One of the things I was super excited about moving to Japan, and Kyushu in particular was the outdoors. I planned to get active again given my job is now flexible-remote-part-time and I had stopped playing football after becoming a Dad a few years ago. Initially I planned to get into shape by running around the village where we are staying, and I even bought some flashing carbon plated runnings shoes the day before I flew out thinking it would motivate me. It didn't. I hate running. Too slow, too boring, and sore feet after pounding on pavement for ages.
It was also the start of summer when I arrived and the temps quickly started hitting 30C even at 7am. Exercise wasn't happening because surviving the heat took priority. I thought it was a decent excuse anyway.
Before we had a car I found myself frustrated with my lack of mobility. Being stuck out in the countryside, even the nearest convenience store is 2km away. A brisk walk there and back in the summer heat meant a shower upon returning too. Not very convenient and the whole time I was thinking how nice it would be to coast along on a bicycle to get a bit of a breeze going. So I started looking for one.
No decent bikes for tall people
Finding a bike was more difficult than I expected given it is ubiquitous form of transport in Japan. I do like a quality product though even if something cheaper or more basic would suit my needs. I like quality, and bicycles are no exception. That means looking within the big brands and not the many random Japanese brands. It's easy to tell where something sits in the hierarchy by looking at its component set.
Apparently though not many people over 6 foot ride bicycles in Japan. In Kumamoto there are two of the big-name stores: Trek and Specialized. I need a 58cm frame and I cannot buy a Gravel bike in that size. I can't even order it in. Some road bike models were available in a 58 but I don't want a road bike. The roads are rough in the Inaka. So I started looking further afield and online. Still no dice.
I then started widening my scope to other bike types, thinking a different style of bike in the right size is preferable to a frame that is too small. In flatbar bikes the situation is even worse - nobody does XL frame sizes. I contacted Specialized's head office and they said no plans to sell XL and no special orders. Just when I had warmed to the idea of an XC bike in the form of a Chisel Comp.
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| Cycling along the Ariake Sea |
Mail order bikes
But then I found Canyon Bikes. I had heard of them but never really paid much attention. They have a good reputation for solid bikes with very good specs at their respective price points. All of a sudden I had a full range of bikes available to me in the right size, and then options within the range too!
I had already convinced myself that an XC bike would be better than a Gravel bike for more and so it wasn't much of a stretch from then to be looking at Trail bikes. In their outlet section I found my bike. A Canyon Neuron CF 7. A full suspension carbon fibre trail bike. About as far from a gravel bike as I could get. The reviews did note that it was a decent all round mountain bike. I don't want to go fast anyway - my riding is plodding around the countryside and exploring, and having suspension and fat tyres means I can go almost anywhere. So I ordered one.
What enables Canyon to be so competitive is they don't have brick and mortar stores. You order online and your bike turns up in a box. Mine came from Singapore and took around a week. The DHL tracking did not update at all so it was a pleasant surprise when it showed up. There is some assembly work to be done like fitting the wheels, the bars and seat but if you have any experience with working on bikes it is easy. I had never installed a dropper post before so that was my only challenge. They are thoughtful enough to include instructions and their app has videos, and they even include some items like assembly grease, a torque wrench and a shock pump!
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| Canyon Neuron CF7 mountain bike |
Canyon Neuron CF 7
Once the bike was assembled I dialled in my suspension and tyre pressures - making then on the firmer side for speed as I'm not doing jumps or anything like that. I'm basically pretending it's a non-race XC bike and I'll certainly throw on some XC tyres once the stockers wear out. In its current guise I can cruise along at 20kph quite leisurely and maintain 25kph with a manageable level of effort. The gearing is good for 30kph on the fast end and on the low end it almost goes too low - I can climb hills with a comically fast cadence whilst inching upwards. I've been hitting the hills around where we live, where single lane converts farm roads cover the hills and ridge lines, and the grades heading up average 10% which is brutal, but the long downhills sweeping, twisting and dipping at speed is soo much fun - an adrenaline rush I have not experienced since I stopped riding motorcycles.
The more I ride this bike the less I think I'm overbiking. Sure, it is designed to do aggressive terrain but for what I am doing - plodding around exploring rough country roads and tracks it is perfect. I cannot fault it at all. I added some accessories for my little excursions with the aim of having everything I need mounted on the bike. I've got a little canyon frame bag that holds my tyre levers, a small multitool and an AirTag. On the same mount is an Abus cable lock which is great for locking up outside a Confine. My bottle cage has a pump mounted to it and my undersea bag holds a spare tube. For extra security I have an Abus Alarmbox strapped to the frame.
The only real downside of ordering from Canyon is if you are unable to do the assembly parts and you'll have to register the bike yourself - something that bike shops will do for you when you purchase a bike.
If you are over 6 foot and in Japan and having a hard time finding a decent proper bike, then check out Canyon.
