Japan four seasons

Japan is very proud of having four distinctive seasons. I however wish there was only three seasons because I find the harsh winter very difficult coming from the sub tropics in Australia where winter is only a month of mild 20 degree days before things heat back up.

My motorcycle was packed away come December and I probably won't be riding it until April. So begins the period where I went

How I made my Yamaha FJR1300 corner easier

Whilst many people in the USA seem ok with the way their Yamaha FJR300 corners, riding on tight narrow roads here and being used to lighter bikes I wanted to quicken the steering if possible. My motorcycle is 2014 FJR1300A and to me it always understeers needing additional bar input (counter steer) to hold a line and to initiate turn it needed much more leverage on the bars than I have

Japan Autumn Motorcycle Tour Part Two

Having reached not quite the bottom of Kyushu but certainly the point on my route from Tokyo south where I needed to turnaround I took some time to enjoy the sunset and reflect on what had been one of the best weeks riding I have had in a long time. And being Japan there is always a vending machine nearby.   I was pleased with how the FJR1300 had been much easier to ride in the corners on the

Japan Autumn Motorcycle Tour 2015

Japan is such a varied country. I have just completed one of the most scenic motorcycle tours I have ever ridden. If you have a moment take a look at some of the sights on my 14 day journey exploring autumn in rural Japan.   My plan was to ride to the bottom of the island of Kyushu at a relaxed pace with the tour focused on riding foremost but with some time to stop and smell the roses or in

A visit to Yamaha Japan

There currently is a late burst of near summer weather. So I went for a ride to visit Yamaha in Shizuoka. Mostly highway but I detoured a couple of times to try my luck at two highly rated Mt Fuji view locations to break it up. I would not call myself a fanboy of any one brand of car or bike or phone but I do genuinely find some makers producing things I like more than others the last 10 years. I

Japan, Tohoku Motorcycle Tour.

I just completed a 6 day tour to the Tohoku region and despite some discomfort from my previous broken collar bone I had a wonderful time exploring the ever beautiful Japanese countryside. My original idea was to take a ferry up to Hokkaido and ride back but I thought it might be trying to do too much with the way my arm had been on the failed Ireland ride so I decided to make that a ride for

Replacement helmet liner

A small update here while I am not riding. I decided to look for a new helmet but despite being in Japan am not taken with any of the jet style helmets on the shelf here. The Arai and Shoei are comfortable but lack venting compared to my Nolan N43 Air. The venting on the N43 Air is far and away superior to any other helmet I have ever worn, it has that huge evaporative area on the top which I

Motorcycling around Ireland

I set off recently to do a ride of Europe and managed to tour Ireland before having to put the rest on hold. I took my previous post about my plans down to reword but now I shall just write a little about riding the Emerald Isle.  My plan was to first pick up the 2007 Kawasaki Versys 650 I have had sitting in Ireland in storage. I purchased this bike very reasonably priced and have it stored

Alpinestars Andes tourer pants review

I updated my previous 3 season Alpinestars Drystar pants to the new 3 season Andes Tourer drystar pants. So far however I have not found them quite as good. The pants are a waterproof goretex style item in adventure styling. Alpinestars use a material they call Drystar but the material is basically same as goretex. My old Drystar pants had waterproof pockets which were handy as if you encounter

Proof of Concept

I am back riding. I started the FJR first time in 3 months and took a small ride of about 20km to the end of the peninsular where I am living and found an island with a lovely park. I could make out Mt Fuji in the distance obscured somewhat by the sun behind but it would be an impressive view on a clear morning. As much as I want to explore more of Japan I have a dream ride that I have been

Ride NZ

I get a lot of requests to promote things, mostly spam spam and spam. However every now and again I find something arrives in the mail box that is worth passing on.The New Zealand Transport Agency in conjunction with Greater Wellington Regional Council contacted me about letting readers know of a new web site for motorcycle riders in the lower North and upper South islands of New Zealand. It’s

Don’t damage your hearing

The importance of being earnest wearing ear plugs cannot be overstated. I used to be one of the guys who scoffed at the idea and claimed they were uncomfortable or I could not bear to ride with them. Then came the day I knew I had damaged my hearing. Here is my simple layman explanation of how easy this can happen. Do you sometimes have a ringing in the ears after a ride? But it goes away right?

TCX Explorer Evo GT boots review

While happy with my Vitesse boots they are more for days rides as not waterproof. I had been ready to embark on a extended tour overseas (prior to breaking my collar bone) heading to cold and wet places like Scandinavia so decided to invest in a set of waterproof boots which I thought would also be pretty handy for tours here in Japan. Prior to the Vitesse boots I have had a long history of buyer

Alpinestars Andes jacket review

Earlier in the year I went looking for a replacement for my winter jacket as well as something suitable for 3 season touring for future ride plans and read numerous reviews then tried on many jackets before quite by chance I came across the Andes jacket from Alpinestars. Being in Japan I initially thought first I should try the local Japanese brand rider apparel. I looked at Kushitani who here

Noto Peninsular Japan

I have not been able to do much motorcycle riding in Japan this year. The weather has been cold with rain for months. Last year was apparently an odd one with low rainfall but this one seems wet so far. Seems in Japan there normally is no dry season.   I made a small graph representing a year of averages (click to enlarge). Basically winter season is too cold to ride due to snow and ice. Then as

First ride of Spring

It has been a long winter. 6 months of cold and rain. A rare fine day arrived so I decided to try my luck at seeing Mt Fuji. I have a poor record on this after my first ride in Japan in 2008 it has been always been obscured by clouds when I have been passing but not today. I don’t want to sound too negative to begin but the ride did not get off to a great start. I chose to ride the shortest route

Across Tokyo Bay

I think I had a touch of cabin fever. Too much time indoors hiding from the cold. Something I am not accustom to coming from the tropics. Nothing like a motorcycle ride to shake the blues. This is the Tokyo bay Aqua line highway that goes from Yokohama across the bay to Chiba first by tunnel then bridge. I had wanted to ride it for a while so when I missed the Kurihama ferry due to forgetting my

A Winters Ride

I tried my first true winter ride last week and it was better than I expected. The temperatures have been around 4 degrees daytime but clear and sunny. So when a milder 11 degree day was forecast I decided it was time to charge the battery with a ride. It is not possible to ride the mountains now, most roads would have snow and even lower areas are risk of black ice. Cars have studded tyres for

Motorcycling in Borneo

I finally made it to Koto Kinabalu to try some motorcycle riding in Sabah. Last time I was heading there I got food poisoning in Philippines and went back home. Fortunately this time round I arrived well and brought my mate from the Philippines along. It’s just an hour away from Manila but so different. Since I have had this ride planned for a long time it was a a snap to organise. I had my

Philippines Mini Ride report

I was on my way to Borneo from Thailand but was picking up my mate who lives in the Philippines on the way to ride Borneo with me. My other mate who had just ridden in Thailand with me wanted to come to visit our mutual friend living in the Philippines so we ended up with a small reunion and being all riders we decided to try for a ride together but there really was no time to do anything decent.

Motorcycling Northern Thailand

This post is the first part of a recent trip riding 3 countries in SE Asia. The other areas I visited were the Philippines and Borneo, Malaysia which I will follow up on shortly. I have already toured the northern mountains of Thailand twice and was not initially planning to return this Christmas however a opportunity arose to meet up with my long time ride partner from Australia first in