Japan scene

[Maddevill]

I am just curious for those of you who have been in Japan recently. How is the bike market over there now? When I was importing bikes in 94 there were giant auctions twice a week and Ueno was huge and hopping. There was a lot of 400cc bikes going to the UK along with 250 2-stroke race reps. So, what's going on now? Are the 400s and 250s gone over there or are they rotting in junkyards and on streetcorners? It looks like the greybike market in the UK has all but collapsed. Anybody know?

 

[mrzuzzo]

I owned a grey market CB400 from Japan when I lived in Moscow.

I guess Russia is much closer to Japan than the UK, but as of last year I saw a ton of grey market Jap bikes for sale over there..

I think it also has something to do with emissions, I believe UK has switched to Euro5 while Russia is still using Euro3.

 

[Smilygo]

Overall motorcycle ownership is decreasing over there, especially among younger generations. Many older generations are becoming "return" riders once their kids leave their houses. Harley D has been selling very well along with over 750cc J bikes. It is rare to see 2 strokes nowadays.

 

[rothmans]

I was in Ueno is 2000, alot of shops, lotsa cool bikes for sale. Was there in 2006, seemed about half as many shops and bikes.

I went down there in October 2013 and it was dead, just a few shops left.
Sad.

 

[PowderToastMan]

The licensing and tax scheme gives people reason to ride under-400 or under-250 bikes. A lot of people only have licenses for under-400 (the riding school to get an unlimited license costs twice as much!) and you don't have to pay as much tax and do an expensive/tedious inspection every other year for 250 and under.
Interestingly, the inspection costs pretty much the same for large bikes as for under 400s and the used market for large bikes can tend to be a buyer's market, so anyone who has the unlimited license doesn't really have much extra incentive to go under 400. There is a yearly "weight tax" that goes up with CCs but it's a few tens of dollars and not really a big deal.

They no longer manufacture the Hornet 250 as far as I know, but that was one of the most popular bikes on the used market when I was there a few years ago. There are still lots of old small displacement two-strokes (think NSR250, Aprilia RS250, TZR250, RGV Gamma, etc) out on the road and there are a lot of little grass-tracker type bikes (Suzuki Von Von or Grass Trackker, Honda FT223). The CB400 Super Four is still alive and well, and I always say it's a shame we don't have that available to us over here.

 

[fast4d]

the USD to yen exchange rate is very favorable right now. want to buy used OEM parts. like parts to convert a ZRX to fuel injection. are there any good english websites to do this?

japanese is OK too cause I know a native speaker.

 

[EastBayDave]

the USD to yen exchange rate is very favorable right now. want to buy used OEM parts. like parts to convert a ZRX to fuel injection. are there any good english websites to do this?

japanese is OK too cause I know a native speaker.

I've been wanting that for 15 years that I've had the ZRX now. It's just cheaper/easier to get a set of flatslides & go that way.

You can typically get flatslides for under $500 (used), or you can buy new for a ton of dough & your left nut & get these. Not worth it either route/used flatslides seem to be the way to go:

 

[Smilygo]

The licensing and tax scheme gives people reason to ride under-400 or under-250 bikes. .

Basically their infrastructure isn't suitable for large bikes. Using highways is expensive (not freeways like here) and not day to day use like here. SPeed limit at even major streets (Road 6 or Kanjo-line 7) is 60Km/h (that is 37.5mph). In city streets, it is typically 25kmh or 40kmh (15 - 25mph)
Lane split in even major roads is tough unless you have smaller bikes.

The other thing is the bi-annual inspection. Anything over 250cc is subject to the bi-annual inspection and as we can imagine it is expensive.

Licensing-wise, I hear that people can get the one to ride over 400cc at driving school easily (they changed the rules appro. 10 years ago).

My friend there has Yamaha Bolt but misses his 125cc GROM for his daily commute.

 

[fast4d]

flat slides would work just as well. if I can find for $500 I'll be all over it.

I was thinking FI would give me even more MPG/range and be unique. but not like 200miles per tank isn't enough.

 

[russ69]

IMO there is not that large a segment for grey market bikes today. Seriously, we have a great selection of bikes on the market today.

 

[Maddevill]

IMO there is not that large a segment for grey market bikes today. Seriously, we have a great selection of bikes on the market today.

Yeah but there were some sweet 2-smokers and small inline 4s over there. Would be a hoot for track days. I missed out on a clean ZRX250, looked just like a Muzzy bike, but smaller, for $25.00 at the auction over there. Didn't bid because I was sure it would go higher.

 

[PowderToastMan]

Licensing-wise, I hear that people can get the one to ride over 400cc at driving school easily (they changed the rules appro. 10 years ago).

Yup, it's just as easy as getting the 400cc license, I think the course is the same contents but you ride a 750 instead of a 400. But the cost is huge.

Say you have no license at all and you want to get a car license, it's like 3 grand for driving school.

No license and you want 400cc bike, it's about 1500.. already got car license, you don't have to do the traffic rules classroom because it's the same and you've already done it, so it's about 1 grand.

Already got car license and want the unlimited bike license, it's about 2 grand for the course. Already have 400 and want to upgrade to unlimited, and the cost is usually about a grand (actually not bad!)

You're right about the road system not being that great for it with the speed limits and the tolls on the higways. When I was over there I never used the highways even once, just tooled around town and took a couple backroad excursions outside of town on occasion.

 

[89fj]

I was stationed in Japan in the late '80's, used to go to the Ueno district in Tokyo to "Corin Road". Some Japanese guy named Corin owned several small showrooms and bike parts shops all one one or maybe two blocks. It was freakin awesome. I was like a kid in a candy store. Shame it's been scaled down from what someone here was saying. Riding in Japan was a blast but a very different scene

 

[russ69]

Yeah but there were some sweet 2-smokers and small inline 4s over there...

There were some nice 400s and 2 strokes over there, not so much now.

 

[rzypvs]

Ueno is now practically a ghost town for bike shops. The few that remain are not worth making a special trip for. The owner of Corin...the largest store in Ueno...got into legal problems.

 

[Smilygo]

Ueno is now practically a ghost town for bike shops. The few that remain are not worth making a special trip for. The owner of Corin...the largest store in Ueno...got into legal problems.

Corin went down because of labor union disputes and some other shits. CEO, Wakabayashi, died of a traffic accident a couple of years ago. I visited Ueno in Nov. last year and true it was a ghost town.

BTW, Corin is not name of the guy but means Lighting Wheel in Japanese.

I rode around town on a 125 scooter while I was there last year and I almost got a speeding ticket. I was doing 40kmh on a 25kmh street. The cop let me go as he was really a nice guy.

 

[bunnygoat]

So you were doing 30 MPH in a 18 MPH zone?

 

[OCCNinja]

Basically their infrastructure isn't suitable for large bikes. Using highways is expensive (not freeways like here) and not day to day use like here. SPeed limit at even major streets (Road 6 or Kanjo-line 7) is 60Km/h (that is 37.5mph). In city streets, it is typically 25kmh or 40kmh (15 - 25mph)

There's still a lot of large bikes, just not necessarily in cities like Tokyo/Osaka/Kyoto. Hayabusas are still a very popular bike, especially for the Touge-touring crowd. I think what you end up seeing less of are Supersport 600 and 1000s... then again, when you get out to the smaller country towns, you'll still see Sportbikes.