Posts from Japan, Part 2: The Good, the Bad and the Fuji.

As vacations are want to do, our took a turn for the dissapointing. One daughter got sick on the plane ride over and is down with a fever while rain kept us indoors yesterday.The weatherman promised a nice day today and he kept good on his promise. The wife took the kid watch while I got out for some sun.

 

BOOM! Killed two desires with one puchase here. These regular looking little screw drivers hold two special secrets that make them worth the price of the plane tickets. Not only are they JIS (Japanese Industrial Standard) cross tip drivers. They are also impact drivers that have a 6 inch reach and 12 degree rotation with every impact of the hammer. Classic Japanese bikes have many JIS threaded fasteners that, if in good repair, can be removed with a Phillips screw driver. If they are the slightest bit stuck however, an American Phillips will strip the head in a heartbeat. Phillips screw drivers are more pointy than their Japanese cousins and the cross tip machine screws found on older bikes have shallower slots in their heads. A frustrating combo and ultimately the reason why so many old Japanese carbs have had various bolts replaced with socket head screws at some time.

 

While walking home after having a celebratory lunch of sushi and draft beer, I noticed the familiar shape of a pregen Ninja 250 poking up from a parking lot. It was on the way so I stopped by for a peak. I noticed the bubbling paint before I got up along side of this poor little bike. I was not expecting the fist sized hole rusted into the gas tank. I know Japan gets a lot of rain, but this had to have taken quite some time to get this bad. There was the remnants of a bike cover that died in service to protect its bike strewn beneath telling me at one time the owner though about protecting his or her mount. I don't think Bondo will fix this one.

 

A few steps further on and another crime scene. Murder by neglect on another poor unsuspecting motorbike would be the charge. This one had more rust on the fork stanchions than I've ever seen on a bike not pulled from a river. The brake disk was well covered in metal cancer too. I suspect that what is happening here is that these bikes are victims of the Japanese registration process that requires mandatory vehicle inspections that get more expensive as the bikes get older. The cash strapped owners must have come up on their time for inspection and didn't have the funds to cough up for it. They parked the bikes and meant to get back to them later. Several years on, this is the result. Neither bike will be able to get back on the road and they might not even be good enough for parts any more. What a shame.

 

The motorbike magazine section of the local DVD rental store. A little something for every type of rider is represented here. You got some classic BMW, MotoGP, Sport Tourer, Harley and even Japanese Thug Style (Bosozoku for those that want to look it up). I like to get one or two magazines every trip to use for studying my Japanese reading and writing. My favorites are "Custom People" and "Bikers Station". Both are more for mature riders and heavy on tech articles. They also cover track days and how to work within the small spaces of Japan and still wrench on your ride.

 

I picked up the July issue of "Custom People" to take back home. This one is filled with articles on how to get more usefullness and convinience out of your garage and tips for transporting your bike. It is also filled with go fast ads and really sweet high performance bikes. 

Bikes like this gem. An inline four 250 you say!? This mag focusses on mostly big fours like the Kawasaki ZRX1200 and the Yamaha XJR1300, but also has lots of other interesting rides. The theme is power and performance so you'll see lots of tasty suspension bits and engine work. I like to toy with the idea of modernizing the TX750 along these lines someday.

Squint and you can see the snow capped of Mount Fuji off in the distance. I hope to ride that area someday. For now I'll have to settle for this view. It looks like Friday will be my chance to finally get out and ride. I can't wait. Come back soon for an update.

Blue