Friday, September 14, 2012

Bike Update


Great friend!

School started back up on September 3rd, and it’s now the 14th.  That means I’ve been riding my bike for two weeks now.  According to my Runkeeper activity I’ve put down over 210KM already!  That’s not too bad and it actually doesn’t include today’s activity which would put it over 230KM.

Not too bad for only two weeks.

My body is getting used to the ride now.  My general climb is about 144 meters but about 24 of those meters come in the form of a huge hill at the end.  My legs burn after the climb but so far I have never had to get off the bike and walk up.  Thank goodness for lots of gears!

I few things that I need to do something about.  My hands really hurt at first but it turns out that I was gripping the handlebar really tightly so I have loosened up on that.  Some of it I think was just a break in period for my body.  However to shift my front derailleur is quite difficult and has been straining my left hand.  This might also be a break in period for my body but I’ve noticed my fingers will ache if I have to shift a lot.  I need to look into this and adjust my front derailleur.

Perhaps the most important thing is how much is this bike saving me?  After all the whole point of importing this thing was of course health, but also to free up extra capital.  Well so far I’m in the red.  The bike was about $1,000 US and I probably spent another $400 between lock, pedals, tools, lights, mini bike pump, bike stand, and new breaks (I killed the Avid 6 breaks in a crash).  I’m also budgeting about ¥10,000 (about $130 ) a month for bike necessities as they come up.  I still need to get a proper pump that will measure PSI, a light bag for the front to hold all of my tools, flight tire repair kit, proper eye protection (sunglasses at night aren’t working), and further down the line racks and panniers.  I’m guessing when all is said and done I’ll probably be in hole about $1,800~$2,000.
Where I am at so far

 But my first windfall should be coming next month.  October will mark the half way point in the school year and be the next payout of my transportation expense.  It generally runs about ¥30,000 which at today’s exchange rate is about $350 US.  That’s about a 20% return on my investment so far!  It will get better next April when I move schools and my transportation expense will go up to about ¥80,000 or about $1,000.  That should not only pay for the bike and accessories but any money after that will be mine all mine!
Yes it is!

So in short a good year or so of biking should net me a free Kona Jake the Snake plus all of the goodies I need to keep it in repair.  It has also given me health, and a new energy that I didn’t know I still had.  I am tired at night and actually sleep.  I don’t worry so much about what I eat anymore as I am burning an extra 700 calories a day so those two beers at night are guilt free.  If I skip the beers I get the pleasure of knowing I am leading a better life than 95% of people (well 95% of people in the states anyway.  Maybe only 80% of people in Japan).  I’ve seen more of Yokohama in the last two weeks than I did in the last year.  If another earthquake occurs and I am at school I know how to get home (the trains will stop in an earthquake).  The benefits of my bike truly knows no bounds.

6 comments:

  1. congratulations on the new bike. looks wicked cool. looks like a racing bike except for the off road tires?

    Just curious, why buy in the US and import to Japan? there are lots of great Japanese bikes, no?

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    1. thanks! yep a racing bike but has some mtn. bike style tires on it. it's called a cyclocross I guess (first i've heard of em).

      I decided to import from the US basically due to convenience and price. I was heading back to the states for a visit anyway and only had one check in bag so the bike went as the other check in (free). the Kona Jack the Snake was also highly recommended from my friend who has the 2006 model but they don't carry Kona here in Japan. i also had a friend who got me an inside deal so i got a pretty sweet discount. plus it's cool to have a bike here that nobody else has. but your right there are tons of great bikes here in Japan they are just pretty pricy.

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  2. Mmm....

    I see my comment got published twice. Sorry. The instructions are in Japonese, so I was guessing as to what to do....

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    1. no worries, makes me look more popular. ;) also i didn't know it showed up in Japanese for other users. i figured it would default to the language on their computer. that's good to know and maybe why I don't get more comments.

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  3. Great looking bike you got there! I like the color scheme. Carbon on the fork, I see. Very nice!

    Hope you are enjoying the rides to work. I'll have to dust off my bike and start it up again soon.

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    1. Oh yeah! Thanks for the props on the new ride. I also liked the 2012 color scheme. I just dodged the bullet I suppose as the 2013 is very orange.

      I feel like a kid again biking around and would recommend it to anyone.

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