Bringing stuff back from Japan, Bike shops. NJS track frame?!

I've been browsing the NJS blog for a while, but the price with shipping si too much. Than'ks for the info, if the frames are around £300 for a good condition one I might even buy two and sell one in the UK to pay for the other.

Anyways cheers and i'll be back about this later in the year.

Anyways cheers and i'll be back about this later in the year.

We'll be living on the moon by then, but cheers anyway...

check this guy out i just bought a giro off him, which is pretty much brand new for £350

http://www.gumtree.com/london/73/32996473.html

I've a sneaking suspicion that you and him are one & the same...

I've a sneaking suspicion that you and him are one & the same...

If you are right, then I hope catboy81 answers my emails soon.....

sry to burst the bubble here, but how do u suggest people buy keirin frames then, other than go over to Tokyo and buy them there, by which time including flights and what not, the cost is still quite astronomical.

if you're flying to japan just to pick up a frame, then yes the cost is very astronomical.

If your bike HAS to be new and NJS,then you will pay a fortune, and there are massive waiting lists. you cant just turn up at a frame builders and get a bike.

However, if you want something like an Ocean, or Panasonic, they are much easier to get (still require pre-ordering tho, by their nature they are custom bikes)

Tokyo is the best place for fixed shopping, and looking for pre-built frames. Down here in Kobe, its much harder.. although, Osaka is where http://njsframes.blogspot.com/ is based, so there must be a pretty good market.

shout if you need any help, as i do actually live in Japan.

and if you do go to the shops..... < ay-go ha-na-say ma-su-ka ? > <-- do you speak English?

if you're flying to japan just to pick up a frame, then yes the cost is very astronomical.

point is u cant buy a keirin frame cheap.... u might aswell fly there, cos the amount u save buying the fame will buy the flight over.

a lot of Japanese riders use western frames, so its hard to track down Keirin frames outside of race sales etc.

Soma seems to be the most popular..and Easton parts.... i guess its the same everywhere, stuff from another country is more exotic

point is u cant buy a keirin frame cheap.... u might aswell fly there, cos the amount u save buying the fame will buy the flight over.

but the thing here, the OT had the chance to go to japan for a reason, so he's killing two bird with one stone by buying a frame there as well, that's my point, it's still cheaper than trying to get someone to send it over here.

right i mis understood you somwhat....

i thought u meant that keirin frames can be bought cheap via some mystical way that you weren't telling us.

So keirin frames = expensive as fuck, unless you happen to be passing by Japan with luck in one hand and money in the other.

and if you do go to the shops..... < ay-go ha-na-say ma-s-ka ? > <-- do you speak English?

won't help in punch, but just an aid with pronunciation there (nit picking is the forum's sex)

@dylan yep thats precisely the only way to make it cheap, the flights out there are prohibitively expensive (£700).
Originally i went out 'free', due to air miles picked up as a kid (living in SF family in UK) but a less expensive way is being an air courier. sometimes.

when I was at punch there was alot of younger riders hanging about outside, I got talking to some of them and they helped me talk to the guy in the shop and get what I wanted. Very cool shop though, managed to get a steel nitto stem for about £8

I quite like the keirin frames (besides being overpriced for us here in the uk), but i just don't want to kill all those puppies drilling the fork....
dunno if i could live with myself after that.

Clamp-on brake?

Rene who runs the NJS website and is based in Osaka is safe. He's an Australian so you shouldn't have TOO much problems understanding him. If you're dropping by his store, the entrance looks something like this which might be of some assistance

Entrance to NJSFrames and Ocean Cycles on Flickr - Photo Sharing!

if i remember rightly, Ocean frames shared the space with him.

we should hire a van, drive there, fill it up with frames,bring 'em back

hi, im new to the forum this is my first post here. but i have lurked for a very long time so hello and all that. got a 2ps worth on this so i thought i chip in.

