I finally sat on a bike!

Good day friends! It has been almost two months since my last post despite promising you that I would do more with the blog. Even though I haven't been riding since moving to Japan I have been trying to do more Motorbike things. In my defense, in my last post I mentioned having a typhoon hit the base and that we were in the cleanup process. Also while I was away I also got promoted and my dad came to visit from Florida. Not long after that Congress decided to start the fiscal year without a budget and I started my fiscal year with nothing in our checkbook. That really hurts when your job is to pay for construction projects on base. A second typhoon also hit us and a third grazed us causing so much rain we had a small landslide. I did manage to make some progress on getting my bike license. I finally took and passed my MSF BRC 2 which will act as my licensing exam. I had a Honda CB750 rental bike lined up for the test. That bike will qualify me for my big bike license (licensing is tiered in Japan and it also applies to service members). With all of that going on I did get out for a really cool Motorbike related event. I made it out to the Tokyo Motor Show a couple of weekends ago. Read on to see how it went!

The show was in a very nice area of Tokyo known for its beauty and convention centers. The weather was very mild and the view from the convention center's outdoor food court was pretty sweet. I managed to get there at a good hour and beat the crowds, or so I thought. Once I climbed the steps and made my way inside I quickly realized I was wrong. The good thing about attending this show here in Japan is that I was taller than most of the other attendees and didn't need to push my way to the front to see most of the displays. I have been here before for a past Tokyo Motor Show and knew it was big. I had a lot of ground to cover.

Like any big convention show, their were areas for parts and accessories as well as areas for the big manufacturers to show off their cars and trucks. I found these two bikes in this area. Electric vehicles of all shapes, sizes and number of wheels were in abundance. The electric scooter thing on the left from a company  called Aidea was one of many configurations of electric mobility. This model was actually a convertible. The top folded back into the cargo box. Interesting. The Honda on the right was in a booth for a brake manufacturer. I can't remember which one as I was just finally glad to see a real motorcycle. The HRC Red Bull colors really stood out in a sea of minimalist white and corporate grey displays.

The Suzuki booth was the first of the big four Japanese Motorcycle OEMs that I ran into. While Suzuki doesn't make cars for the United rates anymore, they are still a big player in the small vehicle market in Asia. Most of their display area was cars. They had some cute little micro vans that were tricked out to be small recreation vehicles and day campers. The bikes they had on hand were their normal line. The only thing I saw that looked new was this GIXXER SF 250. I didn't see a display placard to tell me about anything about it and I can't find anything online. It looked fun and I wouldn't mind taking one for a spin around the hills over here.

Honda had a huge area of the main convention hall and they filled it with both cars and bikes. They had a whole display dedicated to their racing heritage, which is pretty extensive. Since Honda is such a big player in the world motorcycle market and the biggest of the four Japanese bike makers, they brought out quite a few models. A bike that really made me raise on eyebrow was this CB650R naked bike. It is a parallel twin 650cc naked bike in the modern transformer-esque style. It was compact and pretty simple. It looked like a very comfortable and capable commuter and canyon carver. One thing that I wished for was the ability to hear the exhaust sound at the show. All of these static displays just whet my appetite to actually swing leg over something and twist the right grip.

This CB400 also caught my eye. Inline four cylinder, 400cc naked bikes have been around in Japan for quite some time. Honda even brought some over to the states in the seventies, but they didn't really take off once the bigger 750 and 1000cc bikes came over. The CB400 had more of a classic, retro bike style when compared to the CB650R mentioned above. The red and white color scheme was pretty tight. I love this style of bike. It is reminiscent of the 1970's super bikes. The big knee cut outs on the tank and the dual, dial type gauges are right up my alley. The saddle also looks like it would be comfortable for a long road trip. Again I wish I could hear the sound of those tiny, tea cup sized cylinders just firing away.

One of the bikes at the show that made me smile was this Honda Super Cub. I got to sit on it and see what the big deal is all about. The humble Honda Cub is the VW bug of the motorcycle world with sales in the millions of units. Living here in Japan I see the older versions of the cub all over. They are as ubiquitous as a Waffle House in the south or an In-N-Out in California. I am thinking of picking up one or two to take back with me once I transfer back to the states. If I can grab one that is 25 years old or older it should be easy. They are infinitely adaptable and look like a blast to ride on around town. The new ones didn't lose anything in the update and they even gained a few cc's as the original, and most common ones are only 50cc's. I don't see any of these ones getting used to deliver Ramen noodles around town as most of the buyers just want have a fun little scoot.

Now this was the show stopper for me. The Kawasaki ZX25R. A four cylinder, inline 250cc sport bike. Like I mentioned previously with the CB400, small displacement inline four cylinder bikes have been around Japan for a while. Back in the day, Kawasaki had another four pot 250cc bike and this bike is some type of reference to that. Kawasaki only had this one bike on a rotating stage and there was no placard that I could find, but this thing is no learner's bike. I bet the engine revs to 19,000 rpm or so. It would be great to hear it light up the straights at any track. Riding it would take some getting used to, I don't think there would be much grunt down low in the power band. Up top though I can see this thing just screaming while flicking left and right through the twists and turns. Hopefully Kawasaki will release some track footage so we can all enjoy hearing it sing.

Yamaha had a bunch of cool bikes on display. I got to sit on the infamous Tenere 700. I could see myself getting one. It was tall and comfortable and looked like that it would be great off road even if it would be a bit heavier than my dirt bike. I also got to straddle the equally, if not more so, infamous Niken. Many people on the inter webs hate the Niken, but not me. I have a bit of a thing for weird and quirky and the Niken was right in my wheelhouse. The front end is wide. I can see the it is going to be a bit of a bear to push around with all of that hardware up front. You may be wondering why I don't have any pictures of these beasts. Well Yamaha had their display booth lit up with some purple lights and I couldn't get a good picture to save my life. The only really good picture I was able to get was this TY-E electric trials bike. I am not into trials riding. For me it is slow and watch. I do appreciate the rider's skill, but I prefer to see sweeping curves and the feel of speed and flow. I do like this bike however. I'm hoping Yamaha comes out with an electric dirt bike. One of these days I want to own a plot of land. Having an electric dirt bike  to play around with will keep me in good stead with my neighbors and keep the police out of my hair. I look at this and wonder if I could change the subframe and mount a more standard MX style seat to this bike.

Well that is it. This was my first of hopefully many motorcycle events that I'll attend in Japan. I wasn't able to get to the recent MotoGP Japan round at Motegi Twin Ring. I am planning on it next year as a family vacation however. There are other things I am finding now that my Japanese reading skills have grown somewhat. I just need to get on a bike and start meeting people. That will really help me open up my motorbiking world over here. I have another post documenting my thoughts on my BRC2 class from last week coming out soon. Come back for more and I promise to do better getting posts out. Take it easy. Ride safe friends.

Blue