Tripping Far Side

Tonight, there is a big Halloween party about a 2 hours drive north in Tajima. So, Anna and I decided to ride take the motorcycle! This is big news, because even in Seattle for 3 years, she never never rode with me. One time in Hawaii, she rode on the back of a Harley in the parking lot. I asked her many times, but now, she's finally willing to give it a try. But we need to go and get gear for her--helmet, jacket, and gloves.

So today, we drove to this store in Kobe called Cycle World. We got pretty lost getting there, but we eventually made it. In the store, they had a good selection, but the problem was, there was nothing in Anna's size. I went to someone who I thought was a store clerk and asked if they had any jackets in a small size. Turns out that this guy is the store owner! He called for an employee to help us out.

But this guy was so nice. While we were waiting, he could tell we were foreigners since I spoke to Anna in English. He was quite friendly and we started speaking English for a bit. Interesting guy--he is a four-time Japanese motorcycle trials champion! Eventually, they couldn't find any jackets in her size, so the owner offered to drive us to his other store in the next city over, Akashi.

There, we found a red RS Taichi textile jacket for her. A white OGK FF4 helmet, and some textile gloves. He took us to his office upstairs and showed us a picture of him in a competition. He said it wasn't a very good picture, because it was a really technical section and a little after the picture, he would mostly be on the back wheel. The rip in the picture is from the Great Earthquake that leveled Kobe in 1995.

We returned to Kobe, all the while discussing many things in English. For example, he told me that the motorcycle industry in Japan has declined significantly. Can't understand perfect, but I think he said something like a decline of 80%, from 3.2 million bikes to around only several hundrend thousand per year now. Crazy, but that would explain why it's rare to see sportbikes here--almost never. Mostly all scooters.

He showed me a trials bike that he sells. It's that red bike in the picture. He said he sold like 63 in Europe, and it's named after him: Kondy. We exchanged business cards, and he gave me his celly. What a nice guy!

So I finally found a big motorcycle store in Japan. For you fellas back home, let me know if you want anything by taking a look at the website. http://cycle-world.jp