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@stu_kawagoe another good thing about cycly is you can get any bike or whatever they sell online delivered to a shop near you wherever it happens to be at the time, without an obligation to buy. you just pay shipping (which is halved on Tues or Weds), have a look at the thing and decide. very useful shop, tho no so much if you wanna sell something to them - dirt cheep offers only
 
tho no so much if you wanna sell something to them - dirt cheep offers only

Yep agree with this, recently sold some low km wheels with GP4000's for the princely some of 2000.
Also impossible to sell a bike unless originally bought in Nippon.
 
@Gok I just went over to have a look. Wow! So many second hand parts. Big collection of bikes and some decent sizes (numerous 54s and a selection of 56s). I also thought the pricing wasn't too bad either for retail. I looked at the website and it seems they push a lot of stock through Yahoo! Auctions. Personally, It's nice to go and look at all that kind of stuff in a real shop🙂

I'm looking to convert my quill stem and change my old fork at the moment and they had most of what I needed to do that. Tons of stems and three or four different forks. No adapter but they guy said they do get them in but that's easy enough to find online:

Thanks again, @Gok!

It's my go to shop for bike porn. Something about a variety of old, used bike parts, accessories (except bibs) is very attractive... There's another called 'Buychari' but I haven't tried that.
For bike shops dealing in new bikes, I like SEO Cycles (& Tokyu Hands Shinjuku, Shibuya).... they usually run upto 40% off on last year models. Having said that, I have only, ever bought one road bike (@ 40% off).
 
@Gok I stumbled across a Buy Chari in Kawagoe today. Very similar to Cycly. Lots of parts and bikes. They seem to do a bit more bike maintenance from what I could tell so I might bring my bike there next time I need something done. They had a few brands that I hadn't seen in person yet (a Ridley and a Wilier) so that was kind of cool. The best bike they had was a 2016 Litespeed T3 kitted out with Ultegra and deep aero wheels for about 55 man. It looked the absolute bomb!
 
For bike shops dealing in new bikes, I like SEO Cycles (& Tokyu Hands Shinjuku, Shibuya).... they usually run upto 40% off on last year models. Having said that, I have only, ever bought one road bike (@ 40% off).

Tokyu Hands Shibuya's bike shop is being downsized. They will move from the spacious lower ground floor area to a cozy area on the first floor and deal almost exclusively with Raleigh and Brompton bikes (I'm sure the repairs and upgrades I pay for the latter pays the rent for the entire site). They are currently selling lots of items at 20-40% off. The guys at that bike store have been tremendous in looking after my bike over the years and I told them yesterday how @Gok had mentioned them here and they were rapt!
 
hi! anyone know of a bike store that would sell the park tools cyclone chain cleaner or equivalent (which I sadly forgot to bring...)? also, what do people use for degreaser in japan? I used simple green at home, but haven't found it here.
 
Actually, I found Simple Green in my local home center in Kanazawa-Hakkei (Yokohama) some years ago. So, you might actually lucky finding it in Japan. Another place where they might sell it is Costco.
 
hi! anyone know of a bike store that would sell the park tools cyclone chain cleaner or equivalent (which I sadly forgot to bring...)? also, what do people use for degreaser in japan? I used simple green at home, but haven't found it here.

You can get the Park tools chain cleaner for about 3000 yen on Amazon Japan. The generic one is about a 1000 yen. I've actually been looking to buy one of these myself. The Simple Green sounds good and if you can find it at a local hardware store it shouldn't be too expensive. When I got my first bike about 18 months ago, I bought some Finish Line degreaser (it's a US brand) from one of the chain bike shops and I just read that's non-toxic too. Interesting topic for me this as I just bought some paint thinner, but I'm now having second thoughts about cleaning the chain and cassette with it as it's not bio-degradable, though I did read it can be decanted and reused. Yeah, I had no idea about all this. I just thought degreaser and the chain oil were toxic. Definitely something to look into:ashamed: Hope you find the degreaser you like!
 
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Hi there.

Can anyone help me with advice regarding finding mountain bike rentals and some routes in or around Tokyo?

I would highly appreciate it
 
Hi there.

Can anyone help me with advice regarding finding mountain bike rentals and some routes in or around Tokyo?

I would highly appreciate it

I don't do MTB but I was interested in trying it with my family. How about this? Shizuoka isn't so far from Tokyo if you did it as a day trip. This MTB park in Nagano also looks amazing but it doesn't open until the end of April. I've heard you can rent bikes (not sure about MTB) in Kamakura. That would be pretty cool for me to do if I was only in Tokyo for a short time. Hope this helps, mate!
 
