Archiv der Kategorie: Hiroshi

Besitzer des C-Speeds Laden in Yokohama/Kawasaki. Fanatiker.

Panasonic P-Speed

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Ferdinand und ich hatten uns zusammengetan und über meinen Freund Hiroshi in Tokyo zwei Panasonic Rahmen besorgt. Es folgte ein langwieriges Zolldrama und seit heute der Aufbau.

Ferdinand bestellte den klassischen Rennrahmen aus Stahl FRC07 mit der Original Panasonic Team Lackierung, ich entschied mich für den schwereren FRC37, ebenfalls in der Team Lackierung, der über Ösen zur Montage von Schutzblechen und Gepackträger verfügt. Noch ein reines Rennrad aus Stahl brauche ich nicht, aber kein einziges meiner Räder hat fest montierte Schutzbleche und das scheint mir nach fast fünf Jahren im Norden Deutschlands keine gute Idee zu sein.

Mir schwebt etwas vor mit dem ich in der Nacht durch den Regen schwebe. Ich bin immer wieder beeindruckt von den Berichten David’s über seine Teilnahme an Audax Veranstaltungen, wie z.B. der SR600 Nihon Alps; nicht dass ich irgendein Verlangen danach fühlen würde 600km an einem Stück zu fahren – und schon gar nicht in den japanischen Alpen, alleine, im Regen, in der Nacht und dann auch noch kurz nach der Ankunft eines Taifuns und in einem Gebiet in dem Straßen wegen Erdrutschgefahr gesperrt werden. Interessant ist aber wie David seine Räder optimiert, damit er lange Strecke relativ komfortabel zurücklegen kann. 

Das Panasonic wird daher nicht nur Schutzbleche haben, sondern auch einen Nabendynamo und eine Frontlampe. Dazu kommt ein hoffentlich komfortabler Randonneur Lenker von Velo Orange der aussieht, als hätte man einen Fuß auf den Rahmen gestellt und dann mit Gewalt den Lenker hochgezogen.

Eine Frage die mich länger beschäftigt hat als sie sollte war: Shimano Dura Ace oder Campagnolo? Und wenn dann was, 8, 9 oder 10 Gänge? Letztendlich habe ich mich für Campagnolo 8 Gang entschieden – ich mag die Ergopower Hebel einfach gerne, hatte noch ein paar Teile im Keller die ich bei dieser Gelegenheit endlich verbauen konnte und 8 Gänge langen ja auch für die Hauptanwendungen in Bremen.

Natürlich hätte das auch alles teurer und besser und schöner und stilechter aufgebaut werden können, aber das soll ein Rad für den Alltag werden, es wird durch Regen und Dreck gefahren und da hemmen teure Anbauteile nur den Benutzer. Für die Vitrine habe ich schon ein Nagasawa Keirin Bahnrad.

Es ist schwer einen Rahmen im Raum stehen zu haben und nichts daran tun zu können, weil noch nicht alle Teile dafür da sind. Also habe ich heute schon einmal angefangen und alles was da ist verbaut, einiges nur provisorisch.

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Nitto 65 Sattelstütze 27,2mm mit Brooks Professional Sattel, Bleibt erst einmal so. Wunderschön integrierte Sattelklemmschraube im Rahmen. DAS Panasonic Merkmal

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Das erste Mal seit sehr langer Zeit wieder einen komplett neuen Rahmen zu besitzen. Ich kann gar nicht erwarten dort die ersten Schrammen reinzufahren …. Der Laufradsatz ist provisorisch verbaut, H plus Son TB14 sollen es aber dennoch werden – dann allerdings in Silber poliert.

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Ösen für den Gepäckträger. Und ganz unten eine Schraube zur Befestigung von Schutzblechen. Die Querstrebe hinter dem Tretlager ist zu dünn um eine Schraube aufzunehmen. Langschenklige Bremsen – ein leidiges Thema, da fehlen mir noch die guten Ideen. gibt es irgendetwas richtig schönes?

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Alles nur provisorisch,Bis auf die Wahnsinnslackierung. Die Bremszüge sind  übrigens wirklich rot. So ein paar mehr rote Flecken machen sich auf dem Rahmen gut. Sonst wird es aber überwiegend schwarz und Chrom sein, das die Akzente setzen wird.

Ergebnis für heute erst einmal:

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Jetzt ist erst einmal Pause, bis die bestellten Teile da sind.

 

7 Kommentare

Eingeordnet unter Hiroshi, Japan, Meine Räder, Mob, Panasonic FRC037

Kawasaki Urban Bank.

