Last sunday we went for a day-tour up to Nikko area, cold as hell, but all-in-all a really nice day. We saw Kegan falls and a Nikko temple and more importantly -the Duc ran perfectly all day! ;) Tomorrow I take off for India, will be the opposite of last weekend I guess, currently just below 40 degrees in Pune... Got a couple of rental Royal Enfields for most of the trip, will be brilliant!
Been to Mt Fuji last weekend, this time we went up to the fifth station which is the one most climbers use. Cooooold up there, easy to understand why the recommended climbing period is late july-end of september. On the way back we stopped for a late lunch and stepping out of the car I realize that we parked right next to CHS, Custom House Stinky! CHS is a Yamaha SR specialized custom builder and I've been thinking that I have to make a visit to check their bikes so I was mighty happy to stumble across the store/workshop without even trying to get there! It's actually just one guy, he's an expert in doing seats and GFK bodywork, the engine stuff are done by other local workshops and mechanics. I only had the phone for taking pictures, hence the crap quality, but please check the website for some fantastic SR bikes! stinky.jp
Been to Tokyo Motorcycle Show today, rather disappointing, only the good ol' Kiska-KTM guys showed something interesting with their electric freeride concepts, looking forward to see the next step for those bikes. Had a good ride in the sun there and back though, bike running smooth and nice going there, but chotto bad on the way back due to lots of traffic and stop and go's. In the last picture I demonstrate how good I've become at imitating japanese eyes...
No posts for a long time, been busy latey, but yesterday I finally took out the Ducati for a spin outside of Tokyo. She's not too keen on stop and go traffic in the city, but coming out on the expressway and then up some curvy little mountain roads seemed to please her! And me! It's really an amazing bike, there's a lot of drama in terms of sound and vibration which makes slow speed feel fast enough, but what surprised me a bit was how well it seems handle on a bendy road, nice! A bit on the heavy side and the clutch is hard as hell but all in all an absolute joy :) 
Been out riding a little bit yesterday and I stumbled across a couple of cool places. First Spice motorcycles who's bikes I've seen on different bike blogs and it was really nice to see some of their work up close. Brilliant rough dirty workshop, 5-6 guys smoking and working on the bikes, looked like fun... Later I stopped to check a ducati store which turned out to be owned by old japanese racer Ken Araoka, can't say that I know him from before, but he won a Suzuka 8 hours and was in the same Suzuki team as Barry Sheene, Paul Smart and Gary Nixon back in the 70:s, cool! He showed me some pics from his racing scrap-book and then indicated that I should keep my Ducati in a better and cleaner condition...
So, hmm, how to explain and justify why I've gone and bought an unreliable italian bike while living in Japan? No clue, but it feels great to have done it! It's a Ducati 900 S2, but with SS bodywork, imported to Japan 85, the papers doesn't say anything about actual production year but should be 83 or 84. 72hp according to spec-sheets and great sound, like REALLY great sound! 
