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U.S. visiting cyclists - where/how to get bicycle liability insurance?

cheryl4444

Warming-Up
Sep 22, 2022
7
8
Greetings fellow cyclists,
Husband age 73 and I age 70 planning an April 2023 trip to cycle the Shimanami Kaido.
Experienced cyclists, coming on our own with our Santana Tandem e-bike.
Any suggestions where/how to obtain bicycle liability insurance?
Our own insurer in Oregon says they can't insure us; I've contacted a number of Japanese bike insurance companies who say they can't, either due to our age, our non-resident status or something else. No luck so far.

Any suggestions appreciated!
 
Howdy and sorry I don't have an answer as I live here and my insurance is via my phone contract.

But I would do a little research on one thing that might seem odd to you.... ensure Tandems are legal in the prefecture where you intend to ride.
There seems to be some grey area in interpretations of how some laws are written and it can be quite confusing at times. 2up cycling for adults is illegal in many places. Some interpret that to be preventing someone from sitting on the rack of a mamachari, others interpret that as tandems. I know of one incident where a company would not deliver a new tandem due to it being illegal in japan. That was the company's interpretation of the law.
I don't have a tandem, so I have never really researched it deeply, but I would hate to see an expensive trip ruined because of it.
 
Thanks for writing. Oh dear, I don't ride separately and we are bringing our electric assist tandem because at our age, we do need it. I will research it and welcome any advice from anyone else who knows about this. Just now, I came across a 2009 blog post that said that while a tandem is technically illegal, it is very unlikely to be enforced. Does anyone know if that is still true?
 
Hokkaido ○ Aomori ○ Miyagi ○ Yamagata ○ Fukushima ○ Ibaraki ○ Tochigi ○ Gunma ○ Saitama ○ Chiba ○ Niigata ○ Toyama ○ Ishikawa ○ Fukui ○ Yamanashi ○ Nagano ○ Gifu ○ Shizuoka ○ Aichi ○ Mie ○ Shiga ○ Kyoto ○ Osaka ○ Hyogo ○ Nara ○ Wakayama ○ Shimane ○ Okayama ○ Hiroshima ○ Yamaguchi ○ Tokushima ○ Ehime ○ Kagawa ○ Kochi ○ Fukuoka ○ Saga ○ Nagasaki × Kumamoto ○ Oita ○ Miyazaki ○ Kagoshima ○ Okinawa ○

Akita ×
Iwate ×
Tokyo ×
Kanagawa ×
Tottori ×

If there s a circle O after the prefecture tandems are generally okay.
the X is no.
this is from a blogger that contacted all 47 police departments.

you will be fine with the police and traffic with a tandem.
 
Just my opinion, but I really don't think police would hassle an elderly foreign couple riding a bicycle that is clearly meant for two people. You'd have to have terrible luck to run into the wrong kind of stickler, on the wrong day in which he or she got up on the wrong side of the bed, trying to follow the rules to the letter with some higher ups there to observe their performance on that day. Bombing around the streets of Tokyo in heavy traffic on a tandem? You might have an issue. Leisurely and respectfully enjoying the shimanami kaido? You'll be fine I think.
 
Hey Cheryl. What kind of insurance are you looking for?
I am presuming your health insurance will cover your own injuries and sickness? Or does it not out of the US?

You want accident third party insurance do you?

The two most accessible will require you to be in Japan to apply.
7/11 Bicycle Insurance (Mitsui Sumitomo) BUT 7-11 has an upper limit of 70yrs.
http://jitensya.ehokenstore.com
apply at 7-11 convenience store through the (touch panel services portal) <<-- my word.


AU Sonpo Bicycle Insurance
You can sign up for this online.
www.au-sonpo.co.jp/pc/byclebest/index.html Sonpo has an upper limit of 74yrs

this is done from a computer in japan and paid for with credit card or people on certain phone plans add it to the bill. You will need a friendly Japanese literate person to help you with this I suspect.

hope this helps.
Maybe try asking at crazyguyonabike if anyone has suggestions.

good luck, really hope you can get over to enjoy that marvelous piece of cycling pleasure



 
Interesting. Over 10 years back, I was thinking to buy a tandem so my wife could easily cycle with me. At that time, if I am not wrong,only three prefectures allowed tandems on public roads. Chiba was not included.
Nice to see things have changed since !
Just to update with @kiwisimon's info. The blogger's info seems to be dated November 2019. According the Wikipedia page ( shorturl.at/XYZ14 ) and a tandem association page , only Kanagawa ( allowed on designated cycling roads) and Tokyo prefectures do not allow tandems on public roads.
By the way, I have never seen any tandem here in Chiba.
 
Is it even possible to rent a battery in Japan, or to buy one in Japan for a palatable price?

Also, I wonder whether this tandem satisfies Japan's strict regulations for electrically assisted bikes. For a regular (one-rider) bike, I think that the law dictates that electricity can only assist, and that this assistance must gradually decrease to zero as you approach 24 km/h. (You're free to travel at 30 km/h, but doing so would have to be powered by thighs, gravity, and/or tail wind.) There might also be a power limit, though I may here be confusing Japan with the EU.

Worse, it's imaginable that even an e-bike that you're sure complies with Japanese law would be held up in customs because the officials demanded homologation.

Perhaps it would be better to rent an (unassisted) tandem in Japan. I believe the area is fairly flat (though I could be wrong). But if you're thinking of renting, consider sizing....
 
There are bits in Shimanami that you have to go up and down to the bridges but not particularly steep.

Worst case just walk it. It is a casual cycle focused tourism place.
 
stay in touch, would love to see how the trip goes.
What are you doing about the batteries?
 
Our bicycle is a Santana electric assist tandem, in part designed for travel. The batteries are (6) 95-watt batteries in series and airlines allow batteries up to 100-watts.
 
Hey Cheryl. What kind of insurance are you looking for?
I am presuming your health insurance will cover your own injuries and sickness? Or does it not out of the US?

You want accident third party insurance do you?

The two most accessible will require you to be in Japan to apply.
7/11 Bicycle Insurance (Mitsui Sumitomo) BUT 7-11 has an upper limit of 70yrs.
http://jitensya.ehokenstore.com
apply at 7-11 convenience store through the (touch panel services portal) <<-- my word.


AU Sonpo Bicycle Insurance
You can sign up for this online.
www.au-sonpo.co.jp/pc/byclebest/index.html Sonpo has an upper limit of 74yrs

this is done from a computer in japan and paid for with credit card or people on certain phone plans add it to the bill. You will need a friendly Japanese literate person to help you with this I suspect.

hope this helps.
Maybe try asking at crazyguyonabike if anyone has suggestions.

good luck, really hope you can get over to enjoy that marvelous piece of cycling pleasure

Thanks so much! Yes, we are looking for accident liability insurance. I tried getting the help of a friend who is bilingual in Japanese/English but when she looked at AU Sonpo, she said "This specific plan is for the people who live in Japan ... For anyone who is from abroad are not permitted to buy this insurance." So, still looking and appreciate any suggestions. As I mentioned, husband and I are both over 70.
 
Most, if not all, insurance plans in Japan require you to reside in the country. The best thing to do would be to check if your current provider in the country you live in would cover for accidents and the such in Japan.
 
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