Japanese School Bikes

[TerryTheNewsGirl]

That lilac colour is delightful. I had a chopper for Christmas, until I crashed it into the washyard wall and destroyed the front wheel. Ooopsy!

[marnieparney]

Ontario, Canada in the 1970s. We definitely did not have bike inspections but my small town sold bicycle licenses, so you'd get a little tin number plate to attach to your steed. Bikes were all different types and colours, with nobody caring about having the fanciest or most expensive kind. The highlight for me was having a dark purple bike while my best friend had the same one in light purple.

[Washu]

Australia in the 80s. the bike check was does it have 2 wheels? OK it passes...

[Allan]

Aww, I do miss my old bike as a kid. It was this black and yellow sort of offroady sporty bike thing. It was so awesome, I lived in rural western Canada at the time. My best friend and I would ride our bikes everywhere, but mainly down the train tracks to an old (and MASSIVE) wooden trestle bridge over a river. We would sit up there for hours and just talk, occasionally a train would come by and we would have to hug the side of the bridge as the big old freight train would speed past us with no more than a metre of room. Good times. Now a days I assume the train would stop and you would be charged for trespassing and disrupting the commercial transport or something ha ha ha. (Which might be fair enough to be honest.)

[Dax]

I had a sweet BMX off the back of the E.T. film: White frame with pink tyres. Stolen from the school yard less than a week later. Never rode bikes to school again.

[smallmj]

I love that kids can safely cycle to school there. It's a very different story here in the UK. A lot of kids rely on lifts from parents to get around, which is awful for their independance and freedom. The Japanese school bikes share a lot of similarities with Dutch bikes - they're both very practical and comfortable to ride. The vast majority of Dutch kids cycle to school and have similar bikes but they won't be identical like as mentioned in the video.

I cycled a lot growing up but I was the exception. In the UK we mostly have impractical mountain bikes or racing bikes so most of of my bikes growing up had nobbly tyres, an uncomfortable saddle and crappy mudguards. I lived in the Netherlands in 2018 and brought an electric Dutch bike back with me. Unfortunately I've rarely used it, but it's very comfortable and practical. Having built in lights, full length mudguards, a comfy saddle and a sit-up riding position makes a huge difference.

[unstoppable]

The nice thing about Japanese culture is that if you pay attention you can predict the outcome of most subjects at a rate of 95 %. So it can be almost comforting.

[Kenneth_Havens]

We were also surprised to see the 3万円~ price tags on school bags when our kids went to public elementary school. I am sure that uniformity is the line that everyone is given, but I have a sneaking suspicion that the short list of approved bag, uniforms, bike and sports gear company presidents contain a shockingly high percentage of former Board of Education retirees.

[greg]

Blue Lug bike shops in Tokyo are all about Japanese bicycle individuality . Fantastic bike shops and restaurant and barber shop. 😎

[CurtisSound]

100% agree with the Australian bike rack description coinciding with my experience in the US. Every bike proudly different from any other in the rack. Not necessarily safe, but different 🤣

[keithg]

That helmet is interesting. Doesn’t look like it conforms to your head like other bike or skate helmets. Looks like a construction hard hat.

[LogiForce]

Yeah, the Netherlands is like Australia... no rules anyone cares about (apart from having working lights and a bell) and definitely no helmets. Except when you get those fancy e-bikes.

Storytime from my youth and bad quality of bicycles.
One day, I was riding on my mountainbike as a 14 year old and I was really driving full speed... and than the bolt snapped that connects the steering handlebar to the front wheel. Suddenly I was left with my handlebar in the hands and a free wheeling front wheel. Due to the shock of the fact I forgot to balance myself and smaked down on the tarmac really hard. Got up, got the bike and walked home... bleeding knees and all. 😅

[shubus]

I would've thought there would be a big market for USED school bikes there. They also make all the kids buy the same expensive backpack to carry their books in. Why isn't there a big USED market for those?

[TheInconspicuousMan]

The helmet is particularly egregious because it's making the kids less safe.

Also having to push the bikes on the first day is so absurd haha.

[ricardo]

schools must have a sort of contract that they have to buy that brand (looks like a sort of affiliate link but then real life) hahaha

[MicraHakkinen]

This bike looks like a weird mix of new and old tech: It appears to have a dynamo built into the hub of the front wheel, while at the same time the design of the front rim brake is ancient, I haven't seen that type in 25 years!
Regarding the lock, couldn't you have the key duplicated?
At my schools here in the Netherlands bikes came in all shapes, sizes, and colors as you can probably imagine. We did have an 'inspection' in primary school a week before we were going on a ~30km cycling trip to go camp for a week. But that inspection was mostly just to inform kids and their parents about any defects that may exist. And we had a practical exam once, where the kids would cycle a predetermined route and volunteer parents would be hiding along the route to check if we were following the traffic rules. But again that was not official to the extent that you couldn't ride your bike or anything.

[alienfrommarss]

well, I be darnned! Never heard of this before, really interesting!

[MillywiggZ]

Bridgestone salesman
“You need this kind if bike.”

Some guy
“Who are you to tell me what bike to get?”

Bridgestone salesman
“Errr… I’m sensei. I’m *the* bike sensei.”

Some guy
“Ahh! Righto. How many do I need to buy?”

[dragade]

It looks like that helmet has a rigid foam, equal thickness top and sides of the head. Really thats all you need if you are casually cycling (not doing any stunts). Maybe you would look into speciality helmets if you were going off road, BMX/tricks, or expecting to ride road faster than 35km/hr.

[jGRite]

Does/did the firefighter in your family watch(ed)/read Megumi no Daigo?

Yes, this triggers some bike memories. I don't have a bike anymore. I gave it away.