The Road to Rinko
My wife and I are headed to Japan for a two-week bike tour
this fall. We are tremendously excited and looking forward to our adventure! In the meantime, we need to get ourselves ready for this exciting journey.
We are envisioning our bike requirements for
the trip. Our plan is to bring our bikes on the flight and store our shipping
box for the duration of the trip. Provided this aspect of the trip goes
smoothly, we are planning to have our bikes fully rinko-able for train travel
while in the country. Rinko is the Japanese term for disassembling one’s bike
so that it can be put in a bag and brought on the train.
Thinking about what’s involved to get our bikes rinko-ready,
I started to dwell on the utility of having our bikes packable in this way and
quickly started to envision the multiple instances where it would prove to be a
useful option well beyond our trip to Japan. In cars, on the bus, on the train or subway, etc. suddenly
multimodal transport seems even more doable if the bike can be packed up
quickly in such a manner that it’s not even recognizeable as a bike. For
instance, Megabus does not allow bikes in the storage compartment, but I
seriously doubt a driver is going to question a bagged up rinko bike.
This is a journal about converting our two bikes to rinko
readiness. My bike is a 650b Rawland Stag and Nancy’s bike is a 650b custom
built by Tom Matchak. Both are steel frame and are fully fendered, have both
front and rear generator-powered lighting, and are frequently loaded with
everything from a handlebar bag to front and/or rear panniers.
My primary guide in this process is the description from
Bicycle Quarterly’s _______ issue, which describes the necessary features that
allow the bike to be efficiently rinko-ed. Our goal is to strike a happy medium
between easy of process and expense. For instance, I doubt we’ll invest in
quick-release pedals, opting instead to carry a tool and just unscrew the
pedals as needed.
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