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Hello from Chiba

culinaryartfart

culinaryartfart

Warming-Up
Oct 5, 2008
3
0
Howdy folks,

I'm an American living in a medium-sized coastal town here in Chiba. I love our flat roads and one gigantic hill in this area. Even though there are 3 bike shops around my house, all of them refuse to sell parts. Would totally love to find some good bikes shops with parts! (I'm like the cookie monster but with break pads instead of cookies).

Cheers.
 
Welcome neighbor!

I'm sort of next door to you, toward the airport in Yachimata. Often ride down to the coast, sometimes through your town but usually further north via Naruto. We sometimes do rides south into the peninsula as well, where the terrain gets much hillier.

Don't really know about bike shops out your way. Nearest I can recommend would be the Seo Cycle in Soga, although depending on where you are Taki Cycle in Sakura might be an easier ride. Both have a decent stock of sports bike parts.
 
Thanks for the suggestions. I didn't know that there was a Seo Cycle in Soga, I've been going to the Lala Port store in Minami Funabashi for the past few years. I had no idea they were a chain shop until I saw a bunch of them a couple of blocks a part in Saitama back in March.

I'm not sure how popular of a spot Oamishirasato is for cyclists, but I sometimes see groups of bikers come through town headed toward the Kujukuri Beach, which happens to be one of my favorite destinations on my bike. I would like to eventually try some rides outside of town someday.
 
there's a Seo in nishi chiba too, and i can vouch for how friendly they are after I broke the pin in my seat post.
 
Hello CulinaryartFart,
I'm also American and I'll be moving to Oamishirasto, Chiba this month. I'm keen to learn about the town, things to do, is there a solid expat community there? How long is the commute to Tokyo? If you don't mind can you please share some info with me?

Thanks in advance,
Training Wheels
 
Oamishirasato

Hi there,

Well, I used to live in neighbouring Togane City and I can't really say there was a large expat community there. Oami is a much smaller place so I imagine there wouldn't be a whole lot of expats around. Bars, restaurants, etc. would be few and far between, I'm afraid.

The good news is you can get to Tokyo on a rapid train in 40-50 minutes at a reasonable price. Lots of folk to meet up with there, of course!!

The other good new is that if you're a cyclist, Oami is a pretty good place to live. The Boso peninsula is loaded with local roads with little/no traffic. From Oami you wouldn't have to deal with much traffic at all to get down into the peninsula.

Hope you enjoy it!:bike:
 
Training Wheels, I'm just up the road from you in Yachimata. As toledo baha warns, I wouldn't expect much night life out here, or many expats, although there are a few. Chiba City is the place to go for nightlife I suppose, although it's actually quite small in the downtown area.

Commute to Tokyo can be a slog, especially if you need to get to the far side of the city (Shinjuku, Shinagawa), but the express trains make it easy to pop in on the weekend.

But again as toledo said, the cycling is excellent; Oami is right where the hilly Boso peninsula meets the Kujukuri coastal plain, so you always have a choice of riding. You're close to the beach too, if surfing is your thing...
 
Just moved to Chiba!

Howdy y'all
I just moved to Yachimata-shi to teach english at the high school here in town. There isn't much of a bike shop, and I'm looking to have my (nice) bike put together by a skilled mechanic. If anyone knows of a good shop located on or near a train stop somewhere in Chiba-shi or the surrounding areas please lemme know. Taki cycle might be my best bet. I also don't know any Japanese (surprised?) so that's another obstacle in my path! It makes for good stories though...
And, once I get my bike put together, I'd love to go for some adventure riding, I'm not much for speed, but I'd love to see this country atop my steel steed!
~Ben
 
thebvo said:
Howdy y'all
I just moved to Yachimata-shi to teach english at the high school here in town. There isn't much of a bike shop, and I'm looking to have my (nice) bike put together by a skilled mechanic. If anyone knows of a good shop located on or near a train stop somewhere in Chiba-shi or the surrounding areas please lemme know. Taki cycle might be my best bet. I also don't know any Japanese (surprised?) so that's another obstacle in my path! It makes for good stories though...
And, once I get my bike put together, I'd love to go for some adventure riding, I'm not much for speed, but I'd love to see this country atop my steel steed!
~Ben
Click to expand...

Ask Phil above your post. He lives 2 doors down from you.
 
I sent him a message
wow, that's awesome! How do you know that??? What house? How do you know where I live?
Thats awesome and crazy!
Thanks
 
Shops

Hi Ben, welcome! Would have replied sooner, but traveling in Canada right now.

As for shops, I wouldn't recommend Taki Cycle for building up a bike. They're pretty snooty and generally don't work on bikes that haven't been bought from them. I don't go to his place anymore because of that.

My local now is Bee Cycle on the edge of Chiba City--great guy who's happy to do odd servicing jobs (he's my go-to wheel guy), but his shop is hard to get to without car or bike.

http://shop.cyclesports.jp/kanto/chiba/001/index.html

Your best bet might be the Seo Cycle just up the road from Taki. Doable by train + walk, and a nice guy who'd probably be happy to build your bike for you (especially if you also buy some stuff like cables/bar tape etc from him.)

http://www.seocycle.co.jp/tenpo_detail.php/p/1/c/1500

3rd option might be the Seo in the big mall down in Soga...

http://www.seocycle.co.jp/tenpo_detail.php/p/1/c/3600

And yeah, lots of good cycling in all four directions out of Yachimata; no big mountains, but good variety otherwise. You can search this forum for "Boso", "Chiba", "Choshi", "Tone", "Airport Loop" for some ideas...
 
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