A HUGE thank you to Kaze bicycles for helping support our channel with these awesome bikes to ride!

KAZE BICYCLES is a Japanese inspired bicycle brand based in Chiang Mai, Thailand. Kaze (風) means wind, so the brand name literally means “ride like the wind”

Kaze bikes website – https://ridekaze.bike/

This is Thuong’s first time on a fully carbon road bike with carbon wheels. Fully aero, stiff, and a beautiful color to top things off. So needless to say, we’re both pretty stoked right now and will be putting a LOT of miles on these bikes 🙂

Thuong is riding the matte white frame. Cruise is riding the glossy red/black frame. Which one do you like better?

Today’s ride (Thuong’s Strava) – https://www.strava.com/activities/638…
Today’s ride (Cruise’s Strava) – https://www.strava.com/activities/638…

The post KAZE Race Kansai 2 Disc Road Bike Review & First Ride appeared first on Two Wheel Cruise.

We heard about Kaze bikes from our host and we happened to be cycling in Chiang Mai in the area and decided to stop by and look around since we are looking for a new road bike or mountain bike to use for cycling here. They have some really affordable bikes, and have become a top contender for our new bikes here in Thailand.

Kaze bikes website – https://ridekaze.bike/

Check the timestamps to see different parts of the bike shop / show room tour. A big thank you to KAZE BIKES for showing us around their headquarters and warehouse. They were really kind and answered a lot of our questions 🙂

They even gave Thuong a free bike fit to check her size for the road bike frames. She learned that she needs to improve her pedal efficiency.

They have some really nice road bikes and mountain bikes. Here are some of the bikes we looked at today.

• KAZE RACE Kansai 2
• KAZE RACE Kanon
• KAZE RACE Flash
• KAZE RACE Slash
• KAZE Mochi folding bike

KAZE RACE is their premium carbon racing bike line.
KAZE is their normal bicycle product line.
PEARL is their own branded bicycle accessories.

The post KAZE BICYCLES Tour in Thailand appeared first on Two Wheel Cruise.

This video is part of a West Japan Cycling Trip series we did in September 2020.

See our full playlist here.

Thanks to Nana-chan for showing us around Osaka!

Japanese channel – English channel

Today’s ride on Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/4095276988

Gopro 4k cycling video

The post Best Cycling in Osaka 【4K】 Japan Cycling Tour appeared first on Two Wheel Cruise.

I decided to call up my friend Zac from BMC Japan, who also happened to be working the same event with me, and asked if I could borrow a one of their test bikes for the event. And he kindly lent me one of their top-end bikes, the BMC teammachine SLR01 with regular shimano ultegra (just the way I like it).

You’ll be seeing me ride this bike in a couple videos, and so I thought I’d do a proper introduction video of the full bike and it’s components. Also, we’ll be showing BMC Zac’s Roadmachine disc, which has a beautiful red and green color combination.

This bike is extremely fast, and I’ve already taken one of my target KOMs with it on Strava (ironically one where Zac was ahead of me haha).

It’s going to be hard to say goodbye to this bike, but it was fun while it lasted.. 🙂

The post BMC Teammachine SLR01 & Roadmachine Disc Review With Mr BMC Japan appeared first on Two Wheel Cruise.

Needless to say, I rushed over to the Giant store after work to get a first look at this new aero road bike. My wife Thuong also came along and we both give our impressions from looking at the bike. It was her first time seeing a bike this expensive ($11,500 USD!) and she said it looks like it “cuts through the wind!”

They also had a 2019 Giant Propel Advanced SL 1 disc with a beautiful “rainbow black” paint finish, that looks absolute stunning when catching the light well.

Full Giant Japan Bike Shop Tour

We also filmed a full bike shop tour of this Giant Bike Shop. Video here

More info about the two bikes in today’s video..

PROPEL ADVANCED SL 0 DISC (2019) – $11,500
//www.giant-bicycles.com/us/propel-advanced-sl-0-disc
//www.giant.co.jp/giant19/bike_datail.php?p_id=00000001
Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 with built in crank power meter

PROPEL ADVANCED SL 1 DISC (2019) – $7,300
//www.giant-bicycles.com/us/propel-advanced-sl-1-disc
//www.giant.co.jp/giant19/bike_datail.php?p_id=00000002
Shimano Ultegra Di2 with Giant Power Pro

The post Giant Propel Advanced SL Disc – 2019 Model First Look appeared first on Two Wheel Cruise.

Course Profile

The cycling route and course profile from Nagoya to Jurou waterfall in Ena, Japan. Roughly 130 kilometers

Link to ride on strava.

Ride Start

The day started off with a fairly relaxing pace and a nice little early ride snack at Artigiano (アルティジャーノ), a bakery with a beautiful exterior/interior, in Tajimi, Japan.

Never too early for sweets

After eating, we slowly made our way towards Ena. It was an extremely hot day, however, and we both quickly ran out of water. Luckily, we weren’t too far into the country yet, and we were able to find a supermarket to restock on some fluids.

