Steve Shasta teaches you 「自転車の日本語」

Apparently there is a hipster trend of calling Yamaguchi frames "guch". Any Japanese speaker will tell you how odd that is. It's like calling a Bianchi an "anch". No it's actually weirder.

Tank you very, Steve Shasta san.

SuperCubby,

Is that hipsters in the US or Japan?

Steve Shasta

because there's this:

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=gooch

In the US, I believe. I've only seen it on the internets, never in real life. I doubt it relates to the urbandictionary definition, although that is a part of the body that is central to the cycling experience. in any case it's バカ。

bbbut Yamaguchi is American, right?

3Rensho to thread.

It may be located in the U.S., but the dude is Japanese and so is his name.

http://www.slamxhype.com/images/posts/fujiwara.jpg

How are those Yamaguchi frames (besides incredibly expensive)?

some guy i ride with has one and it is a very beautiful steel frame

i knew two guys with them in the mid 90s and they were indeed beautiful, but seemed so heavy next the one-off prototype DEAN that I was on.

he has a frame building class!

i went to the japanese consulate yesterday.

fact.

my wife and son are going to the japanese consulate today.

also fact.

gbx, did you ride your bridgestone? ^___^

>:(

I met Japanese hipster academics last week who were baffled by my interest in keirin.

It's like horse racing, that's why.

tange = "tawn geh"

tell me about niigata

haha, to prounounce? "knee-ee-gah-tah"
from a cyclist perspective (is it an obscure brand name?), i have no idea. i've never been there.

foodwise, it's home to the arguably the best water and rice (koshihikari) in japan. since water and rice are the two most important ingredients in sake, the sake makers from Niigata are very famous (Hakkaisan, Kubota, Tokugetsu, Esshu, etc.) there's actually a really excellent beer (rice lager) from Niigata that you can find abroad sometimes called Koshihikari Echigo Mugishu:

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1316/1404093201_220fccc5f9.jpg

also, due to the good water and climate, people from Niigata are supposed to have really nice skin. that's all i got.

Niigata is known as "Snow Country". It snows a lot. Very mountainous with lots of skiing and hotspring. In years past it was isolated from the more prosperous areas of Kanto (Tokyo) and Kansai (Osaka, Kyoto, Kobe), and thus considered more country and backward. There is a Niigata chip on the shoulder. It's known for its rustic charm and rugged terrain. It's big.

sc,

check your ilxwebmail pls.

ss

bad ass.

med school has a program over there that i think i'm gonna snap up when the time comes

There's a lot of old people there. Are you into geriatrics? Good place for that. If you want to become an obstetrician, you probably won't get much practice in Niigata. Sad but true.

ss,

checked but did not have.

sc

oh man, OLD people

Yeah, old people are lame, but in Japan a lot of them ride bikes so that's cool. A lot of crusty old dudes are into keirin too.

^jk

http://www.shastasalutetoamerica.com/