Preface

March 30, 2023

Ever since my trip to Japan in 2006, I longed to go back. This time it'd be with a sidecar attached to the Nimbus bobber, and an old friend of mine in it. The plan was to go in spring, and head for the north island of Hokkaido, which I missed last time around.

In early 2020 I got quote for shipping the sidecar bike by sea, at a surprisingly low $431 - about 1/4 of what I paid to have a solo MZ shipped to Los Angeles two years previously. Apparently they have a lot of empty containers going eastwards, and are happy to put anything in them.

Bought plane tickets for both of us too, so everything looked fine. Then the bloody virus hit, the world grinding to a halt.

Trip postponed first to 2021, then to 2022, where we do a trial run to England and Ireland instead. The Nimbus blows a cylinder head gasket and the ignition system dies on the very first day, but hey, better in Northern Germany than 300 clicks outside of Tokyo. The rest of the trip was taken on a 50 year old Moto Guzzi V7 with a Watsonian sidecar, Wallace & Gromit style. Most of the trip, anyway, because that bike died too.

While preparing for finally making it in 2023, the old friend decides to skip the Japan trip. Another friend steps in, but refuses to ride in the sidecar. Won't borrow another Nimbus either. He'll rent something over there, and I demand it be something at least somewhat interesting, if we have to ride together. So he gets a 125 cc Honda Grom.

Like in 2006 the Nimbus will go by air to Tokyo, as I'm getting paranoid about it being stuck in a container terminal somewhere, like Shanghai. I knew it'd cost more, but $3.200? Plus the extras like a carnet, declaration of dangerous goods and such? Figure I'll be looking at at about $7K before the bike is back in Denmark.

The Nimbus has been registered as a 1938 model. 

Droptank is off an F-86D Sabre jet, and 3,5 meters long.

Honda Grom, 125 cc, not freeway legal.... 

-------------------------------

April 9

Common sense suggests I fly over and just rent a bike, like travel companion Axel does. Or buy something interesting, which Danish resident Andreas in Tokyo has offered to help with. I'm seriously considering a Suzuki SW-1, the motorcycle equivalent of 'My Neighbor Totoro'.
   It's all of 250 cc, a mere 200 were built in 1992 only so ultra rare, and it's as enclosed & practical as my Ariel Leader. It's only $5K, and who knows, maybe I'll like it enough to keep it.

Then again, to help pay for this trip by selling articles about it, the Nimbus is a better choice, and likely opens more doors over there, as Nimbuses are apt to do abroad. Plus I just like that old thing more than any other bike. A week of frustration getting the bike to run right is finally rewarded, and I decide to send it over by air, even if Gretha will hate me for it.
   Building a crate of heat treated (necessary for Japan) scrap wood takes me 3 days.   

April 14

Bike got crated and delivered to the shipping company, after both the people doing the 'dangerous goods' declaration and the forklift guy at the shipping company realized the time pressure I was under, and stayed late enough for me to deliver the thing.

Now I'm crossing my fingers that Turkish Airlines and Qatar Airways will get it to Tokyo in time. The three previous times I shipped my motorcycles to other continents, they were always one or two weeks delayed, the first time with an unexpected side benefit: I got to meet a woman I eventually married.  

PS  This is why I prefer flying with SAS: 

ampervadasz.tumblr.com/post/714467085318782976/unmute

------------------

April 17

Crate didn't fly as expected, and won't fly until a few days from now. Good news is that shipping agent says it'll be in Tokyo on Sunday, and apparently it flies with Thai Airways, so no unloading and reloading on the way.

Shipper also said that an extra $1K will take care that nothing gets stacked on top of it. Instead I go to the warehouse and mount square iron tubes under the wooden boards. Now nothing short of a tactical nuclear weapon can break it.

Then shipping agent shows up and tells that there's no more than 40 cm/10 inches room above my crate, and they'll likely throw a net over it, and upon that a few small boxes. (It's okay, I wasn't stressed with vacation preparations at all, and had absolutely nothing else to do that afternoon...)

At the workshop I modify the exhaust heat shield a bit, so it'll be an inch or so further out. Now hopefully my leathers won't get ruined yet again. 

 Doubt anyone will fall for the Yoshimura bit, though.

Flight

April 25, 2023

Airbus soon found out the hard way, that the tables had to be strong 

enough for two aspiring members of The Mile High Club.