Wenn es überhaupt so etwas geben sollte, dann ist das meine Heimbahn. Dank Hiroshi von C-Speed durfte ich dort ein paar Mal fahren.

0907 Kawasaki Pista 01a

Sorry, geht nur gedreht.

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Eingeordnet unter 2013, Hiroshi, Japan, Mob

Sky After Rain

Tokyo had rain off and on over Thursday and Friday, very heavy at times including early Saturday morning. The skies cleared today and by mid-day it was sunny and nice, not hot, really nice. The morning rain and work kept me off the bike this morning, but I took a spin out to C Speed to visit Hiroshi in the afternoon.

We had a nice talk — he was readying a bicycle for shipment to Hokkaido — one of his blog readers had ordered a Fuji track bike.  Hiroshi said he is getting decent business from blog readers.  (Yes, MOB, Positivo Espresso now has 30,000 views.  Hiroshi’s blog has over 200,000).

A couple stopped by to browse, but the shop was otherwise quiet.  We talked about the need to break through the traditional importer/wholesaler („tonya“) structure in order to provide good imported products at competitive prices.  He showed me a Focus Izalco bike on the Wiggle site for about 360,000 yen, with Mavic Cosmic SLR Carbon wheels and Campy Super Record components, and said in Japan the wheels and Super Record gruppo alone would exceed that price.  He sees lots of products offered online overseas for much less than the price Japanese wholesalers offer to him.  He is thinking about teaming up with a small European brand that does not have a presence in Japan, to import direct — a great idea.  MOB is suggesting that Hiroshi import and fix up old steel frames from Europe — there are plenty of beautiful ones to be had, and they would probably be a hit in Japan as long as you could find the smaller sizes.  And he is thinking about maybe doing something in the nutrition area, though „proper“ imports (as opposed to mail order by individuals) require various testing, labeling and other requirements.

At this point, with the yen stronger than any time in the past decade against the dollar and the euro, a direct import model might work very well. 

I took Rte 246 and some local roads out to Center Minami — an unpleasant experience until I got close to the Kohoku area where the streets widen and the traffic and pedestrians thin.  On the way back, at Hiroshi’s suggestion, I took Nakahara Kaido.  I used to ride this with Jerome and Juliane coming back from Yabitsu in 2005, and was pleased to see that in parts it has been widened and now has a nice shoulder.  The last 5-6 km to Marukobashi is still slow going, with narrow lanes, standing traffic and cyclists and pedestrians.  Today, I was rewarded with a very nice sky, beautifully clear after the rains, as I crossed the Tamagawa and headed for home.  Pick your favorite photo.

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Eingeordnet unter 2010, David, Hiroshi

c speed …Japan’s coolest bicycle shop about to open!

– press release –

Positivo Espress(i)o-(n)ist Hiroshi
a.k.a. Tetsu Chunen
launching his own
bicycle shop
this weekend !!!
c speed … the coolest
bicycle shop in all of Japan!

c speed soft opening this Friday evening 18:00~21:00!

CONGRATULATIONS HIROSHI !!!

(we’re proud of you!)

6 Kommentare

Eingeordnet unter Hiroshi, Tom

Three Tetsu Chunen Positivistos on the Road

Nishibe-san, Hiroshi and I – the Positivo Espresso „Steel is Real“ Chapter, left on a half-day ride into Saitama this morning…story and map on Hiroshi’s and my blog. A few pictures here.

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Eingeordnet unter Hiroshi, Nishibe, Tom

Impressions from my Sayonara Ride

It is very strange to write in detail about one’s own Sayonara ride while one is still in Japan. So I would like to make a few comments here and there only, post some pics and thank everybody who came along and send me off to the far shores of Germany. Still it is hard to write something which hasn’t been written already a thousand times before. But you have given very much to me and I am very thankful for that.
So, we had a good time.

It started as a nice day in spring with the carp streamers high up in the sky. I met some of the PE guys at the Tamagawahara bridge and we rode off to Takao. On the way we passed a cyclist with an exchange frame on the back. Perhaps, I thought, we should re-start the TCC-thread about the proper content of a saddle bag and include „Exchange carbon frame“ I thought before we realized that the bicycle free flea market was hold at Sekidobashi along the way. Just like cycling, the flea market has come a long way, from a hardly noticeable event to more than 100 people attending last Saturday – not bad at all.
We said goodbye to Dominic who was asked to attend a ballet recital of his daughter before she will be send to Borneo where she will live in the jungle with the Aborigines for two years; hence the need for ballet education which will come handy.
And by chance I also saw Zenbiker along the way at the Asakawa. Or perhaps I understood something wrongly. My English is not very good, sometimes I mix up easy words such as „fencing“ and „fanzine“.

