I don't know of any bike shops in particular in Tokyo so I can't help on that account, but I do remember at IM Japan the Vikings team that dominated the event with awards and members. I believe they are based out of Tokyo if I'm not mistaken. Also check out the IM Japan website at http://www.ironmanjapan.com and you might find the official bike shop...maybe they are from Tokyo as well??? Hope this heps. Buddy

I was living in Chiba, Inage.. about 40 minutes outside of Tokyo. I had come across a decent bike shop and a triathlon club (a lot of Japanese Oly triathlon team members) that trains at a pool near the center of Inage.

Good luck.. I would search for triathlon club and Chiba or Inage.. Hopefully they can help.

Thanks guys,

I'll give your suggestions a try.

Hi bdh02,

Where in Tokyo are you? There are actually quite a few good bike shops, although some of them I certainly would not spend my hard earned yen. I guess you see that to some extent everywhere; the hotshot sales guy who thinks he's impressing the customer by intimidating him/her with his (rather limited) knowledge. If they've got $10,000 Pinarellos and Colnagos hanging in the window, it's probably not a good sign.

Don't be discouraged, there are plenty of good shops with friendly and knowledgeable staff. Let me know where you are, and I may be able to point you in the right direction.

Ken

Thanks KS,

I'm in Western Tokyo. Setagaya-ku to be exact, but I'm will to go anywhere in greater Tokyo.

I looked at few in this area and thought about ordering the Felt S32, but the stores I went to really didn't seemed that interested in my business. If I'm going to spend 20 man I want to get a proper fit and feel comfortable going back to the store if any problems arise.

Any rec's would be greatly appreciated.

Send me a PM if you need more info.

try these sites

http://www.tokyocycle.com/

This is if you need a pool for swimming
http://www.tatsumi-swim.com/

Theres a good bike store in Akasaka (close to Roppongi) and they have a good bike fit service, guys that speak enlgish and five levels of bikes. It's part of 'Ys' bike shop chain.

Paul

Hi bdh,

Where in Setagaya are you? I'm in Setagaya as well. There's a good shop near where I live who is a Felt dealer. The shop owner is a great guy. He used to do business in Oregon until a few years ago, so he should speak good English as well (although I've never spoken to him in English).

Ken

Hi Ken,

I live just off the Denentoshi (Takatsu-ku) but work in Sancha. The guy you mention sounds like the perfect situation. I speak Japanese so that is a major problem, but it would be nice to be able to fall back onto English if need be.

Do you have a map or directions?

Thanks again,

Fluro,

I actually went to Y's and maybe I ran into a bad sales guy because he was not helpful at all. I was interested in one of their branded tri bikes and asked the sales guy about. He bascially blew me off and said "we don't have your size, go check our other stores, bye"!

But thanks for the thinks. I'll check them out.

I can also recommend Y's at Akasaka/Tameike. Aoyama-san on the 4th floor is the resident bike fitting guru and speaks English. Yamada-san, the lady that works there and takes spin classes on Tuesday nights, is also good to deal with. And they do sell Felt bikes as well. Here this their home page (Japanese only)

http://www.jitensya.co.jp/...hops/academy/top.htm

The big tri club in Tokyo is Verdy, based at Inagi. I am doing a fun ekiden out there on April 30th Here is the link-

http://homepage.mac.com/...thlon/home/main.html

Another good, but small tri shop is Westy, which is in Sugamo. One good thing that they do is a group ride out to Oifuto on Sunday mornings that I sometimes join. Meet at the store at 8:00am, ride through the city to Oi, then do 6 hard laps and back to Sugamo by 12:00 noon. Just turn up at the shop a bit before 8:00, but they cancel the ride if it rains. I plan to do this ride next Sunday morning. PM me for me details.

http://www.westy-cp.com/

---

Keren
https://www.triathlonintokyo.org/
https://quintanarootri.com/ https://en-jp.wahoofitness.com/ https://www.worldtriathlonstore.com/

Yes, they may not do your size if you are tall as bikes for locals only need to run in smallish sizes. But they did offer to do a special order for a bike for a friend who is over 2m tall, but he ended up getting a bike from out of Japan. I think that Trek Japan can do large size bikes, but yoiu will need to check with them about Felts.

---

Keren
https://www.triathlonintokyo.org/
https://quintanarootri.com/ https://en-jp.wahoofitness.com/ https://www.worldtriathlonstore.com/

I lived in japan for 2 years in chiba and use to train at Inage...............very good swim workouts and I also did my long rides sometimes with them. I spoke very little japanese, but the coach spoke a little english.............that was back in the late 90's so I'm sure it's better now for english speakers. When I was there a lot of the japanese olympian's trained there. I dealt with a bike shop in Tsudanama called Zunow which was a good shop with group rides (races).

Hi bdh,

Y's is actually one of the shops I try to stay away from. They do have lots of high-end stuff in inventory, which makes them look very flashy, but your experience there seems to be on par with what I usually expect from them. They do stock a lot of stuff, so they are sort of a last resort when I absolutely need something NOW. Otherwise, they do not get my yen. To be fair, I'm sure they do have some decent sales people on staff, and, I have not been to all of their stores.

The shop I mentioned earlier is called Bike & Hike near Komazawa. It's a very small shop, but the owner is a terrific guy and is the mechanic for the Japanese duathlon national team. Not really sure about his fitting capabilities/experience though. They've got some triathletes on staff, including a young kid who had the best Japanese bike split at Hawaii last year (yeah, not much bragging rights there, but...). They will most definitely NOT have your size in stock, but should be able to order from the distributor as long as the distributor has your size in inventory. If the distributor doesn't have your size, then you're SOL. Here's their website. It has a map, but it's not very detailed, so PM me if you need more details. http://bikehike.jp/

Because real estate is expensive and the logistics providers are efficient, most prudent bike shops here don't carry much inventory on big ticket items, but are very good about getting stuff promptly from the distributor. The good thing is, you won't have to worry about getting fitted on the wrong bike that just happened to be in stock. These shops won't have the "flash appeal" but if you pick the right ones, they will offer the level of service and attention that the big shops can't offer. And, they'll actually remember you the next time you go back after you buy your bike!

Astroman brought up Westy, which is another great shop, and is one of the few tri-focused shops in Tokyo. The owner Hayama-san has been a fixture in the tri scene for a long time. The shop is on the other side of town from where you are, but perhaps worth a visit. He has his own line of shop branded bikes and is usually very good about customizing to meet your size/needs. A similar shop with tri-focus, but perhaps closer is Omino in Suginami. Again, PM me if you are interested.

Ken

Thanks a million everyone for the recs.

I'm going to give Bike and Hike a try after work and see how it goes. Will also try to go to Westy sometime this weekend.

Once again, thanks for all the help.

I just wanted to update this in case any one searches for Tokyo bike shops in the future.

The place KS recommended, bike and hike, was spot on. Really knowledgeable, really friendly and just great to deal with. The kid KS mentioned that had the fastest Japanese bike split at Kona was there and we are the same size. So he let me test his bike out to make sure I got the proper size.

So if anyone in Tokyo is looking for a LBS, I highly recommend this place.

Thanks everyone,