I don't do MTB but I was interested in trying it with my family. How about this? Shizuoka isn't so far from Tokyo if you did it as a day trip. This MTB park in Nagano also looks amazing but it doesn't open until the end of April. I've heard you can rent bikes (not sure about MTB) in Kamakura. That would be pretty cool for me to do if I was only in Tokyo for a short time. Hope this helps, mate!

Thank you Stu for the answer, I appreciate how you took the time to answer my question.
I hope the places you suggested are good for mountain biking. I will make further enquiries.
Any others members with advice?
Best regards
 
thanks for the advice on chain cleaners, ended up going the amazon jp route.

on a different note - so i have my gravel touring bike with me, which covers my bicycle needs, but does not particularly 'spark joy' for road riding. trying to get my old road bike out of storage and shipped to tokyo is a bridge too far right now.

so, kinda interested in trying/buying a new 'nice-but-not-too-nice' road bike in Tokyo with the following characteristics:

105 mechanical gruppo
'race' rather than 'endurance' geometry
prefer stiffness > comfort
don't care rim/disc brakes
carbon frame + fork (ideally weight ~8kg)
~49cm frame (have measurements from my old road bike)
<2500 USD
full suspension to glide over the speed bumps on the tamagawa bike trail

Giant's tcr advanced 2 is a model i'm interested in - but there are least 4 giant stores nearby around Tokyo. I was wondering if anyone here had experience with a particular giant store?

alternatively, if anyone has had a good experience with a Tokyo bike store that sells something within the specs above, i would appreciate any recommendations! i can use my limited japanese for 'i want buy bike!' / 'how much?', but having staff that speak a little english would be preferable. thanks!
 
thanks for the advice on chain cleaners, ended up going the amazon jp route.

on a different note - so i have my gravel touring bike with me, which covers my bicycle needs, but does not particularly 'spark joy' for road riding. trying to get my old road bike out of storage and shipped to tokyo is a bridge too far right now.

so, kinda interested in trying/buying a new 'nice-but-not-too-nice' road bike in Tokyo with the following characteristics:

105 mechanical gruppo
'race' rather than 'endurance' geometry
prefer stiffness > comfort
don't care rim/disc brakes
carbon frame + fork (ideally weight ~8kg)
~49cm frame (have measurements from my old road bike)
<2500 USD
full suspension to glide over the speed bumps on the tamagawa bike trail

Giant's tcr advanced 2 is a model i'm interested in - but there are least 4 giant stores nearby around Tokyo. I was wondering if anyone here had experience with a particular giant store?

alternatively, if anyone has had a good experience with a Tokyo bike store that sells something within the specs above, i would appreciate any recommendations! i can use my limited japanese for 'i want buy bike!' / 'how much?', but having staff that speak a little english would be preferable. thanks!
I've only used the Giant shop in Minamifuruya in Saitama. The guy had to get a bike from the factory for me to try. When I tested it he let me have for as long as I wanted, which was pretty nice of him. I was/am interested in the TCR Advanced (awesome value) but he could only get hold of a much higher spec model at short notice (same geometry tho). I don't remember if he spoke any English but he was very helpful.

Have you considered the second hand market? This looks decent - TCR Advanced 2 2016 model, all 105, size M.

Edit - Asahi Cycle Base also stock a lot of Giant bikes and they give you a 10 percent discount card on future purchases if you buy a bike from them. It's actually pretty handy as there is one close to my house.
 
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There's a few Asahi Cycle Bases near me, thanks for the tip, I'll add them to the shortlist! Minamifuruya is a bit on the far side from me in Ota.

I'm hesitant to buy used carbon even for a good deal... can be difficult to tell if the frame previously took some hard knocks before and is compromised, would prefer to buy new for safety / peace of mind.
 
so, kinda interested in trying/buying a new 'nice-but-not-too-nice' road bike in Tokyo with the following characteristics:

105 mechanical gruppo
'race' rather than 'endurance' geometry
prefer stiffness > comfort
don't care rim/disc brakes
carbon frame + fork (ideally weight ~8kg)
~49cm frame (have measurements from my old road bike)
<2500 USD
I know it doesn't have a carbon frame, but I'd have a look at the Cannondale CAAD12 Disc. It is eminently available in Japan, you can order it in custom colors if you so desire and the frame is very sport from what I have heard. It has won tons of accolades since it has been released. They also have rim brake versions, but IMHO disc brakes are the future and the way to go.

If you insist on a carbon frame, it'll be harder to get something in Japan. I think I have seen entry-level bikes with carbon frames for ~260,000 ¥, but I'd rather go for a better specced aluminum model.

One comment regarding size: depending on how old your previous bike is, I would definitely not trust that measurement. Instead, you should try bikes of various sizes and get a bike fit with your new bike.
 
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