As we approached Jurou waterfall, we found a nice family-run curry shop. By this point, we had already been riding for a few hours and were pretty hungry, so we decided to stop for a quick lunch before continuing the last few km to our goal.

Mountain curry with some locally grown veggies

The staff was very kind and even gave us some free freshly grown tomatoes from their garden! Definitely stopping here again when I ride out this way next.

Arrival at Jurou waterfall (寿老の滝)

We continued on our way for the last few km and finally arrived at the secret Jurou waterfall, where some children were already cooling off in the water.

Cruise at Jurou waterfall (寿老の滝)

After a long, hot day in the saddle, we couldn’t wait to enter the cool water!

Cruise “meditating” under the waterfall

After cooling off in the falls for a bit, we were attacked by some Japanese hornets (スズメバチ), which apparently don’t like when you try to knock them away. When they feel threatened, they call their friends, and will group attack their target, regardless of size. These creatures are actually quite dangerous and getting stung numerous times can lead to death. Not wanting to stick around for more of their friends to come, we quickly departed to start our journey back home to Nagoya.

Random discovery of
道の駅 おばあちゃん市

Bradley’s GPS wasn’t working quite right, and I didn’t have the course loaded, so we randomly were making our way back by just riding Southwest, and then we came across this random tourist spot, which translates to something like Grandma City’s Road Stop (道の駅 おばあちゃん市).

This extremely large watermill caught our attention, so we decided to stop by 道の駅 おばあちゃん市

They were selling one of my favorite Japanese snacks, Gohei-mochi (五平餅), so of course we got some, even though we had to wait 15 minutes (worth it).

I was really impressed with the entire area of Ena (恵那). There were so many beautiful sights and unexpected surprises on this ride.

There was a fairly large dam nearby the shops as well.

Although I started the ride not feeling that great, I was feeling fantastic towards the end. Maybe it had something to do with all of the pastries, curry, and other snacks I ate along the way. In any case, it felt great to be back on the bike again after a few weeks off, and also catch up with my good mate, Bradley.

VLOG / Video for today’s ride

Here’s a video that Bradley put together about our ride.

The post Cycle to Jurou waterfall in Japan, Ena’s hidden Gem (寿老の滝) appeared first on Two Wheel Cruise.

Part I – Visa

A few weeks ago, I received my certificate of eligibility from Japan, which allowed me to apply for my Japanese Visa. The last time I applied for my Japanese Student Visa, I was living in Detroit, so I was easily able to go the Japanese Consulate there. Now that I am living in St. Louis, the closest Consulate is in Chicago. Rather than making two separate 10 hour round-trip drives, I decided to send in my application via FedEx Air Mail. In total, the roundtrip shipping cost was a bit over $30, which is a little bit pricey, but definitely cheaper than the alternative of driving there myself. Also, I received my completed Visa within a week of submitting my application!

I have steadily been making preparations for my departure, but have been slightly cautions and nervous in case anything did not work out for some reason. Now that I’ve officially gotten my visa it looks like everything is all clear and I can start to relax a bit. Right now, my estimated departure date is set for the end of March and so I am planning on buying my plane ticket very soon.

Part II – New Bike

One of the things I have been most excited about for my move to Japan, is bringing a bicycle with me. Cycling has been a very big part of my life and one of my biggest regrets during my time studying abroad was not being able to experience Japan via bicycle (I am planning on doing another blog post focusing on this in the near future).

Ever since I came back to the US from Japan 3 years ago, I have been primarily riding my Trek Cronus cyclocross bike as both my cyclocross and road bike. Although the bike was built and intended for cyclocross racing, I found it to be an excellent bike all around. When I was racing regularly in the road circuit, I would frequently get many looks from people since my bike obviously stood out. However, with that bike, or with Fang as I like to call her, I never felt like I was at a disadvantage in any road races. The main differences I noticed was that the bike would absorb more shock compared to road bikes and the position was slightly more upright. Both of these actually made the ride more comfortable. Unfortunately, I never did get a road race win with Fang, but I did get numerous podium spots, including a second place in the competitive MWCCC conference championship road race (Maybe I could have won with a road bike?).

Anyway, I decided that it was time for Fang and myself to part and that I wanted to convert and get an actual road bike for when I move to Japan. Despite all of my praise for my Trek Cronus, I have 2 main reasons for wanting the switch. The first reason is Japan is extremely mountainous and I would prefer the safety of road brakes compared to CX brakes. The second reason doesn’t really have to do with CX vs road, but I wanted to switch to a more durable aluminum frame. I stopped racing over a year ago and do not currently have any plans to race in the near future so there really is no need for me to have a carbon frame.

So, without further ado, let me present my new bike, a Specialized Allez! (not yet named)

Specialized Allez Road Bike

This is actually the first road bike I’ve owned since a car crash broke my Felt team bike almost 4 years ago. Hopefully I have better luck with this one. Anyway, I am starting to look into the cycling community around Nagoya, and I can’t wait to experience riding over there. Less than 2 months now!

The post Japanese Visa Approved and a New Road Bike! appeared first on Two Wheel Cruise.