Any local knowledge would be very much appreciated here. A damaged front rim means that I cannot ride any further for the moment. I'm sat in Aomori trying to find someone who can rebuild my wheel with a new rim or just get the current one into a working condition if at all possible.

Does anyone know of a good wheel builder in Japan? It would be easier to get to someone in northern Honshu or Hokkaido, but anywhere in Japan would do.

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Don't go right

Matt, hi there,

just got your message. I am located on Shikoku (also a TA rider). Let me see what I can do. Maybe get with my local dealer, also one of our teachers is "into" motorcycles and got his connections. I assume you are riding the European TA? Can you give me the size and other details for the rim. I will contact you again as soon as possible (mails to klausdorth{at}web.de).

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Matt, once again ....
My friend / teacher came up with this one:

http://page14.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/j...ion/s297466557.

Don't know whether this is what you are looking for!?!?!

Could not find anything else on the net so far.
One more option might be the Koushin Cruisers.
There is a US Forces base up in Aomori - those guys are also always willing to help a fellow traveller!!

As always, send me a mail if more info is needed!

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Matt
I talked to a friend who is a mechanic, and he said that the wheel from the 400 that is up for auction in Klaus's post 'should' fit your bike. It may need to have the bearings replaced to fit though. Bearings are easy to get, so this may be the best option. Having someone buy that wheel up for auction and send it to Aomori is probably the fastest and cheapest way.
If you go for a new rim to your old hub. Any decent bike shop should be able to handle that. In fact, a bicycle shop may even be better at lacing the spokes.

Chris

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Japan touring information

Matt, did you solve your rim issue?
We haven't heard from you since your initial call for assistance.
I see from your SPOT tracker that you have moved on to Sendai.
Update us on what you need, and I am sure someone can come up with a solution for you!
In fact, there is a large Honda dealership about 2 km from the location of your last SPOT update.

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Japan touring information

Not solved yet. I have moved on to Sendai since I was led to believe that it would be easier to solve here, but since arriving so many people have recommended stuff in Aomori I wish I had stayed there

That wheel from the 400 is no good unfortunately. It may fit but I need a dual disc version.

The Honda dealership here can rebuild it with a new rim but they want to do it in a very main-dealer-ish way. That is, 10 times the price it should be and using only genuine replacement parts. They want to get new spokes sent over from Italy.

Someone else sent through a list of garages in Sendai and other cities last night so I will spend the day visiting them before maybe moving on to Tokyo. I can get hold of the rim easily enough but I never thought finding someone to make a set of spokes would be this difficult.

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Don't go right

If you do leave Sendai towards Tokyo,
I really recommend you contacting a friend of mine with a garage in Utsunomiya.
He might even have a rim lying around that will fit.
I will send you details by e-mail.
Contact me here if you don't get the mail.

Chris

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Japan touring information

A small update. It is sort of fixed now.

(After typing all of this I realised it is not really a small update. Also it's probably very boring if you are not me. The important bit is that it's sort of fixed)

The trouble I've been having is that the Honda dealerships only want to use genuine parts. Since the 650 was never sold in Japan there are no spares on the Honda part systems (the VIN doesn't even come up). They all want to get them sent over from Italy. I was told it would take 4 weeks for a new set of spokes. So that option is out.

Independent dealers seem to be quite happy to do the work for a fairly large sum of money, but they want me to supply the parts. I can have them sent over from the UK but when working out the time and money it doesn't end up being any better than the main dealers.

I did find a place that would source a new rim and set of spokes locally for a sort of reasonable price, but the lead time was so huge (5 weeks + 1 week for assembly) I just can't consider it.

But after spending 4 hours at the garage working all of that out they called some other guy to come and look at the wheel and see what he could do. I should say that the wheel isn't seriously damaged, but it is definitely out of shape. This guy spends a long time complaining that the spokes are so badly corroded that they will break if anyone even thinks of taking a spoke wrench to them. So he them pulls out a spoke wrench and adjusts them anyway. And he did a good job. The wheel is now significantly more round than it was this morning.

The problem hasn't been fixed, it has just been offset. Now that the wheel no longer feels in danger of collapsing I shall probably just carry on. I have another 3 weeks or so in Japan so will only worry about it if it gets any worse in that time. Otherwise it can wait until I reach KL where I know I have the time and means to sort it properly.

Thanks for all the help and suggestions from everyone. It was very much appreciated. There seems to be a really good community here in Japan.

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Don't go right

Feels good to read your update.
Tranny will do the job!

Uwe (Kyoto tonight - thanks to Jelawat for the wet ride)