome, Maebashi
Matsudo Keirin Stadium, Matsudo
Matsusaka Keirin Stadium, Matsusaka
Matsuyama (Chuokoen) Keirin Stadium, Matsuyama
Miyagi Prefectural Velodrome, Taiwa
Miyaginohara Athletic Park Velodrome, Sendai
Miyazaki Prefectural Sports Park, Miyazaki
Mukomachi Keirin Stadium, Mukomachi
Nagafusa Olympic Velodrome, Hachioji
Nagoya Keirin Stadium, Nagoya
Nara Keirin Stadium, Nara City
Nejime Velodrome, Nejime
Oda Velodrome, Oda
Odawara Keirin Stadium, Odawara
Ogaki Keirin Stadium, Ogaki
Okinawa Prefectural Velodrome, Okinawa City
Omiya Keirin Stadium, Omiya
Rokugo Cycle Centre (333m), Misato
Rokugo Cycle Centre (500m), Misato
Sakaigawa Velodrome, Sakaigawa
Sasebo Keirin Stadium, Sasebo
Seibuen Keirin Stadium, Tokorozawa
Shinjyo Cycle Stadium, Shinjyo
Shiwa Velodrome, Shiwa
Shizuoka Keirin Stadium, Shizuoka City
Shonan Bank, Hiratsuka
Tachikawa Keirin Stadium, Tachikawa
Taira Keirin Stadium, Taira Zone, Iwaki
Takamatsu Keirin Stadium, Takamatsu
Takeo Keirin Stadium, Takeo
Tamano Keirin Stadium, Tamano
Toride Keirin Stadium, Toride
Toyama Keirin Stadium, Toyama City
Toyohashi Keirin Stadium, Toyohashi
Uchinada Velodrome, Uchinada
Utsunomiya Keirin Stadium, Utsunomiya
Wakayama Keirin Stadium, Wakayama City
Yahiko Keirin Stadium, Yahiko
Yokkaichi Keirin Stadium, Yokkaichi


I guess there is a shortage of track bikes in japan. I wish there was such a shortage in the US.