Ohira-san Works His Magic Again

 May 26, 2023

Up and about we take the train to Ikebukuro and get me a new sim card, to replace the Danish one from Yousee (where the lying bastards told me it'd work for 6 weeks) and bid each other farewell. Axel is off to Denmark and I'm off back to Ohiro-san, the tuning guy near Andreas, to see if he's home and has time to repair my cracked headlight mount. I'd hate to show up with a duct-taped headlight at the old bike event I plan to attend on Sunday, two days from now.

Ohiro seems unable to do things at less than 100%, so instead of welding the broken bits, he goes through the thorough process of producing a new and better bracket, while I 'wash' the bike with brake cleaner, making it look a bit nicer for Sunday. While getting grime off the rear wheel spokes, I notice to my dismay that three of them have snapped, despite them being of a thicker and stronger type than standard. Sliding around on Swedish gravel roads did the previous set in, but seeing that the Japanese roads are noticeably more lethal, I'm not all that surprised it happened. I've been tightening bolts and nuts too ever since we set off two weeks ago, something I never had to do before in half a century of touring on Nimbuses.

Problem is now that I only have extra spokes for the other two wheels, and thinner ones at that. Ohiro, who set aside porting an old Kawasaki cylinder head when I showed up, probably planned to do more porting, but soon proceeds to modify the sidecar spokes, shortening and threading them. In due course and with the aid of much swearing we get them installed, the tire pumped and the wheel back on the bike. Six hours in all it took us, and he doesn't want payment. He gets a 10,000 yen bill ($71 / 500 dkr.) whether he wants it or not, because while I'm all in favor of motorcyclists helping out each other, methinks also that he has a business to run.

Drive-through serving at a local - and mediocre - fast food place.

Installing nipples for the spokes without taking off the tire. Good thing that, the 4 inch sidecar rubber with strong sidewall are a bitch to change just using tire irons.

While working on the rear wheel, a warning in Japanese and English interrupts the radio music, and the above meassage ticks in on my phone: "Warning about emergency situation. Early warning about earthquake. Strong shaking is soon to be expected. Keep calm, and seek shelter nearby."
By now I'm not the slightest worried about this - and then a bit disappointingly nothing happens at all. 

TIG welding a bolt onto the new headlamp bracket. Note the helmet decorations.


Toy vending machines by the hundreds at the Ikebukuro subway station, a bit like the 'Kindereier' (children's eggs) that remain popular all over the world.


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