Barry’s like another flower there.

Great serendipity!

I could have sworn it was a hot dog drowned in barbeque sauce... :)

To be operated only on cool days with lots of cloud cover. Perfect for Great Britain, not so much for Nevada, Utah, or Arizona in August. :)

I remember those! Along with the Stingray, Manta Ray (had a similar 5-speed "stick shift" design), the Orange Peeler, Lemon Crate, and Cherry Picker (I think) were classic Schwinn designs of the 1960s. All the cool kids had them. (I did not... :( ) The more you could rake out the front fork and the taller the "sissy bar" on the back of the seat, the cooler you were.

And ho! for carbon fiber!

"... 4 -> days

Two things in particular strike me here: it's a fixed-gear bike (since it was built for what I assume was velodrome use that's no surprise) and that big step-up chainring at the fifth seat. I would think that would throw the fifth-seat rider's pedal position out of synch with the leading four (you can even see that in the display). I wonder what the reasoning behind / purpose of that change is?

No cats on bicycles?

Thank you for taking us along on your trip to Japan. We are having a great time!

Noting that you're sporting Arkel panniers. They look like the T-42 Classic model, yes? I'm torn between those and the GT-54s. Your thoughts as to overall roominess, adequacy, etc.? I have a set of the GT-18s that I used (and like a lot) as my front bags on last year's tour but what I had on the rear was just a bit small (not Arkels, and the model I have is no longer produced by the manufacturer).

If you want to respond offline please feel free; my email address is embedded in my CB profile info.

Decades ago there was a couple on the tandem listserve that I used to frequent who got themselves a Greenspeed recumbent tandem trike. It was a HUUUUUUUUGE attention magnet, both literally and figuratively, and meant they never went *anywhere* in anonymity. They learned to allow at least an hour extra for conversations along the way, or after a ride.

That was, in the end, one of the reasons they eventually sold it: they wanted to return to relative obscurity and privacy.

You summed it up. We realize that with our strange looking trikes and being non Japanese, we are a spectacle. It’s funny, we are normally somewhat shy and on the road, all filters are gone.

You summed it up just right. Thanks Keith.

The transition from tourist to tourist attraction can be quite swift, it seems.