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| An unused road high up in the hills that became overgrown and unpassable |
Japan legal requirements
Before buying a bike you should probably check your legal obligations. You probably didn't find your way to this page to read about me waffling about my bike purchase, but instead the actual useful information on buying and owning a bicycle in Japan. So here we are.
In my home country of New Zealand you can simply go buy a bike, throw on a helmet and ride. That is it.
Not in Japan. There are rules and procedures. no surprises there.
Equipment requirements
There requirements are basic and easy to reach compliance. Any new bike that you purchase should already be compliant but it pays to check yourself and not assume. My Canyon bike, even though it came from outside Japan still had the bits needed to be compliant.
And those bits are:
- A bell
- Reflectors front and rear
- If riding at night you must have a front light instead of a reflector.
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| Japan bicycle bar width rules |
Road rules
Recently Japan introduced 113 new potential bicycle violations. Many are common sense but some saw some pretty big blowback - it will be interesting to see how strongly they are enforced.
These violations come with the introduction of a blue ticket which is accompanied by a fine. I don't want to go into detail as I'm not that familiar with all these rules but if you are in a densely populated area I highly recommend you look into it further: This NHK article is a good place for an overview on some of the rules and penalties.
To give a few examples:
- Using an umbrella or earphones - common sense, riding with an umbrella is kinda ridiculous.
- Using a phone whilst riding - I'm just picturing a salaryman riding whilst holding an umbrella and talking on his phone... once again, common sense.
- Riding on the footpath - This one is the most controversial. Everyone rides on the footpath in the towns and cities and has done forever. Enforcement would be interesting as if the road is narrow or busy you can ride on the pavement - but who defines that? If casual riders only rode on the road when they felt safe to do so, most would still be on the pavement. Old people and kids get a pass though, but what if you are riding with your kids, do you get to accompany them on the pavement? I don't know. So, my advise is to do what you feel is safe. If you can argue that the road is not safe then you would hope the police would see reason. If there's plenty of other people cycling then follow suit with what the masses are doing and you will probably be ok.
- Riding side by side - oh this is a good one. Other countries would do well to implement this to stop the lycra warriors blocking traffic from passing just because they want to chat to each other.
And yet a helmet, a simple device that can save your life is simply something that is strongly encouraged.
You can't take bikes on trains either. I found this a little surprising given how popular both modes of transport are in Japan. In the UK I was able to commute by cycling to the station, taking my bike on the train and then cycling to work. The distances were such that I would not have managed otherwise. But then if you've seen Japanese commuter trains where everyone is packed in like Sardines you will understand. My wife used to have two bikes - one that was used between home and the station, and the other that was used between work and the station!
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| Exploring quiet little back streets |
Insurance (Jitensha Hoken)
- Personal Liability - You are covered for unto ¥300 million if you injure a person or damage property whilst riding your bicycle. This applies if you cause an accident too.
- Personal Injury - You are covered for serious injuries whereby you are hospitalised, as well as lump sump payouts for disability or death. There are limits though and you are not covered for injuries when you don't end up in hospital.
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| Cainz bike department completing my registration |
Registration (Jitensha Bohan Toroku)
The last item on your quest (though doesn't have to be last) is to register your bicycle. This is mandatory (as of 1994) and is primarily an anti-theft system which links your bike via its serial number to you in a national database. I have read many stories about this being extremely effective, with bikes regularly returned to their rightful owners even sometimes years later. When so many bikes look the same (take a look at a bike parking area at a train station) and many people lax with security it would be far too easy to accidentally take someone else's bike. There are also stories of drunk salarymen 'borrowing' bikes to get home.
Malicious theft generally isn't the large concern with the masses of Japanese bicycles, but if like me your bike costs thousands of dollars then knowing there is a functioning and effective system to have it returned to you is a nice to have. Higher cost bikes I would always expect to be a theft target so although this isn't like Europe where people roam around with massive bolt cutters all day looking for targets, you should still take extra precautions. I have an AirTag, Alarm and a lock for example.
Getting your bike registered is actually quite easy. If you are buying from a bike ship they'll do this for you. If you buy a second hand bike or one online like I did, you'll have to take your bike somewhere to do it, such as a bike shop.
Our local Cainz store which has a bike department did mine for me. Below is all you need, they do the rest and affix a yellow sticker to your frame.
You will need:
- Your bicycle and know where the serial number is.
- An invoice or record of purchase with your name and address on (so they can verify you own in legitimately and are not trying to register someone else's yet-to-be-registered bike.
- ID in the form of Zairyuu card or My Number Card
- Money - It cost me a whopping ¥700 and it's a one-off fee.
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| View from up in the hills in the Uto peninsula |
In closing
Buying, owning and using a bicycle are typically Japanese - overly complicated with procedures to carry out and rules to follow. Bicycles are a great form of transport but make sure you assess all of the rules and requirements to ensure you don't run afoul of them and don't rely on just common sense, as plenty of things in Japan contradict common sense.
Don't be intimidated as it's not that complicated when you break it down and digest it in smaller chunks - Register and Insure yourself and then follow the rules. Happy cycling!
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