Me and the Bikes

I moved to French Caanada when I was about 19, and from that moment on I was a biker without actually knowing I was a biker. I knew nothing about bike brands or indeed bikes. I mountain bike or a road bike, well I didn't even know the difference. Simply I had to get from A to B and I did it by bike. This continued when I moved to Tokyo.

And then something happened. I got divorced (again) and moved to western Tokyo: namely Mitaka and just 15 minutes for Tama river. Tama river has a bike path and I began riding there for excercise, gradually going further up river until eventually I was crossing a distant bridge and connecting with Aki river and following it to a swimming place I had visited many years earlier with my ex-wife and travelling there by train. The round trip is about 80km. Often I went there twice a week, on both my days off. I would swim there up until the start of winter. These long rides made me realise I was a relatively strong biker and I finally went bike camping. I'm not sure, but I think the first trip was Iki island, Tsushima island and a bit of Kyushu in 2011, which involved a bullet train journey, of course (just need to put your bike in a bike bag). This was also the bginning of a love affair with bullet train travel.

I was immediatly addicted. That was also the first time a rode a moutain pass. Old empty winding road. So steep. So hard. I stopped once and took a few minutes breather; but what I never did was push the bike. And then something else happened. I was time for the descent. And it seemed like I was going down down down forever. My fingers ached from so much breaking. It seemed like going up was oh so short compared with going down. And that holds true to this day. Going up seems so short and so quick, even if it takes two hours (Yakushima!) and the payback seems amazingly long. It's like buying someting for 50 yen and then later that day selling it for 200 yen. It's like climbing a few hundred metres then flying several kilomtres. I don't understand it.

I did a bunch of bike touring trips, usually a week or two. These were all on my Corratec moutain bike. Corratec? What the hell is that? As I said, I was bike brand ignoramous. What heppened was this: before the divorce I bought a bike from a small bike shop and spokes were constantly snapping. Maybe I was too fat and heavy! Any way, they rplaced every spoke with a thicker one but still snap snap snap. Finally I told them I was sick of the bike and I would stop bringing it ti befixed if they soke me the most expensive bike in the shop at cost. That's to say, no profit for them. They agreed and so I got the Corratec bow.

And then a few years passed and I got married again. I bought a Specialized Sirrus for Yuki. At the beginning she had no idea of to ride a real bike. Even stopping and starting gave her trouble with the seat set at what seemed an extreme and dangerous hight! Now she rides better than me and usually passes me on the long long climbs.

Her first time bike touring and indeed even sleeping in a tent was a quick trip to Mount Fuji five lakes area. She immediatly fell in love with tent life, but let's say biking was a love hate relationship!

Since she had a brand new bike, I started thinking it was time to change my scratched up and heavy and 12 years old Corratec.

Surly LHT

I began researching touring bikes and, unsurprisingly, bought a Surly LHT. After changing the bar tape and saddle to Brooks, it looked like this.

So how is the Surly LHT? As I said, I know nothing about bikes or brands. They say a steal frame gives a smoother ride than alluminum; but my Corratec was also steal framed, so I have no idea if it's true.

What can say is that the drop handlebars, after getting used to them, seem much better than the straight mountain bike ones. The bar end gear levers? Mmmmm. I like them now, mainly because you can click down through many gears with one push, rather than click click click step by step on the Corratec. But you do have to move your hand to change gears, which can be somewhat dangerous at times. All in all I think the comparison is like a manual car and an automatic. One is easy and safe. But the other makes you feel like you are actually doing something and so more involved with the mechanics of the ride.

The Surly though is heavy. We have to bag our bikes and carry them through train stations, up escaltors and along very long platforms. All this whilst also carryting the panniers full of stuff. It's not a pices of cake.

Also, the Surly decals immediatly begin to peel off. Within a month I had the hairdryer out and removed them all. WTF?

Also, the paint job is awful. I do believe it is "powder coated." As they sayn in America, "WHAT EVER!" My bike leans against walls and falls over and generally gets used as a bike and not a piece of porceiline. All this to say that pretty quicky lt was scrathced to hell. I see lots of bikes that are not scratched to hell, so I can only assume that other companies use something other than powder coating. Hey, Surly, how about POWER coating?

This is not a trivial thing, because as the paint scarches off, rust takes it's place. My Corratec had almost no rust even afer a decade of riding and leaning and falling over.

All in all, I have to say that the Surly is heavy and strong and I don't worry about it actually breaking, or spokes snapping. Also the components are all easy to replace. This is not an esoteric bike. So, for now I will ride it every single day, as I ahve with all my bikes, and also enjoy my touringwith minimum worries.

Specialized Sirrus Comp

Yuki rides it, not me. The frame size it too small so I cannot even try to ride it. A few comments though. It is very damn light. The wheels are 700xxx compared to my Surly xxx. So, despite the extra small frame, her bike is longert than mine. We bought our bikes at almos the same time. I had to replace my stretched chain. She did not. I had to have my gears adjusted a couple of times. She did not. My bike is scrated to hell. Hers is not.

I know nothing about bikes, but I do believe the bits and bobs on her bike are better than mine. At the same time, she is a waif of a thing and her panniers are much lighter than mine; so her bike is stressed much less.

Brooks Saddle and Tape

Do not buy the Brooks bar tape. The price is rediculous and after only a year it looks like the cow it came from was an unwashed homeless hobo cow.

The saddle? Well, be carefull if you want a startling red or vivacious green. Mine used to be red. I cover it sometimes during rain. Sometimes I forget or cannot predict rain. Now it is a kind of vaguely redish cow colour. A hobo cow. Surly tell you that the scratches on your LHT are the mark of a real rider. A scratchy certificate of authenticity. Perhaps the shabbyness of your once colourful Brooks saddle offer similar evidence.

Recently my saddle became less comfortable. I tightened the bolts. It's still less comfortable. Your milage may vary. I have a good idea: if you buy a new Brooks saddle every year, the splendid colour will stay sharp and the saddle itself will feel blunt. You could do the same for the bar tape. If you are rich or value looks to an obsessive degree.

I am thinking about changing to the Brooks Organic Leasther. Rumour has it this mdel is made to olden day standards and it will stay comfy forever. It is not dyed so the colour can also never die. I'll get back to you on this idea.