G'day everyone,
I'm new here and very happy to find out about this community.
I'm looking to get a new bike since all I've been riding is a mama chari for 2 years. I regularly ride it pretty far since I enjoy exploring Japan on bike and have never really thought about getting a new bike since it can easily cater for all my needs here.
However, I've been thinking of doing a bit more long distance riding. I live in Shizuoka and have been thinking of going to Kyoto via Mie. I ride my mamachari a lot on strawberry road (rt 150) to get to shimizu, but I think riding a chari to Kyoto may be a little difficult for me (not to mention getting it back on a shinkansen or disposing it). I've read the Tokyo to Kyoto blogs on this site and think I could probably manage it from Shizuoka. So now I'm looking at getting an appropriate bike to assist me.
So far through reading various threads here I've come to the following needs.
Budget: cheap, I think 70,000円 is probably my upper limit.
Frame size: I've never had a proper bike so I'm not so sure about this. I am about 180cm(5"11) so maybe a 52-55cm frame?
I want something that is low maintenance which puts single speed in my mind, but I've never ridden it and I'm not sure how I'd cope over long distance with it. So I guess if you can convince me to get one (perhaps a schwinn cutter) then I will go for it since they are probably cheaper anyway.
Would something like this be overkill?
http://www.wiggle.co.uk/bh-bikes-zaphire-68-2011/
All my LBS are kind of expensive since I live pretty far out of Tokyo, but other things that I have had in mind are:
- Giant defy
- Schwinn fastback
It starts to get expensive there, I would be willing to get second hand, I would even prefer it since it would be cheaper. The cheaper the better for me, but I've never constructed a bike so I'm not sure I could get all the parts separately. I've checked Yahoo auctions and all that but am not sure exactly what I need for parts. I'm sure it would be a good experience for me to construct a bike from scratch (besides the wheels obviously). Sorry for the essay, but I've been scouring this site for great info, and its led me to post all that dribble. Thanks for reading!
I'm new here and very happy to find out about this community.
I'm looking to get a new bike since all I've been riding is a mama chari for 2 years. I regularly ride it pretty far since I enjoy exploring Japan on bike and have never really thought about getting a new bike since it can easily cater for all my needs here.
However, I've been thinking of doing a bit more long distance riding. I live in Shizuoka and have been thinking of going to Kyoto via Mie. I ride my mamachari a lot on strawberry road (rt 150) to get to shimizu, but I think riding a chari to Kyoto may be a little difficult for me (not to mention getting it back on a shinkansen or disposing it). I've read the Tokyo to Kyoto blogs on this site and think I could probably manage it from Shizuoka. So now I'm looking at getting an appropriate bike to assist me.
So far through reading various threads here I've come to the following needs.
Budget: cheap, I think 70,000円 is probably my upper limit.
Frame size: I've never had a proper bike so I'm not so sure about this. I am about 180cm(5"11) so maybe a 52-55cm frame?
I want something that is low maintenance which puts single speed in my mind, but I've never ridden it and I'm not sure how I'd cope over long distance with it. So I guess if you can convince me to get one (perhaps a schwinn cutter) then I will go for it since they are probably cheaper anyway.
Would something like this be overkill?
http://www.wiggle.co.uk/bh-bikes-zaphire-68-2011/
All my LBS are kind of expensive since I live pretty far out of Tokyo, but other things that I have had in mind are:
- Giant defy
- Schwinn fastback
It starts to get expensive there, I would be willing to get second hand, I would even prefer it since it would be cheaper. The cheaper the better for me, but I've never constructed a bike so I'm not sure I could get all the parts separately. I've checked Yahoo auctions and all that but am not sure exactly what I need for parts. I'm sure it would be a good experience for me to construct a bike from scratch (besides the wheels obviously). Sorry for the essay, but I've been scouring this site for great info, and its led me to post all that dribble. Thanks for reading!