motomaniac
Street Tracker
Some shots from a recent ride:
Autumn is in full swing here and the colors are amazing....
Just gave the pipes a polish the day before....
The route I took was through the mountains of Gunma prefecture, a rural area north of Tokyo. Lots of beautiful mountain roads which zigzag through the mountains. Lots of idiots on sports bikes pretending to be at the Isle of Man....which is really stupid considering the roads are barely big enough for one car to pass a bike and there was snow and ice on shady parts. As the first lot zoomed past me without warning on a narrow curve I stopped and told my buddy there would be bodies ahead....and sure enough within a few minutes we found bits of fairing and plastic on the road and the usual circle of onlookers surrounding what was left of the bike off in a ravine. The fuzz was just arriving so we kept moving.
My buddy on his very loud Harley. Annoying in the mountains but useful when we had to lane-split through traffic in the 50 mile long traffic jam on the way back to Tokyo. It was like Moses parting the Red Sea.
A wider section of road....
A final one of the gas cap....
I should have taken some shots at the service area on the expressway where my buddy and I met in the morning....thousands of cars, busses and bikes cramming into every available space with loads of kids and adults running through the parking area into traffic to get to the toilets and souvenir shops.....no organization and no safety plus nobody ever looks before stepping into the road....total and complete cluster-fuck.:drive: Service areas on the big expressways are the places where Japanese bike groups also meet up for their day's "adventure". They always ride in groups usually all with the same bike and the same gear. Really rare to see someone riding by themselves. Doing something by yourself in Japan is usually thought of as odd or antisocial so of course, I am totally anti-social. It is actually very strange but I always see these big bike groups gathering on the expressway service areas but I seldom see them on the road....I think they must spend the whole days there bullshitting and smoking. The Harley guys are the really funny ones....they are totally into the dew-rags and chaps/nazi helmet look. I have seen them with the ciggies rolled up into their tee-shirt arm and smoking while riding just to make sure everyone can see what "rebels" they are. Some ride copies of American police bikes with the police lights and CHP markings. They are usually all about 65 years old and never get over 60mph....:sidecar:
It's a funny old place....
Autumn is in full swing here and the colors are amazing....
Just gave the pipes a polish the day before....
The route I took was through the mountains of Gunma prefecture, a rural area north of Tokyo. Lots of beautiful mountain roads which zigzag through the mountains. Lots of idiots on sports bikes pretending to be at the Isle of Man....which is really stupid considering the roads are barely big enough for one car to pass a bike and there was snow and ice on shady parts. As the first lot zoomed past me without warning on a narrow curve I stopped and told my buddy there would be bodies ahead....and sure enough within a few minutes we found bits of fairing and plastic on the road and the usual circle of onlookers surrounding what was left of the bike off in a ravine. The fuzz was just arriving so we kept moving.
My buddy on his very loud Harley. Annoying in the mountains but useful when we had to lane-split through traffic in the 50 mile long traffic jam on the way back to Tokyo. It was like Moses parting the Red Sea.
A wider section of road....
A final one of the gas cap....
I should have taken some shots at the service area on the expressway where my buddy and I met in the morning....thousands of cars, busses and bikes cramming into every available space with loads of kids and adults running through the parking area into traffic to get to the toilets and souvenir shops.....no organization and no safety plus nobody ever looks before stepping into the road....total and complete cluster-fuck.:drive: Service areas on the big expressways are the places where Japanese bike groups also meet up for their day's "adventure". They always ride in groups usually all with the same bike and the same gear. Really rare to see someone riding by themselves. Doing something by yourself in Japan is usually thought of as odd or antisocial so of course, I am totally anti-social. It is actually very strange but I always see these big bike groups gathering on the expressway service areas but I seldom see them on the road....I think they must spend the whole days there bullshitting and smoking. The Harley guys are the really funny ones....they are totally into the dew-rags and chaps/nazi helmet look. I have seen them with the ciggies rolled up into their tee-shirt arm and smoking while riding just to make sure everyone can see what "rebels" they are. Some ride copies of American police bikes with the police lights and CHP markings. They are usually all about 65 years old and never get over 60mph....:sidecar:
It's a funny old place....
