On the road again ( but only sort of !)

And now the bike clearance process starts. First of all it’s a trip out to the freight  company. The taxi driver who does not speak a word of English drops me at the wrong place. All the signs  are in  Japanese. Eventually with some assistance I get through the security system down the road and into the customs bond area. I find International Express Ltd ( Helpfully called IEC only!). I get my Carnet  documents for the bike. Then I am told in very broken English that I have to go into downtown Tokyo to see the JA F people. That is the Japanese Automoble Federation which is the equivalent of the A.A. in New Zealand. They have to endorse the Carnet before customs clearance. But it is now 1 pm on Friday. They  only work Monday to a Friday. Tokyo City is 80 km away ! I swallow and take a taxi to get there in time. This taxi fare I paid should single handledly pull Japan out of its current  recession!  We get there, find the office, find the right person and sign lots of bits of paper all in Japanese of course. 

I am told I need compulsory third party insurance. That is in another part of downtown Tokyo. In another taxi off we go. More bits of paper are signed, money is handed over ( folding stuff only!) and I am now insured as a driver in Japan. 

It is getting late in the afternoon. I find a railway station and get a train back out to Narita. Forget bullet trains - this was an old commuter train that took 2 hours stopping at every station on the way. I am back at International Express offices by 6.30 pm. I hand over the now  endorsed Carnet. I wait an hour whilst the customs entry is done. I get the customs stamped Carnet back again. All the paperwork is now done! All I have to do now is front up tomorrow to find the freight depot and get the Redhead unpacked and ready to ride. 

So it is now Saturday morning. Helmet in hand I get a taxi to the freight depot. And lo and behold there in front of me is The Redhead in all her glory ! 

What a sight!  So it is now time to roll the sleeves up and reassemble. A mechanic I am not!  However we box on and the friendly Vietnamese warehouse staff come over to help. I find the Vietnamese ladies have delightfully small fingers which is very useful for getting bolts into tight places. And there is always a boss! 

Teamwork in action. Call  the team  below the steering committee! 




And the four sweaty hour later we are assembled and  ready to roll 

But now it is a  “ Houston we have a problem!” moment. The rear tyre is flat!  So the  first trip on the bike is 100 metres on a flat tyre to the petrol station. We pump the tyre up to full pressure. We find our how to buy petrol in. Japanese. That is interesting in itself. Then we fire up the GPS. Thank, thank goodness the voice coming out of the GPS gives me directions is in English !  I assumed it would be in English and not Japanese coming out of the GPS but you never know with staff these days ! 

Elizabeth who lives in the GPS then  takes me on a nice trip thru’ country lanes with rice paddies, bamboo groves and bush to get back to the hotel. A delightful taster of rural Japan. 

And Lo and Behold there we are - 

It looks a very small bit of machinery that has got to get us from here to London ! 

But now the drama starts. The rear tyre is flat again. I pump it up with the hand pump. I then go and bring down one of the gear from the room to pack on the bike. And yes, the rear tyre is going flat again!  Oh, oh ,oh ! 

The rear tyre  is brand spanking new. It has only done 20 metres from the tyre dept at Cyclespot to the crate to take it to Japan. It can’t therefore be a puncture, it must be a bad bead set ( the tyres are tubeless), a faulty valve or a faulty valve stem. I can fix a puncture but not this problem. 

So dear reader at the time of writing this we ain’t going anywhere tomorrow until the tyre problem is sorted out. And tomorrow is Sunday! At this stage I am hoping to “limp “ to a motorcycle repair shop in Narita that is open on a Sunday. Watch this space as the drama unfolds !  Then hopefully we will be on the way on Monday