The ride was not really leisurely so far, but we took the peaks out most of the time. Suddenly I was alone with Fumiki and (Ko)shu, but we all arrived more or less arrived at the Takao 7-Eleven. Can you see where this picture was „photoshopped“ to get rid of some unpleasant detail?


A huge crowd has arrived already and I was very much impressed by the turnout. Doing my round of shopping at the 7-Eleven, I noticed a small detail at the Weider Jelly Stand.
It seems that nobody so far was interested in Vitamins, Proteins or Beauty, but everybody was preparing himself for a „leisurely“ ride. More energy was much in demand.

We then rode on through Takao, the Showa cemetery (where I once almost met the emperor with the zipper of my trousers open) and along the Jimbakaido to the bus stop at the base of Wada Toge where we assembled the group for the first ever organized time trial of TCC and PE. There was some reluctance first and some riders choose to disappear before we could get started, but overall we manged this quite well and we had a lot of competitive results. James time was very impressive and so were those of James and Tim on their fixies.

Here are some photos which I took at the start of each rider and which documents the various pro starting techniques which are acceptable in Japan as per Japanese Cycling Rulebook paragraph 248 b):

The „Handle is piping hot“ style. It is not allowed to touch the handle before the command to start and Tim also never did afterwards until reaching the top.The „Ground is piping hot „style: It is not allowed to touch the ground ever unless a flat tyre needs to be repaired. Which happens every 20 km.
Zen-like concentration paired with minimum wind resistance in standing position. Headtowel soaks up sweat from extreme concentration.The „I am gone already, cannot possibly wait for your finger to push the shutter“ style executed by Yair.
The Scottish copy of the previously described Hiroshi-Zen starting style. The rucksack is filled with real look stone made out of polyester to increase the awe-factor. Note: More efficient when rucksack is open.
The „When speed is more important than direction“ style.
This style is appropriate for rides from Tokyo to Nagoya or further as proven by Travis.
This is Kim starting – easy to mix up with Fumiki as both belong to the blue men group.
The bike starts to move at 40 km/hr immediately after releasing the brakes. The „American dragster race“ style.
Sorry to say, Steve, but this style is not yet described in the rulebook.
Please note that as usual Mike lines up behind Sergey at the start so that his motivation to overtake him is amplified by a factor similar to the amount of Japanese government debts.
…. as we can see here.

Sorry, there are no photos of Thomas, Graham, Tom, James, Kim and me. Our huge group was then assembled at Wada pass when I finally made it up and much to my surprise everybody was sitting in front of the witch’s tea house. The witch was nowhere to be seen. Really, I never have seen such a sight in my life at Wada. We then continued with a fast downhill and the cumbersome climb through the golf hills of Uenohara. Tom had selected this course to execute his final punishment on me and also in memory of Paul Jason who rode this precise course once.

Nobody was really in the mood to start another time trial up to Kobu Tunnel (OK, I was not in a mood to do so) but nevertheless once David gave the „Go!Go!Go!“ sign everybody started to move up quickly. I was staying with Yair almost all of the time. Already a bunch of guys were waiting at the top when I arrived and the others came in one by one. Steve almost crashed while trying to raise his arms in victory salute. He barely could stay on the road and in order to calm down he went for a pee with fellow Englishman Michael. Which lasted for only a few seconds as the warning shout „Naomi is coming up!“. Steve managed to zip-up and to play the innocent bystander while Michael couldn’t manage to stop.Naomi nevertheless didn’t noticed anything and showed Steve how to cross the finish line not only in style but also straight and paralell to the road. Also I would like to mention that she was also so kind to finish behind me, I guess some form of Sayonara-present. She overtook me once when riding up to Tomin-no-mori and that was when I set my personal best time. Amazingly after a while also the Fixies were arriving. They had the huge respect of everybody that they could do that extensive climbing on their bikes. Still I guess that everybody else thought that theyr were happy to posses 20 speed geared bikes. I like this photo of James with enchanced colors. The bike itself is rather not enhanced. Cool helmet color, by the way.

And then we went superfast down to Itsukiachi in nice duells giving no rest to the wicked. This also continued on the Mutsumibashi road to the Tamagawa, where Ludwig, James, Travis, Yair and me speeded along at 40 km/hr plus. And what did I get for all of this effort? One lousy T-shirt from Israel!No, I was joking, I think it was the perfect present for the day, Thanks Yair.
As this was my Sayonara ride I rode out the next day with Ludwig to Chichibu, but this is another story to be told another time.

L’hitraot.

