Just about everyday in Tokyo, I go for a bike ride.  Sometimes the rides are short and sometimes they are very long.  Recently they have been very short.  Anyway, if you are new to Tokyo and your interested in acquiring an expensive bike that you can ride on the streets I have a recommendation.

Tokyo Bike

The bikes can be rented, or purchased.  You can purchase the bikes at Tokyu Hands in Shibuya, Ikebukero, or Shinjuku.  You can also order the bike over the Internet if you like Internet shopping.  The choice is up to you. 

The bike that I have is a Tokyobike.  (That’s actually the model’s name, and not a joke.)

This was taken from www.tokyobike.com

When I ordered the bike, they delievered it to a bike shop close to where I live.  Also, I had them build mine as a single speed bike so that I could accelerate faster on the streets around here.  For some reasons prices for these have shot up recently.  In June they were about $400 or about 4万円.

A good place to ride the bike is down Meji-dori.  You can go through Ikebukuro, Shinjuku, Harajuku, Shibuya, and some other rather popular areas of town.  Also, if you ride in the street you can get some exposure to the traffic patterns here.  It is rather safe to do this, but it does take some time to get used to.