Friday, July 13, 2007

Riding bikes in Japan

I didn't bring one of my bikes to Japan. It seemed like it would have been a pain in the ass. Instead, I ride other bikes, none of which fit me. Here's the rogue's gallery:

Rig 1:



This little gem is what we Americans would think of as an old woman's bike. Well, that's all anybody rides around here. It's strange going from working at a place where people really value bikes and are okay spending a few thousand on them, to a place where bikes are cheap transportation that you leave out in the rain and generally don't care about.

For instance, check out the finely tuned drive-train on my ride:



Pretty scary, huh? On the other hand, my front tire is so low that it hits the rim on potholes, and I haven't cared enough to add some air. That's kind of liberating. Yay for crappy bikes.


Rig 2:



This is an old lugged mountain bike I'm borrowing for the year. There's lots of easy singletrack around here, and this thing should be perfect for it. It was sitting in a garage for years, but everything works perfectly...I have no idea what the "hang ten" brand is.



And this is a neighbor's commuter bike...I took a picture because I thought the swooping twin top tubes were kind of pretty..

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Righteous sleds all. Post a pic of you on your mama's bike - if you dare.

-d

Unknown said...

Oh man, that brings back memories. Do they still have those "locks" on them that immobilize the rear wheel?

Nate said...

yeah, if anyone hasn't seen those locks, they basically are built-in. when you lock the bike, a kind of bracelet slides through the spokes and around the wheel, so the rear wheel can't move. that's it.

in the US, some enterprising individual would have about 10,000 bikes in the back of his pick-up truck within .9 milliseconds.