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Going to Tokyo next week

I'll be on Tokyo for a few days next week. Could folks here point me to a few shops where I can look at vintage and custom built steel? I already have Toei on my map and I'm trying to find out where the guys that make Honjo fenders hid their factory. In exchange I'll be happy to report back with plenty of pictures :D

Quote:

Originally Posted by abdon (Post 15957520)

Miyata factory?

Where is Mr Sugiyama, who handmade Katakura bikes located? I would stop there for sure.

http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...-Katakura-Silk

Dawes-Man made some good suggestions in a PM he sent me when I went to Tokyo in April:

Quote:

A quick train ride from Akasaka… 5 minutes or so… will take you to a large modern cycle shop called Narashima Furendo and a very expensive, tiny, 1980s Italian boutique shop called Hip Hip Shake, which has a lot of nice frames - De Rosa, Colnago, Cinelli etc. and a lot of Campagnolo parts on display.

For classic Japanese touring parts there is Hasegawa Shoukai, a 30 minute train ride from Akasaka station.

Don't forget to visit Level bicycles, not to far from Toei.

Not sure if it's in Tokyo, But the Zunow shop recently featured on a post here at the C&V forum, sounds like a nice place to go to while you are in Japan. Zunow has quite a following here.....

How's your Japanese? You'll need to know a bit of it in order to get around effectively. Also, it helps to have a Suica card to get around the JREast and Metro lines.

W-Base Harajuku is a good stopping point if you happen to be near Shibuya and you're into fixed gear or BMX. You'd have to either walk several blocks north from Shibuya-eki or a few blocks south from Harajuku-eki on the Yamanote line. Also in Shibuya is BlueLug, which caters to the fatbike crowd (getting more popular, supposedly) and Carnival (more fixedgear) across Yoyogi Park.

Y's Road in Akasaka is the bigbox bike superstore, if you're into high-tech stuff (such as late-model Anchor/Bridgestone road machines). There's another store just south of Ueno / north of Akihabara, right on Chuo-dori. Ueno-okachima station is the departure point off of the Yamanote-line for the latter, or you can get off at the Electric Town exit at Akihabara-station, then walk west-then-north on Chuo-dori and watch Akiba get its freak on (Sunday is weird day). Yodobashi Camera just build a superstore next to Akiba station, which has a fairly large selection of mamachari bikes and good ramen restaurants on the top floor.

Punch Cycle Asakusa is probably your best bet for vintage Nihon jitensha iron. You can get to it from Tawaramachi station on the Tokyo Metro (not sure what the line is, though).

Cherubim is someplace near Roppongi, I think. They decided not to post their address on the website, though I heard they give tours.

I recommend Ramen Jiro in Ikebukuro. Just be aware - for your 1000 yen you're going to have to consume a monster bowl in about 15 minutes, while hungry kanto-jin watch and wait impatiently for you to finish. Also fun is Anna Miller's in Shinagawa (Wing Takana Mall 2nd floor) or Hiro-o. Get the Fruits Cream pie and the coffee.