An Adventure of a lifetime... (ok, until next week)! Two days, one hot
ass Ducati Monster 696, 30 years of experience and a road. Ohh yeeeeeeaaaahh baby! Riding a motorbike around Japan has
been a driving force of me getting onto bikes in the first place, so
this achievement has left me grinning like a little fluffy furball.
Starting off with the best motorbike rental outlet in JAPAN- with over 100 shops,
and English speaking staff, I rated them the best equipped and well
suited to me as an English speaking foreigner wanting a two wheeled
adventure. With super slick, new, high performance machines, competitive
pricing and comprehensive insurance, lets have a big drum roll for the
superstars at RENTAL819!!
HANDS DOWN SUPERB TO DEAL WITH. Special mention going out to
Adrian, Yosuke & Kohsuke at Ikebukuro and the mechanic from Hatogaya
who setup the GPS and Ducati :) They helped me put together a
route on Garmin navigation, sort out the highway toll charges, get
kitted out in spunky Dianese moto-gear, book a Ryokan and Onsen AND get a
brand new 2015 Ducati Monster 698.
I tossed up between the new Yamaha MT-09 and the new Ducati's,
but settled on the Duke for a few reasons. Experience had taught me
about getting into all sorts of little situations can be more cooly
navigated when you are not having to fight your machine. On motorbike
trips there are always adventures inside the adventure!! Gravelly side
roads, multiple short notice u-turns, possible inclement weather, steep
inclines and the fact that I was doing this solo, were all thoughts that
helped me on my decision. Plus I was keen to try out the new Ducati's
engineering.
Weather in April in Tokyo is a mixed bag. One day sunny and 23 deg, the
next, 3 and snowing!!! I even checked to see when the full moon was (I
bet $$ on this trick and always book my snow adventures around this date
as it brings clear skys and reliably settled weather) but alas it was a
new moon. SO I stuck my finger in the air, waved it around a bit,
missed the weekend and landed on the 23rd/ 24th.... and ca-boOOM- I was
blessed with THE BEST you could get. Warm, sunny and
ab-so-lutely-bloody-purrrrfect.
Riding
in Japan is magnificent. The road charges are expensive, and I advise
you carry lots of change in a handy to access pocket- because your going
to need it at the toll routes. Most windy runs have mirrors on the
corners, which is pretty neat. The highways are superb, well policed and
there are speed cameras (that shoot from the front... ^=^ ......)...
but with your wits about you and good decision making, you can have a
blast!
I pulled on all my skills and resources, absolutely can't
even put in words how much fun I had, and HIGHLY recommend you come and
play RIGHT HERE. ^=^
To read the full article check her blog:
http://www.moenamoxham.com/blog/2015/4/26/rental819-ducati-and-amagiso-ryokan-