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Eingeordnet unter 2010, David, Hiroshi, Mob, tcc

Official Results of the 1. Omote Wada Time Trial


I will blog later about the wonderful ride yesterday, but I guess everybody is very curious about the time trial results. So I will post them first.

Place / Name / Time / Comment

1. ME 24.12 seconds
2. James 16:06 min
3. Mike 16:29 min
4. Alan 16:48 min
5. Fumiki 16:55 min
6. Sergey 17:10 min
Ludwig 17:10 min
7. Tom 17:36 min
8. Kim 17:47 min
9. Hiroshi 18:48 min
10. Keren 18:55 min
11. Travis 19:04 min
12. Thomas 19:35 min
13. MOB 20:55 min
14. Steve 21:17 min
15. Yair 21:32 min
16. James 23:22 min (Fixie!)
17. Graham 25:02 min
18. Tim 25:59 min (Fixie!)
19. Philipp 129 days 17 hrs 12:34 min (of no riding)

It was fun and one wonders why we haven’t come up with the idea earlier. Also the results were quite impressive – we are a very competitive bunch. To bring them into perspective, please check with the PE blog Togebaka (to the right, #2, the TCC Hall of Fame [Wada Toge East] and the all time cyber cycling list. James winning time of 16:06 min would have placed him in 43rd position out of 457 entries.

I also found a nice uasage for the jewish M size jersey that was presented to me yesterday. I promptly dreamt last night about cycling in Palestine.

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Eingeordnet unter 2010, Hiroshi, Mob, tcc, Tom

THE BARA BARA RIDE

from right to left : Deej, Clay, Yair, Jules, two unrelated riders, Setsuko (perhaps)
No Davids in sight. Also no slot machines.

When we planned to organize a classic ride on Sunday, we didn’t know that this would draw the biggest group in team history. And for some reason it comprised of only one David, actually the original one, now with beard. And, of course it became an undisciplined, unorganized „recovery“ ride in the typical fashion of our team.

I woke up early in the morning still with very heavy knees as a result of the 200 km trip the day before with Ludwig where we circumferenced the Hakone mountains. Already on the way to the meeting point at the Tamagawa I noticed that I could barely ride 30 km/hr in the flat, neither force my heart rate to go over 155 BPM. But not to worry, as this was an official Positivo Espresso „recovery ride“. So I expected some fast pace along the Tamagawa until everybody burned out and then a leisurely ride up to Otarumi and Tsukui.
Well I arrived on time at Tamagawahara bridge and already a large crowd has gathered, not only the usual Positivo suspects such as David, Jerome, Dominic (David), Bryon, Yair, James (David) and Michael on his Cervelo with new Shimano Di-3 (this is an upgrade from Di-2 which includes a small electrical assistance motor, invisble to the human eyes), but also Fumiki and his friends „Ko“ and „Sho“ (together they ride under the name 故障) and Deej and Jules from the TCC. I was tempted to collect participation fees and ride home (150 Yen for PE members, 15 million Yen for first timers) as a free and rich man.

And while I was talking with Fumiki as he casually mentioned „Everybody’s riding already“ and I turned my head just to see our group taking the first bend at the horizon. So we had to hurry up and chase behind the peloton. It was impossible to catch up as everybody in the front group pedalled as fast as they could and there was a strong headwind that we had to overcome. Finally at the bridge after Sekidobashi we caught up but at this point we have lost already Bryon and either Ko or Sho, not sure. The tempo was just murderous for me and I was looking forward to the point where everybody would relax; this was supposed to be a „recovery“ ride.

We then rode the usual road along the Asagawa where we encountered a dispatchment of stormtroopers or perhaps baseball kids and where we left a mildly negative impression on the local population. Little girls were graping there teddy bears tightly and small boys looked up to there mothers, saying „Mama, when I am big I want to become a foreign bicycle rider.“ „Rather I will set fire to the house and kill the whole family.“

We somehow made it to the Takao 7-Eleven where we re-grouped and linked up with Tom, Hiroshi, Nishibe and Clay from TCC. To the neutral outside observer we must have looked like a very fast group thanks to the strong additions from other teams.

I spoke with Jules and he asked me „Are you the guy with scars all over your leg?“ How did he know? Where my lovely deadhead-diapers lurking out from the bib trousers? But I agree, scars on the legs are even cooler than shaved legs. And they hurt more. But the part of my body that hurts the most was my behind, as I did more than 400 km of cycle riding the last five days. I will refrain from posting pictures here.

Then we started the Otarumi TT and even before the official starting point Tom, James, Deej, Clay, Hiroshi, Fumiki and Jules went off like rockets while I stayed with Nishibe, Yair and David in a second group, followed by Dominic, Ko, Michael, Jerome.

