Viewing Keirin & Bike Shops in Tokyo

[Joel]

In the spirit of asking really obscure questions that in some miraculous way someone on the forum can always answer…here we go!

It turns out that my son and I are going to be in Tokyo and Kyoto in early August. This is not a bicycle holiday but we may grab some rentals if the opportunity presents itself at the tourist venues outside of the city.

Anyway, every now and then there are pictures posted of bike shops in Tokyo that appear to specialize in fixed gear. Since we’re going to be all over Tokyo anyway, I was wondering if anyone on the forum has a recommendation of a shop or two that is worth checking out?

Second, has anyone actually gone to see Keirin racing live (betting or not) and are there any recommended venues in Tokyo or Kyoto? I’m sure the hotel concierge can give recommendations, but I’d rather start with the brain-trust here.

Many thanks!

Joel

[Grant McLean]

there's a list of keirin builders websites here:

http://www.subtle.org/se/ (down the left side)

Yohei Morita (Japanese National Treasure) has photos of shops,
and some locations on his flickr.com site.

Don't miss www.kalavinka-bikes.com


check for links from Yohei here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/spastica/sets/1535283/

velodrome:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/spastica/sets/72157594244054119/


Yokoo Cycle:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/spastica/121864258/in/set-1535283/

Kato cycle:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/spastica/97543965/in/set-1535283/

Asazo:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/spastica/122509883/in/set-72057594096734706/


g

[ndoshi72c]

Track bikes in Tokyo are a hot item now amongst the hip street crowd. I've never been, but as GM noted above I look a lot at Yohei Mortia's photos to get the scoop as well as a few bikeforum people who live in Tokyo. There are two track-only shops I know of...

1) Carnival: http://fatlace.com/lacedup/carnival-tokyo/
2) Punch

I would expect stuff to be high-priced but fun to look at.

If you're there in the third Saturday of April, there is the Sekidobashi Flea Market starting at 9am. I can get you in contact with someone if you are truly interested.

[manet]

real friends bring back bikes as gifts for others

[Joel]

Grant and Ndoshi72c,

Thanks so much for taking the time to provide the wonderful links. I really do appreciate it. This will certainly put us on the path.

Yohei Morita's work is really something else! Being an old photo editor, I spent far too much time flipping through it.

Visions of picking up a used keirin frame keep flashing through my head...I must make them go away...away...away...

Joel