Hi guys,
I’ve been living in Japan for MANY years, and this whole time, I’ve used a bicycle for getting around. It’s a carbon fiber road bike, so it’s plenty fast.
Thing is, I’ve recently moved to Ibaraki, and the hills are a killer. I’m spending half the trip pushing my bike because the hills are just too steep. It feels like my only options are to either develop thighs like the Tour De France racers in the movie “The Triplets of Belleville” or look into an alternative to my bicycle.
I’d also like to be able to access places that are a bit too far to visit with any regularity on a bicycle while also not having a direct route by public transit.
My first thought was getting a 50cc license, I hear they’re pretty cheap and easy to get, and I could pick up a used 50cc bike from Yahoo Auctions.
But then I was reading about e-bikes and how they can often be faster than 50cc bikes. But in Japan, the law limits them to around 20kph, so a moped might still be faster.
I was also reading about the scandal surrounding imported Chinese e-bikes, since they’re too fast and powered, so they don’t come until e-bike laws. But what if they fell under the same speed as a 50cc bike? I could use one of them if I had a 50cc bike license, right?
What do you think would be my best option? I’m looking for a cheap option, low running costs, no mandatory insurance, registration etc
7 comments
I mean bicycles have mandatory registration and insurance, right? (maybe prefecture dependent?)
Have you tried a 電子assist? There are some road bike versions to give you a boost, but I don’t know how bad your hills are. I mean my 30kg mamachari gets me up and down some moderate hills with the power behind it, I imagine the lighter road bike versions would be even better.
It’s possible to legally import a Chinese ebike going 35km/h, and register at city hall as a moped and get a number plate for it. There are guides on how to do this online and on YouTube. (You might need to attach some accessories like rear view mirror and brake lights depending on the model, though some sell as “Japan ready” with those pre attached.
I was considering doing this myself but haven’t got around to it yet (and afraid of the quality of some of the Chinese stuff).
In your position, I’d go for an electronic assist bike. They’re not fully powered so they don’t break laws, but can certainly help with the climbs as they take a lot of strain away and giving your legs some rest for long rides–especially for flat areas, they can just zip down the road without peddle input. This way too you have all the options for un-motored bikes like ease of parking and hopping on the sidewalk (when applicable). You might be able to rent a local one to take one for a spin around town, and due to covid there was a boom in this tech (and might be some used sales going on).
No insurance and registration in Japan? Everything requires registration here including your current bicycle. If you get the high powered ebikes or scooter, you’ll also have to register them as motorized vehicles – which I imagine without it, you wouldn’t be able to easily go up steep hills anyway.
The closest one would indeed be as some other people said, electric assisted bicycles. You can even find conversion kits online that you can just add to your current bike.
Scooters can legally go 30kmph but I regularly ride mine 45ish when no one is around or there’s low traffic, and most locals who know me appreciate that I don’t hold them up when I’m commuting.
You automatically are legally allowed to ride a 50cc with a standard issue driver’s license. You can find them for 60,000 yen used, and insure them for a year for less than 10,000 yen.
If you want to ride the legal speed limit, I’d suggest taking the test for a 125cc. Much more convenient for distance countryside driving at speed than a gentsuski/scooter.
Taxes are 2,000ish yen per year, gas is 400/week to fill it for over 200km of travel on a 2 and 1/2ish liter tank.
Flats happen from regular use. In one year and 9,000km drive time I punctured one back tire. Flat patch was free from where I bought it, and then a replacement tire was serviced in 30ish minutes for 7,000 yen.
I don’t have any helpful advice, I’m sorry…
just wanted to say that I absolutely love “The Triplets of Belleville”, it’s one of my favorite 2D/3D animated movie….
thanks for mentioning it
good luck!
Could just get a 電動自転車 electric assist bicycle and buy a few batteries, keep one or two on charge so you never run out of battery – hey presto.
I don’t know what the registration stuff is, I just rented one when I visited Niijima island and it was fine to get up fairly steep mountains. Battery typically lasted just over a day which is fine because presumably you’d have at least another battery on charge to swap out when you go home.