Japan Tour 2023

Just give up and get an Alivo tripple and convert to double... External BB, cheap and tough. Thats why the end up on lots of bikepacking builds

Why that and not something like a GRX crankset? (I've not been reading the tech details so this is probably a stupid question)

Grx minimum small ring is 30t which is basically only useful for track cyclists or mountain bike uplift venues.

Basically this, can run smaller rings on a modern external bb crank without going full mtb.

How steep are these climbs?

I thought my 30x42 was pretty ridiculous (and I've still not tried the 46T yet)

I am open to trying the alvio conversion but until I can find something or someone that will tell me exactly what I need to buy to make it work I'm hesitant. Everything I see is like "it might work" "it should work" "you can get it to work"

At least spa sell the crankset + 11 speed rings all together + a bashguard for 90 bucks. I don't like it much but I can just take it to the bike shop and get them to do it.

From what I read there are plenty of 10-15% climbs in Japan, which sounds pretty savage to me... I live in Cambridge and don't really ride for fitness, just for commuting + fun.

The CDF only has a 105 rd which fits I think 32 or 36? Not 46. My faran has grx400 2x10 with 30x42 on 650b as my lowest gear, which is fine, but I don't really ride that bike loaded.

From what I've been reading on cyclingabout dot com I want to target 20 gear inches if possible. 30x42 is 22.6 on 700c tyres

Fair enough. Everyone has to work out what they're capable and comfortable riding.

I got my partner's bike working with a 42T cassette using a long-cage shadow cage 105 RD if that's of any use. I wouldn't push it further and shifting is definitely better on a 36T but it can be done (she had an FSA 32/48 crankset on the Sequioa IIRC)

I was using these numbers the other month when deciding what to run on Pendle 600k
23.8 22.5 21.8 19.2 : 30/34 30/36 34/42 30/42

Not sure why yours is higher - maybe you're using 700c with specific tyre for the maths. I only ever use 27" since it's relative and I ain't got time for remembering what tyres are on what bike

Very envious of this! Don't have any tips other than take your time, give yourself a rest day if you need it and take the train.

Aye I think I've been inputting the tyre size as 700 x 35

if you're always using 27" you don't actually need to use gear inches you know...you could just use ratios.

I like seeing the number. The set above was mostly an experiment to compare another rider's gears to mine to find out how close they were with their setup. I ended up just gearing down as far as I could make work. 30x42 was probably too shoddy for normal use but for Pendle I'll keep it. I went back to my 34/46 crankset after the event and will swap between 36T and 42T depending on where I'm riding although lately since everything is getting 42T cassettes I've kinda just stuck with that on our bikes. We do tend to ride hillier events these days. cough AAA King and Queen innit cough

I just went and counted and realised that my current cassette is only an 11- 32 anyway.

AAA is just the sound I make when someone suggests we ride further than 75km.

Ha :D

I survived on konbini food for 5 cycling trips as a vegetarian - it shouldn't be a problem.

You'll find vegetarian onigiris (stuffed with plum, seaweed, ..) peanuts and others nuts, bananas, and worst in the worst case scenario, Pringles ;)
Then there bars (Soyjoy and others) but that could get pricy real quick.
If you're a strict vegan however, things get a bit more complicated.

Usually what I did was eat at the konbini and take some more food with me just in case.

but the Japanese seem to love British tat

Wouldn't go that far but it only took 5 minutes for someone to come point out "Condor!" when we unpacked my girlfriends bike off the plane.

Regarding food we're normally both vegan/vegetarian but we drop our guard when we travel. Sure you can get by on rice balls but if you can stomach fish/eggs for the trip then you'll never have to worry and the food is amazing.

And I found those bags. You can see roughly how small they pack and how big they are when open. Obvs you'll need to take off wheels but these worked for our two bikes fine. Lmk if you want to borrow them

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Where'd you get yours from? Are they easily accessible in .jp? I'm contemplating whether I should just buy one as it could come in handy for the minivelo...

Eggs I could maybe manage, fish it has probably been too long and it seems kind of unappealing at this point. I'm trying to work out how much of a stove setup it's going to be worth purchasing/bringing...

Where'd you get yours from?

The first sports store we came across once my partner decided her knee needed a break. From memory it took me about 20 minutes to find somewhere so for sure readily available and who doesn't need an excuse to go to a Tokyo Hands.

The biggest blocker to veganism is the use of dried bonito flakes in almost all soup stock, so if you're eating noodles unless it's specifically marked as vegan you'll be caught out. The conbini will have delicious natto and konbu onigiri (rice balls / rolls), salads and usually some tofu products. Fruit will be more expensive than the UK, but always high quality

I guess this sounds like something I can hopefully overlook so long as there's not a strong fish taste accompanying...

Seems like it would be good to have some kind of stove as a back up but maybe not worth going crazy as my actual need to cook might be very low. Useful to know thank you.

I know you've done alot of bike prep for this trip but can I throw an alternative into the ring and suggest my friends business GS Astuto , they could set you up with a high level bike and all the kit you would need for a few weeks touring in Japan , I would say there is nobody more knowledgeable on the topic 9f bike touring japan than Tim or Mikey (the presenter of ride around japan on NHK) . Flying with bike boxes is annoying so this solution would save some stress :)

That is quite appealing (and a useful link) but in the end I feel like half of the pleasure of this for me is setting up my bike and transporting it across the world, riding it, and then hopefully bringing it home again, with all the memories of the trip embodied in it until a Qashqai driver gets a Snapchat notification, swerves, knocks me off and crushes the frame beyond repair.

I may well look them up for other services they provide however!

The Montbell rinko bags are great, lots of physical shops in Japan that stock them, they pack down unbelievably small and are great value. Here's one of three sizes.
In Japan they're about half the price you see on the euro website thanks to exchange rate.

Big night for tinkering last night. Firstly I read somewhere that the Real Bike Touring Pros run their racks with the bolt threaded from the inside of the frame and a nyloc on the outside, so that if the bolt shears you can easily remove and replace it. This is the kind of knowledge that bores a hole in my mind and will not let me sleep. The only way to exercise the demon was to perform its bidding. I also spaced the rack out so it no longer interferes with the other attachment point.

I think it would be very slightly better with a smaller spacer, but this was all I had. Might do a big Accu order one day (I do one of these per year but no matter what I order I always end up with 15mm bolts when I need 20mm, cap head when I need dome, etc etc).

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Yes very good, this is what I'm thinking of getting for sure...