On the top of Otarumi we took a group shot to document this historic event (more riders then average blogviews per day in 2008).

From there on we continued downhill and then took the classic turn to Tsukui lake. All of this still at very high speeds. Things became a little chaotic. I guess all of us took the left turn at the Circle K that leads to the Tsukui North road, but then not all of us went along the North side and definitely many lost track when we rode into Hashimoto. David proposed to ride his favourite backroad shortcut and I was hanging on for dear life, as I had no idea where I was and in case I got lost, it would have taken me days to find the way back to Onekan.

Somehow we managed to re-group at the Starbucks 7-Eleven at Onekan, but in the process we had lost Tom, Michael and Dominic who rode home on their own.

Deej, Clay and Jules started first on the Onekan, followed by Jerome, me and the rest of the pack. Just a few hundred meters behind the tunnel we saw Deej who was screwed. No, I don’t mean that he was bonking, I mean, to be precise, that his tire got screwed by a app. 20 mm wooden screw, NiCr plated, judging from the look, probably made in China. After making sure that he was OK and had everything he needs for repair we continued along the Onekan and at one point I met David and Fumiki again while finally continuing leisurely with James along the Tsurumigawa home. Fumiki said that he enjoyed the ride-out but that he would now ride into the mountains to do some more serious things.

At least the last 20 km or so I had the feeling of a „recovery“ ride.
So I guess it is time to propose two or three things here to „avoid confusion in the market place“ (the most favourite quote by Japanese business executives when a company/competitor starts to do things differently than before):

RENAME THE POSITIVO ESPRESSO TEAM INTO POSITIVO ESPRESSO TEST TEAM

Well, the Cervelo Test Team is called so because in addition to racing, it also fulfils the role of testing the Cervelo bikes under severe conditions. We do not belong to a bicycler maker (well, Prolite, perhaps), and therefore we are not testing any bikes. But we constantly test the well being, patience, nerves and physical composure of all team members and therefore we rightfully deserve the name „test team“.

DEFINE „RECOVERY RIDE“

Recovery Ride – As opposed to the common understanding of a recovery ride in standard cycling, a Positivo Espresso recovery ride is defined by the fact that most of the riders attending, will be recovered sooner or later from the roads by firefighters, ambulances or archaeologists eventually („Hm, high BMI index and DuraAce 7800 group set – probably an investment banker from the early 21st century I would guess.“). The average speed will be ridiculous high and climbs can be long and painful. However, regardless of distance and elevation, a recovery ride must include a statement in the official announcement that it will be finished in the early hours of the afternoon.

RIDE ORGANISATION

Again, if it comes to organisation of rides and freedom of individual members to do what they please, Positivo Espresso is second only to Bakunin. I understand that some of us are not happy with this and I can understand their point of view. On the other hand, the quest to get our unorganized, undisciplined team changed, i.e. to ride organized, perhaps even in a paceline (!) and stay together has been undertaken by many brave souls and not led to any success so far. I also feel that I am lacking the divine powers to change this. So perhaps it is more important to change expectations. An organized rides, in Positivo Espresso fashions means, that we meet in a somewhat organized fashion.

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Eingeordnet unter 2010, David, Hiroshi, James, Jerome, Mob, Nishibe, tcc, Tom

PE Half-day Otarumi Classic a.k.a. BARABARA JITENSHA JIKEN !!

Thanks everyone for joining this morning’s ride & thanks MOB for having organized/coordinated this !

Screwed up the self-timer…apologies!! MOB, hope yours turned out OK….
(„Framed version“ of this pic here)

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Eingeordnet unter David, Hiroshi, James, Jerome, Mob, Nishibe, tcc, Tom

An unconvenient truth


I have been contacted by a good friend of the team and myself after he has seen the recent post on the Positivo Espresso blog about the ride that Jerome, Ludwig and myself did in the Odawara/Yamanakako area last week. One of the pictures in the report shows Jerome and Ludwig eating in front of a (properly approved) 7-Eleven close to the Yamanako lake.

I have been advised that eating in front of convenience stores is not regarded as good manners in Japan at all.

I have to confess that for the last seven to eleven years in Japan I haven’t known that such rule exists and I must confess that I have broken this particular rule ignorantly many times. So I would like to make my teammates aware of this fact in case they didn’t know yet: Shingo Mushi may be acceptable from time to time, but conbini mae shoku mushi (コンビニ前食無視) is not.

I am not exactly sure where the things purchased during a ride should be consumed. Details can be find here.

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Eingeordnet unter 2009, Hiroshi, Jerome, Mob