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Kurato and Fat-bikes in Japan

I’ve been corresponding recently with Kurato from Aichi, Japan and talking, of course, about fat-bikes. He is a big fan of fat-bikes and owns a Salsa Mukluk with a Maverick SC32 on it as he trys to build the ultimate all-mountain bike and he believes the 4-inch fat tire is the best for both descending and ascending! We couldn’t agree more!

Kurato told me that there are quite a few fatbike fans in Japan and that most of fat-bikes sold in Japan are Surly Pugsleys at this time while other models are rarely seen at this moment.

He has several friends who enjoy riding fat bikes and they are already and planning a “Fat-bike Meeting in Japan” sometime this year. Ideas include riding on a beach, camping and/or fat-bike downhill runs! Stay tuned, we will get more info as it becomes available.

In addition to his love of fat-bikes Kurato is also actively promoting MTB riding in his area. Though he is employed full-time, he and his wife decided to build mountain bike trail parks in Aichi a few years ago since legal trails for mountain biking are very limited in Japan. They spent weekends and holidays negotiating with land owners near camp sites and with the forest guard associations to obtain approvals from everybody and spent several months to build each trail park. They built their first one in August 2010 and built another one in August 2011. The parks have many fans from 3-year old kids to semi-pro enthusiasts who have enjoyed the trail parks. They named their trail park system “26ism” and you can find it on the web www.26ism.com. (Sorry, Japanese only at this moment…)

A couple of YouTube videos you can check it out.

Kurato and his family also welcomed a new baby just a couple of days ago. Good Luck, Kurato and we look forward to more fat-bike reports from Japan!

3 Responses to Kurato and Fat-bikes in Japan

  1. Kurato January 19, 2012 at 9:42 am #

    Thank you for the warm comment! My wife and I enjoyed reading the article! We will plan to have “Fat bike get together ride” for the start up this spring. Will send you the report from Japan!!

    26ism
    Kurato Nakashima

  2. Joben February 23, 2013 at 10:32 pm #

    For sure going to try and find Kurato once we arrive in Japan. Nice to know there are fat bikes there!

  3. Carlos Olaaka May 8, 2020 at 7:08 am #

    Since the lockdown in my country, I have fallen in Love with Bikes. I am learning every day researching for hours on Bicycles. I also see a business opportunity in-country for people to own bicycles. I am here to sick some pointers on how to deal with bikes, where to buy, where to find investors. Any help will be highly appreciated.

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