I go to Japan for fun at least 2-3 a year and I love the cycling culture there. My wife is Japanese so she still keeps her mama chari in Osaka. I use her sisters bike when I need one. My wife tells me when she went to University, she had two bikes. One to get to the train station and another at the other end to take to her to school. Bikes rarely get stolen.
As for the Brompton, I own one and would never take it to Japan. It would be extremely rude to bring a "dirty bike" even folded into someone's home or establishment. If you put the Brompton in a bag then it would be acceptable. When I shopped at Grand Bois Cycles, I had to take off my shoes and put on slippers just to go into the showroom. Different culture that is for sure. Now for the Rivendell content. Before I bought my Riv, I told her I was going to buy one for her but she didn't want it. She said her bike for around $100 in Japan was good enough so she couldn't see how spending thousands was a smart move. I went ahead and bought her a Betty Foy and she was amazed at the difference and loves her Betty Foy. At the same time when she rides her inexpensive bike in Japan she doesn't complain. I think for her a bike is a bike, it is used to get from A to B and nothing more. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
