Shimano Bicycle Museum - Six wheels through Japan - CycleBlaze

May 19, 2023

Shimano Bicycle Museum

As predicted, this is Friday and it will be a day of rain. We are hoping for a break in the humidity as May has been more humid and hotter  than usual. Riding, and just being in humidity has taken a toll on us. By evening, we are done.

We are excited about today’s plan. We are going to navigate the extensive subway system and visit the Shimano Bike Museum. Within this vast city, the Museum is about 20 Km from our hotel. The challenge for today is to not get lost in the intricate subway system when we transfer lines. I grew up understanding Toronto’s system, but Osaka is on a different level.

We will start on the Osaka Loop Line and then transfer
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It really helps to understand the colour coded signs on the pavement.
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A helpful way to get your bike (two wheeled, that is) up the stairs on a conveyor belt to a multi layered storage garage for bikes. Nonetheless, it did look a bit challenging.
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We have arrived. Shimano has a very understated approach to their design of the building. It is a sleek modern building. Except for this sign which we could see through the window, there are no signs or identification on the outside of the building. Luckily we had researched this location beforehand and knew what the building looked like.
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When we entered the museum, we could see that we would be happy in this museum as it shares our love of all things bike. Shimano’s approach is to share a history of the bicycle through its historic evolution.   

When we arrived, a gentleman who works there, rushed over and said that he would put on the film in the theatre in English for us.  Highly recommended. 

The following photos represent only a small sampling of the bikes at the museum.

The Dreisine, named after its inventor, a German Karl Von Dreis, from the early 19th century. As you can see there are no pedals…the rider would kick off with his feet while sitting. The Dreisine is considered to be the first bicycle.
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The Royal Salvo featured a new rack and pinion mechanism for steering. Queen Victoria owned and apparently rode a Royal Salvo.
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This five seater, called the Batavus, was a Dutch racing bike. The World Cycling Championships in Vienna, 1898, featured a Dutch team of five riders and they won in a dominating way with an average speed of 49 Km/hr
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Keith AdamsTwo 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?
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1 year ago
This Pedersen, from 1897, is a beauty. We have a friend on Salt Spring Island who has a Pedersen bike. The frame’s design is based on triangles and between the high handlebars and rear frame is a hammock saddle woven with string.
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This one really grabbed our attention as it looks like a precursor to a modern recumbent bike. This is a lever-driven bike from Germany, 1921. The rider powers the bike by moving their legs up and down on the long levers. The bike has a relaxed and elegant look.
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This is a Dutch milk bicycle from 1930. It looks like an early cargo bike. For Mary Ellen whose dad made maple syrup in Canada, it reminded her of how they collected sap by tractor with milk cans. Who knows? Could a bike have done the job too?
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One of the first bicycles introduced to Japan by Europeans, the Tricycle, 1882-1885, based on the English Rantoone bicycle
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This may look like a motorcycle, but it is a children’s bicycle made under license by Harley Davidson. It can make an engine exhaust sound, it has a horn, but it is human powered.
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The Gyutto Croomex bike was specially designed to carry 2 infants. We see them everyday here , especially on the sidewalks of Osaka.
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The first Japanese folding bike. Not for the faint of heart.
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This touring bike tells its own story just by its appearance. In Sept 1995, Mr. Tatsu Sakimoto set off on an around the world trip by bicycle. After 4 years and 3 months, 55,000 Km in 43 countries, he completed his journey. He rode this Cannondale touring bike and it is adorned with everything he needed for his journey.
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Keith Adams"... 4 -> days
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1 year ago
Mr. Tatsu Sakimoto…truly a road warrior.
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This epitomizes the ideal that all you need to see the world is what you can carry, a lot of determination and the open road.
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The Schwinn Paramount Touring bike.
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The Swift Riding Cargo Bike with 120 kg load is from Japan, 2020. It is the Toyota Trike with Synchro Charge. This e-assist cargo bike does not require a license to drive it and it features left and ride front tires which provide coordinated suspension, giving traction and stability. This enables the bike to,carry loads in excess of 100 kg.
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The Specialized Stump Jumper is a mountain bike that we are very familiar with at home.
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This was the first mountain created by Joe Breeze in Northern California. It is a rare find as only 10 were built.
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This bike is crazy light…..it is a carbon road bike and weighs next to nothing.
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Keith AdamsAnd ho! for carbon fiber!
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1 year ago
This room featured bikes that workers at Shimano treasure.
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Wouldn’t you love to have one of these? It’s called the All Weather Bicycle and it was created in 2003 in Japan. A plastic manufacturing company in Toyama Prefecture called Shirouma Science developed this with the intent to maintain the health older people. It is highly stable with 3 wheels and e- assist.
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This Schwann Cotton Picker, a High Riser bike, brings back memories for us of the 1960’s. The high rise handlebars, banana shaped seat and stick-type gear shifter made this bike a lot of fun.
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Keith AdamsI 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.
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1 year ago
Shimano certainly knows how to appeal to people like us. As well as having a wonderful museum devoted to bikes, there is also a library devoted to books about cycling. We were thrilled to find a copy of The Recumbent Bicycle in English. They had books in several languages.
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Versatron Research in the US, developed this Velomobile in 1980 to push the limits of speed by a human powered cyclist. They set a new human powered speed record of 91.19 Km/hr. It features a smart shell, a large gear ratio and a reclined recumbent riding position. Recumbents rule!!
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Keith AdamsTo 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. :)
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1 year ago
Another book in the Shimano library that caught Barry (Bartlett’s) eye.
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Sometimes we wonder why we put ourselves through the logistics of riding a heavy and large recumbent trike….especially when you can lift these frames with one finger. However, as soon as we sit down on our trikes, we remember that size doesn’t matter when you can tour all day and for months on our comfortable laz-boys on wheels. Especially at our age!
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Visiting Shimano’s Bike Museum is a must see if you visit Osaka. It is phenomenal. We had thought it would be more Shimano focused, but their intent was to share their passion for the evolution of the bike. People we met who work there, researchers and front end people, all shared our quirky love of the bike and a fascination of its history.
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Charmaine RuppoltIf I get to Osaka some day, I will check this out. :)
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1 year ago

Having spent hours at the Museum, we were hungry and needed to,sit down. We found a Japanese restaurant that we really liked.

We thought that the name suggested that it was vegetarian…but it is not. What we noticed is that they served a lot of veggies with their meals. The plastic replicas of the meals is very life like and helped us to decide what we would order.
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This is Mary Ellen’s choice.
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One of the best meals I have had in Japan…the steamed veggies were incredible, the tofu hamburger with radish topping and the chicken…yum, yum.
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I loved this meal.
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Barry’s choice..excellent as well.
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He really enjoyed the mackerel, 16 grain rice (our first non white rice so far), miso soup and the veggies.
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Susan JamesAnd so inexpensive!
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1 year ago
As always, we love walking through food floors like this. Entertaining and the smells drive you crazy.
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We really enjoyed exploring this department store and especially their huge food floor.
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Now we will tackle the subways and see if we can get back to our hotel. In this area of Osaka, we are somewhat conspicuous as we aren’t ‘t seeing any foreigners.
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Yes, it is rush hour and we will have to stand for much of the ride. We have truly had an exceptional day…one we will not forget.
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