650 Riders – Routes Sent
Route 292 – Set to Open April 24! 浅間・白根・志賀さわやか街道292 浅間・白根・志賀さわやか街道
The reopening of one of the highlights on the C2C, the run through the snow walls on the climb up the 292 to the highest point on a national road in Japan, is on schedule and only a few days before we are set to roll through there.
C2C 12 Sticker – Twisty O’clock
Here you are Twistybutts, this is the sticker for this year’s Coast to Coast. Hope you like it.
Thanks to all those who’ve requested extra stickers.
C2C ’24 Change
Due to popular demand, this year’s C2C, being the 12th running, will be a no holds barred Dirty Dozen Anniversay Race to the Sea of Japan! The winner will be bathed in victory’s glory and the wounds and tears of their adversaries.
Currently seeking entrants with medical trauma care experience to ride armoured Ambulance Cubs.
IBA Swag
After doing the 1600km ride from Yokohama to Soya Misaki in Hokkaido, the 2000km run from Yokohama to Kagoshima via Joetsu and finally the Yokohama-Hiroshima-Niigata-Karuizawa-Nagoya-Yokohama loop, all the receipts, routes and tracks, photos and ride reports were sent to the IBA for verification. A couple of months later, all of this arrived in the mail.
How does the Desert X fare on the road in Japan?
It’s tall, bright white and wearing knobbie-ish tyres… can this really be a Ducati?
It needed that little Italian flag on the tank to remind me over and over that it was.
* No techy specs here, just a yarn from a shortish tour on the Desert X…
(more…)Well done Twistybutts! C2C 2023
April 29, at various times throughout the afternoon and evening, after an unusually warm day with near perfect riding weather, bikes and riders rolled down out of the mountains to the Japan Sea coast after riding 500+ km of great roads across the interior of Honshu. All their tyres were well rounded, brake pads thinner, seats polished and the riders themselves were road weary but satisfied.
(more…)Shiga Kusatsu Road 292
Japan’s highest national road running up over the mountains bordering Gunma and Nagano prefectures which is also a chilly highlight on our C2C route is set to open April 26th this year.
(more…)Now we are twisting! Factory Touno 660
Having previously had a great time seeing if the Touno 660 was THE twisty machine for Japan and being mightily impressed with how fun it was but finding the confidence running out when the suspension was pushed hard, a test of the Tuono 660 Factory was a logical step. Thankfully, PIAGGIO Aprilia Japan obliged.
(more…)Winter Roads – Pros n Cons
The skies are clear, not much traffic and the roads are relatively clean and dry. On the other hand, it’s bitterly cold, you can’t ride the highest mountains and the daylight hours are frustratingly short.
That simple? Not quite.
Touge Express 