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Large road bike in Tokyo

bustee

Cruising
Sep 24, 2013
31
6
Hi everyone,

I'm new to Tokyo and this forum and would like to buy a road bike, so I hope that people here might be able to help.

I am searching for a road bike that I can use on a daily basis, basically for commuting, but that also allows me to do a short tour every now and then. I didn't want to spend more than, say, 80000yen on it, but I'm totally fine with used bikes, if they are in decent shape.

The catch is that I am rather tall (196cm; 6'5'') and need a 62 cm or 64 cm frame. Does anyone know of a shop I could try or any other means to get such a tall bike here (online sites, ussed bikes sales, people selling their old bikes, etc..)?

Any help would be appreciated!

Thanks,
Sebastian
 
I don't know of any place that's likely to have bikes (or frames) that size at the kind of price you're prepared to pay.

One sporadic source is Yahoo Auction. Here are (supposed to be) its road bikes, size 56cm plus, currently priced between 5000 and 80000. (Ignoring what's currently priced under 5000 sometimes excludes some interesting-looking bikes, but for every one of these there are a dozen or more locks, stands, and similar irrelevancies.) You'll soon see that plenty of these aren't road bikes, are less than 56cm, are utterly horrible, etc etc. Most that do qualify are 56cm, which of course is too small for you. (Yahoo doesn't offer a way of specifying "60cm plus".)

Well, among the dispiriting offers there are potentially interesting items. Here we see a bike that should be about your size. It has a real mix-up of components and looks sort of "1970s meets 1990s" -- but then that's true of both my bikes, and they work well. (Thanks in part to professional attention from Tim and Eric at GS Astuto.) Anyway, you presumably want something that will appeal to thieves less than will the Pinarellos etc that surround it. And yes, this has just five sprockets, but think of this as luxurious compared with a fixie.

I know nothing about the seller and nothing about the bike. Steel is fairly forgiving and if something is bent out of true you can get it straightened in Tokyo; OTOH there might be some disaster lurking here. Frame aside, it is possible to get decent old little bikes for low prices, so for example if the wheels are off you might get another bike just for cannibalizing.
 
Will be slim pickings to find anything over 58 here. Best is just to buy something on eBay and then ship over. Or catch one of the super sales on Wiggle or Chain reaction. The dealers here can order large sizes - but hard pressed to find anything under 100,000 yen.
 
Will be slim pickings to find anything over 58 here. Best is just to buy something on eBay and then ship over. Or catch one of the super sales on Wiggle or Chain reaction. The dealers here can order large sizes - but hard pressed to find anything under 100,000 yen.

True Story - not only that but local dealers will probably add a premium just because its large.
 
Thanks for the input :)

It looks like it's going to be a problem, unfortunately.
The old school bike on yahoo is big enough, but I find the price for the way it looks way too high.

So I was wondering, what do you guys think about a 60 cm frame? Maybe with spacers? 60cm seems to still be available for my size in some places (chain reaction, e.g.) and also on the yahoo auction page http://page13.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/r106092456 . Do you think that that's possible, or would it be too bad for my back? As I said, I don't plan really long tours anyways...

Sebastian
 
If you can get the saddle height that you need from a 60cm frame then you can always use a longer handle bar stem (or even an adjustable stem that allows you to change the angle and give/take handle bar height) to give you the reach you may need to save your back. A set-back seat post could also be an option to give you more space.
 
All ways buy a bike that fits you, period!
 
The old school bike on yahoo is big enough, but I find the price for the way it looks way too high.

yeah, too much. Frankenbikes shouldn't cost more than a good dinner.

F E dude said:
All ways buy a bike that fits you, period!
plus one. It'll cost you way more in the long run than the pain of paying for a correct fit first time up.
 
Good day, bustee!
Now, you might know that there is this awesome shop in Ginza, サイクリー銀座店 (googlemap it).
They specialize in used bikes, most of them are good to perfect condition. I think I've spotted a couple of big frames there, but then again I haven't been there for a month, so I suggest you try your luck there.
 
