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Bike Shops with english speaking salesman?

phillip99

Warming-Up
Jun 26, 2014
6
2
I just moved over here and am living in Yokohama (minatomirai) and am looking for a shop to buy a bike from. I have had several Tri bikes over the years but this will be my first pure road bike. I am not exactly sure which bike I want at this point which is why I am trying to find a shop that has someone that speaks English for fit and test ride purposes.

Looking for a shop that deals with bikes in the mid - high end ranges since I am looking at getting Di2 on the bike. Brand is not a big deal but have been looking at Trek Modane/Domane 6 or 7, Pinarello Dogma, and Specialized Tarmac/Venge.

I have been into the Y's Road in Yokohama and they had a lot of bikes but the sales people there just didn't seem like they really cared to help customers(not just me, the Japanese people in the store looking at bikes were seemingly ignored as well).

I also saw that the Trek store in roppongi has someone that speaks enlglish and I will definitely be checking them out but it would be nice to hit a shop with multiple brands, so does anyone have any suggestions??
 
This "Di2" is new to me.* It's strangely fascinating:



Welcome to Japan, where (contrary to popular rumour elsewhere) bikes can and do get stolen, not least for resale of their ritzier components. I suggest that you get something solid and non-flashy. Where it later turns out not to measure up, you can upgrade it. The more experience you'll have got by then, the better your choices will be.

GS Astuto is distinctly out of your way (it's close to Shinjuku), but Tim and Eric are expert and (as their names suggest) communication in English won't be a problem. They'll listen, suggest, talk, and start you off with something good. Call or email first.

*Which I point out in order to alert you to my level of ignorance.
 
@microcord Thanks for the response. I am not worried about the bike being stolen as it will be stored in my apartment along with the other bikes and will keep a cheaper bike for trips around town. I looked into the GS Astuto shop and while they don't seem that far away their hours are not very friendly to my schedule.
 
There's a guy at nalsima friends in harajuku that speaks solid English. Unfortunately I don't remember his name.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
@FarEast quit cycling and took up professional knitting, I've seen him posting frequently in Martha Stewarts "bobble and lace" forum. Apparently he pretty quick at the cross stitch.
 
Kaz Miyake at Nalshima in Jingumae/ Harajuku speaks good English and is very helpful. Not much haggling on price there though in my experience
 
GS Astuto is distinctly out of your way (it's close to Shinjuku), but Tim and Eric are expert and (as their names suggest) communication in English won't be a problem. They'll listen, suggest, talk, and start you off with something good. Call or email first.

Tim is leading the Tokyo-Aomori tour this week, but should be back next week. Eric left Japan last year.

With some of the bike shops it can be difficult to test ride the bikes. No so with GS Astuto, they also rent their bikes.
 
Tim is good. I have three bikes from him. But things can take a long time.

Hiroyasu Aoyama at Sports Bike HiRoad also runs his own shop and speaks excellent English. His main focus is fittings but will order and build a bike to your spec. http://hiroad.biz/
 
Hello, I often find bikes for people, build them and ergonomically fit them. Not quite a bike shop, but I do work from Tim's Akasaka shop often. My website link is below, check it out and let me know if I can be of assistance!


www.cyclefitjapan.com
 
Thanks for the replies from everyone! I was able to find a bike after a LOOONG weekend of visiting a ton of shops. I found that almost all of the shops had someone that could at least converse a little bit in English which was nice.

Sobering moment though looking at the prices of the bikes here, on average they were $1,000.00 more than the same exact bike purchased in Americas/Europe/Australia. Also, the selections at most places were minimal at best and the mid - high range of frames/goupsets was extremely limited. I came really close to ordering the bike from a shop in the US and just shipped over here. Maybe something in the wiki regarding shops would be a nice addition.
 
They might not have the mid to high end bikes on display but you can certainly buy them. It's a shame you can't browse the bike porn but I suppose their average joe wouldn't do anything but caress the merchandise and buy a fancy dust cap in the shape of a smilie face so why bother?
Do your research online, decide what you want, and go and talk to a dealer about prices. Most have some amount of flexibility and if they call the supplier they can often surprise themselves with deals they didn't know existed (last in stock, slight aesthetic damage, space needed for new stock, etc..)
Ordering in can have hidden costs which aren't that outrageous but need to be taken into account.

Hope you find what you're looking for.
 
Hope you find what you're looking for.
Isn't that a song?

Yeah agree with asking for a best price, remember you can also get a lot of the extras thrown in as you will need a helmet, pump and lock e.t.c.
What are thinking of pulling the plastic out for?
 
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