Bikes in Okinawa

[A1CKot]

So, I'm moving to to Okinawa next month and I'm struggling to decide what bike or bikes to bring. I will be bringing my S&S Waltworks 29er for sure. But what about my Ottrott? I also have a deposit in on a Curtlo that is still in the design phase. I was thinking about a belt drive all-arounder but nothing is finalized.

So I would like to put out to this great forum. If you have been there and were to be living there for 3 years, what would you be riding?

[verticaldoug]

Since Japan has 20 years of public works projects to jump start the economy, they have the nicest paved roads around.

You should bring your finest road bike with FMBs. The Japanese appreciate quality.

(When I lived in Tokyo, we'd have offsites in Okinawa. I'd bring my inline skates to zip around on the roads. So smooth...)

If you make it onto the main islands(Kyushu, Honshu, Shikoku, Hokkaido), then you will have some really awesome mountain roads to ride.

Douglas

[A1CKot]

Since Japan has 20 years of public works projects to jump start the economy, they have the nicest paved roads around.

You should bring your finest road bike with FMBs. The Japanese appreciate quality.

(When I lived in Tokyo, we'd have offsites in Okinawa. I'd bring my inline skates to zip around on the roads. So smooth...)

If you make it onto the main islands(Kyushu, Honshu, Shikoku, Hokkaido), then you will have some really awesome mountain roads to ride.

Douglas

Thanks for the info. I'm still a little unsure. Friend that have been stationed there talk about roads being some of the best on the north side of the island but in the next sentence talk about how bad the traffic is. These are car people but I all hear that the roads are really narrow compared to our roads.

[verticaldoug]

The roads are narrow, but there is more of a bike culture in Japan.

http://www.japan-talk.com/jt/new/mama-chari

The traffic laws favor cyclists. And most importantly, it is much harder to pass a driving test in Japan (for Japanese). With the narrow more congested roads in town, the traffic drives slower so it is actually very safe. The drivers are more polite and I can't remember the last time I was buzzed in Japan. It seems to be a daily occurrence in the NY. It'll just take you a few days to accustomed to the british system for traffic.

I'd be more worried about my fellow American service men and women driving in Okinawa than the Japanese.

I'd actually lean the other way. Bring my road bike, leave mountain bike at home.

[LesMiner]

The weather will be a big change. Going from a northern snowy climate to a tropical one. Okinawa being the South China Sea will have very consistent weather. Way more opportunity to ride in good weather. I doubt the speed limit is more than 30 mph anywhere on the island. The north is more hilly with farm fields of pineapple and bananas as I recall. Be sure to stop and contemplate the sunset each day.