i bought a frame in punch just over a year ago it cost 40000 yen. which at the time worked out at about £185. a right fuckin bargain. i don't know if you have been following the yen/£ exchange rate recently but the same frame would cost around £300 the way it is at the moment.

so i don't think a bargain is so easy to find unless you have a lot of time to spend searching.

if it was me going back i'd bring a uk frame bob jackson, mercian or some vintage british frame and do a swap with someone over there. like someone says foreign = exotic.

but check the exchange rate history and you'll see why things are going to be more expensive these days.

goodbye

b.g.

im not actually, the guys called steve, im mark.
ive met a couple of you guys so im sure someone can vouch for that.
hes just a really sound guy and he was worried about posting his stuff on here
because it would be his first post and you know how people get about that.
so i said id put something up for him.

when I was at punch there was alot of younger riders hanging about outside, I got talking to some of them and they helped me talk to the guy in the shop and get what I wanted. Very cool shop though, managed to get a steel nitto stem for about £8

I went to Tokyo in December and had the same experience at Punch, minus the Nitto bar.

http://fixedgearbikes.blogspot.com/2009/01/inside-punch-cycle-tokyo.html

However, even with the help of a local guy, we could not get Kitajima-san, who is the owner, to name a price of a one particular frame for me. Great place to visit and hang outside on the street drinking beer with the locals, anyway.

The best deal I found was a slightly crashed pink Bridgestone which I was offered for 20.000 yen at Beans, which was also a nice shop. Didn't buy it, though.

There were parts and frames for sale in Tokyo, but not cheap:

Frame prices have gone right up in Tokyo but deals are still possible. Don't expect to find anything at Jan, Blue lug, Kalavinka, Dept, Sexton and so on. They all amazing shops and well worth a visit but their frames are expensive. Punch can be good and if you do your research there are a few other builders and smaller shops over that end of Tokyo. Also visit MRC in Harajuku, its a small clothing shop but there are often frame kicking about.While in Harajuku give Hip Hip Shake a go, they specialise in Italian frame but you might find something, serious porn none the less.
Can't stress though that these days a great deal is all about being lucky and doing a bit of networking while your there. Oh ye, if you can, get on Yahoo auction Japan. If you can time your buy to when your in the country you WILL get a deal. Thats where the keirin riders sell their frames these days. Also you should visiti as many Tokyo builders as possible. AMazing places and deals are not unheard of.

I bought my bridgestone keirin frame off the guy Catboy is going on about from gumtree and his name is Steve, based i Hackney really sound bloke and like Catboy says he is a bit put off selling on the forums.

Worth giving him a buzz because he's got quite a collection of old frames. i was intending to buy a lovely Bennotto frame off him but by the way Steve went on about it i felt i would nt do it justice and proabably spoil it!

Top guy, i would nt hesitate to buy stuff off him well worth a visit.

Keirin frames aren't that cheap now the Yen has moved against the pound. I was picking them up for between 45,000 and 75,000 yen and I'd imagine they will be similar amounts now, if not more. The problem is that all of the no longer race legal Vivalos have been sold(it was a year ago), so you can't get the same mint condition bargains you once could.

I picked mine up from Carnival - you want the frames that have been retired, not crashed. Most of the ones in there were pretty mint.

Keirin frames aren't that cheap now the Yen has moved against the pound. I was picking them up for between 45,000 and 75,000 yen and I'd imagine they will be similar amounts now, if not more. The problem is that all of the no longer race legal Vivalos have been sold(it was a year ago), so you can't get the same mint condition bargains you once could.

I picked mine up from Carnival - you want the frames that have been retired, not crashed. Most of the ones in there were pretty mint.

my vivalo will soon be illegal completely. Need to take care of it more! Cheers once again tom for that beast!!

My pleasure - it's not like I didn't make a bit of a profit to take the edge off the cost of my Kiyo!

Forgive me if I could've answered this with a search, but i'm On my blackberry so that's painfully slow.

I'm in tokyo, what bike shops should I check out?