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pedalist

Maximum Pace
Jan 24, 2015
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Hello everyone,
I just wanted to drop a note and let your know that I'm happy to be part of TCC again.
I used to be member (pedalist) of TCC, was away for some years and now I'm back in Japan. I'm living in Yokohama's south and used to ride around Miura, Kamakura, Yabitsu, Hakone (road) with @bloaker and the Yokosuka crew.
Now I'm trying to get back into cycling. The last two years I finished with a three digit number only (excluding commuting).

Btw, when I opened my garage after seven years I found that the salty air put an end to my commuter. Actually I planned to send my old MTB form Germany, but DHL wouldn't take a bike box and UPS and co. would charge way too much.
So now I'm looking for a bike to run errands, shopping, go to work etc. big enough for me (188cm, long legs). I don't need anything fancy (for now), just something to start with (need fenders and a rack).
I'm looking at Yahoo, but didn't find anything yet.
Is there any secondhand bicycle shop in the Yokohama area?
Otherwise I might have to order form Chainreaction or the like. Do you have any suggestions for places to buy bikes online? It seems like German online bicycle shops don't ship to Japan.

Thank you and I hope to see you around sometime.
 
Welcome back to the forum! Wouldn't it make more sense to merge your new account with the old one? ;)
 
Welcome back to the forum! Wouldn't it make more sense to merge your new account with the old one? ;)
Thank you!
Actually yes! I couldn't login with my old name. So I gave up and created a new one.
So, if there's a way to reactivate my old account or to merge those two, I'd be happy.
 
If you're 188 cm and your legs aren't short for your height, your chances of finding a suitably sized bike in Japan are negligible. If the bike is just for shopping and so forth, how about ordering a frame (or a whole bike) from Ali Express?
 
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There's always a way. Resurrection for Christmas...
 
If you're 188 cm and your legs aren't short for your height, your chances of finding a suitably sized bike in Japan are negligible. If the bike is just for shopping and so forth, how about ordering a frame (or a whole bike) from Ali Express?
Can we trust frames/bikes from Ali Express?Just wondering.
 
@Forsbrook , no we can't. But, as Hambini repeatedly shows us, we can't trust frames/bikes from almost anywhere else, either. That's not to say that every potential source is about equally unreliable, and I expect that AliExpress is on average less reliable than a Japanese bike shop. But your average Japanese bike shop won't have a big enough bike/frame.

I haven't looked in bikeforums.net and such places for first-hand reports of particular AliExpress bike frames/products; but I presume that reports can be found somewhere. The message forum may be more or less infested by shills, but it's usually fairly easy to weed out such comments.

Steel frames are definitely not immune to defects, but at least the defects will be apparent and many kinds would be fixable. And Japan is a nation with a wonderful array of framebuilders, many of whom are prepared to straighten out frames, and for a very decent price. Though of course something like a seriously misaligned bottom bracket would be beyond hope.

Returning to Japan: I haven't looked at Cycly's website in years, but back then it sometimes showed what are by Japanese standards freakishly large bikes/frames. And this (Buychari; NB the Utsunomiya branch) looks pretty big.
 
But your average Japanese bike shop won't have a big enough bike/frame.
Just to add to that: most bike companies don't send "large" frames to their Japanese distributors at all, so it isn't the LBS's fault. Many less popular models are imported in sizes XS and S only! Others up until size M/54 cm. Even size L/56 cm is rare. (Ask me how I know.)

At 188 cm, I'd also look at other options such as chainreactioncycles or, if you have connections to the US and can figure out a way to ship to Japan at a reasonable cost, The Pro's Closet.
Steel frames are definitely not immune to defects, but at least the defects will be apparent and many kinds would be fixable. And Japan is a nation with a wonderful array of framebuilders, many of whom are prepared to straighten out frames, and for a very decent price.
I don't know whether there is a significant difference. Metal frames are subject to manufacturing defects, and you really have to differentiate between frames built by artisans and those produced in larger quantities by less experienced people.

A buddy of mine from uni did an internship with German mountain bike frame company Nicolai. They make bespoke aluminum frames with forward-looking and/or custom geo. At the heart of the company are the few people who are skilled enough to weld aluminum. Despite their skills, frames had to be corrected by hand to make sure they have the desired geometry. Making good titanium welds is even more difficult.

I wouldn't automatically trust that defects are fixable, because in many cases defects are not obvious or even visible with the naked eye.

A custom frame by a local frame builder would be cool, but I wouldn't expect that to be cheap. Probably not in any way cheaper than ordering a frame from e. g. Moots, Lynskey and the like. (I'm not saying "Don't do it!", just that know what you are getting yourself in for.)
 
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A year or so back, deep in the bicycle-availability Dark Ages, a couple of tall friends of mine bought themselves 62 cm bikes from a Specialized store somewhere (Yokohama?) in Japan.
 
If no defects are apparent when riding or looking at a steel frame, then as long as it merely gets humdrum use -- above, "to run errands, shopping, go to work etc." -- then I don't think you need to worry about the frame. If it feels or sounds as if there's a defect, then even if seeing the defect or diagnosing it is beyond you or me, a framebuilder or good bike shop should be able to work out what's wrong. Carbon fibre can have voids, etc.; by contrast, the tubes of a steel frame may be poorly interconnected, but they should be OK as tubes. And if a steel frame has a discrete misalignment, chances are that it can be bent to where it ought to be. Yes, alumin(i)um tubes can be bent, but I believe that they're a lot less forgiving than steel (and I'd guess that framebuilders and others would refuse to work on them).
 
I have a 61cm Specialized, got it through their Shinjuku store but you can see their local availability on their website.

Y's road Shinjuku also occasionally carries large frames -- they had a 62cm Cannondalle CAAD12 a couple years ago that I looked at one day, then was gone when I came back the day after. Y's Road can look up the stock of other stores, so you can go to any store but depending on how busy they are they might not want to spend the time. When I went they said their Shinjuku store was the best bet for large frames.

Otherwise, I believe you can buy direct online from Canyon for not too much more? I have never thought about it so don't know how it all works.
 
@pedalist welcome back.
something like this would work pretty well. One thing about large size frames is there is less demand and prices aren't premium.
 
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