So I was wondering, what do you guys think about a 60 cm frame? Maybe with spacers? 60cm seems to still be available for my size in some places (chain reaction, e.g.) and also on the yahoo auction page http://page13.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/r106092456 .

That's described as 56cm, not 60cm. And it looks a lot more like 56 than 60 too.

yeah, too much. Frankenbikes shouldn't cost more than a good dinner.

Yes, yes! (Let's keep repeating this; it will bring their prices down.)
 
Thanks for the input guys. I was at Y'road yesterday and they didn't have my size. They said that they'd only have a mountainbike that big :/

Well, I'm going to try out the bike shop in Ginza that Caryakine suggested later; just got my first salary :D

So, I wonder, I thought the last one was for 600mm, I can't speak Japanese yet (I will learn it, though), so I oriented myself on the シ which also looks like a nice smiley :)

フレームサイズ560mm
トップチューブ540mm
シマノ600

Microcord, do you think that the bike is worth 50000? I think apart from the mixed components (I know Deore only from Mountainbikes), they also seem to be heavily used.. I'm far from an expert, though, so maybe I miss something.

thanks to all of you for helping me out!
 
The "600" there is Shimano 600 (シマノ 600), a very old group set that was a forerunner to Ultegra. A top tube of 540 mm (トプチユーブ) will be *much* too small for you.
 
yeah, thanks. 56cm is way too small, I just wanted to say why I thought it's 60cm.
 
The above mentioned "サイクリー" is a used bike/parts store chain and has a lot of stores around tokyo apart from Ginza. They catalog everything on their website (www.cycly.co.jp), it even says which store the part/bike is located. Can be a bit troublesome to navigate without knowing japanese though. Might be worth a look with the help of a japanese speaking(reading) friend.

(website is down for maintenance at the moment, typical)
 
ah, interesting. I didn't know what it said on the site. I was in the Ginza shop today, but they didn't have any bikes larger than 56cm... I'm in Shinjuku tomorrow, so I'll check out their shop there as well and maybe, if the site is up and running again, their site with a friend.

thanks everyone :)
 
I think I saw a 60 cm complete bike in the Shinjuku shop a few weeks ago. I can't recall exactly, but it was a big brand racing bike from maybe 1989 / 1990. Maybe a Pinarello? It had 6 speed Dura Ace and looked to be in decent condition. It's likely still there.
Could have been a 58 though. Whatever it was I briefly lusted after it then moved on.
 
Microcord, do you think that the bike is worth 50000? I think apart from the mixed components (I know Deore only from Mountainbikes), they also seem to be heavily used.

When touring bikes went out of style and mountain bikes were the rage, derailers for touring bikes were redescribed as derailers for mountain bikes. Such "mountain bike" derailers work fine on road bikes (at least for commuting and short tours).

Yes, the Grassi bike looks very used. Nothing necessarily wrong with that. It would cost a lot less if it were in Europe or north America; but that's probably an irrelevance because you're in Japan and it's in Japan.

Would I spend 50 thou of my own money on it (if I were your height)? Hmm, I'd want to ask questions of the seller first. If the answers satisfied me, I might buy it. I'd know that others would snigger at my purchase, but I wouldn't care. (Actually I think the frame looks rather distinguished.)
 
Options:

1) I found an older Fuji 60cm. Rough shape but with some TLC can be a nice rider at your budget. And will defo qualify for any l'eroica events. In the same vein as Microcord's.

2) I have a 60cm Bianchi I (could) sell ... If you come by we can check the fit. I'm building a new rental fleet and want all our bikes the same, so this one is the odd man out.
 
Hi everyone,

so, I have searched a bit on sites like wiggle and found some imo strange guides for sizes, see for example http://www.wiggle.jp/verenti-belief-2013/

It has a 60cm frame and looks quite nice and it says that 60cm is for riders 191cm+ (inseam 94cm+).. I never heard of that, has it to do with the frame geometry? It looks pretty standard to me, though.

@GSAstuto
could you pm me some specifications of the Bianchi? Maybe a picture as well?

Thanks all
 
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