Nice to meet you!
I’m Marusawa, and I joined the Circles team as a mechanic last December.
Everyone calls me "Maru-chan," "Maru-san," or "Maru-maru"!
Before this, I worked at a mass-market bicycle shop, repairing and selling city bikes.
My hobbies are cycling, manga, and watching baseball. I’m a Carp fan, but I hope they can climb out of the bottom tier with the Dragons this year, haha.
How I fell in love with cycling
I moved to Tokyo from Shimane with dreams of becoming a manga artist, but that dream was cut short, and three years ago, I moved to Nagoya, my wife’s hometown.
Back in my Tokyo days, a bicycle was just a way to save money on transportation.
I used to ride a single-speed city bike from a mass-market store until the bottom bracket was rattling, but inspired by a senior coworker at my part-time job, I bought a used aluminum road bike for 30,000 yen.
I thought, "This will save me money on train fare!" but...
I just couldn’t get past how it looked, so I bought another used road bike—a steel one from over 20 years ago, specifically looking for "slim pipes" and "internal cable routing."
I stripped the flashy paint myself, applied a clear coat, swapped in modern components, and changed the handlebars and stem to ones I liked.
Customizing it until it felt just right might have been the starting point for me as a mechanic.
Graduating from the "I must go fast" mindset
You’d think my passion for cycling would have skyrocketed after that custom build, but the more I researched, the more I was exposed to the competitive world of "how to go faster, higher, and further," and before I knew it, I couldn't enjoy riding a road bike casually anymore.
That’s when I saw a "steel bike with a Wald basket" on the internet.
It was a culture shock to see a sports bike being used for everyday life. I scoured social media, rushed into a shop, and before I knew it, I had bought my current partner: a Velo Orange Polyvalent.
Fully equipped with a basket, fenders, and a kickstand, that bike became more than just a means of transport—it became an essential "everyday companion."
From there, I went on to swap the fork, install a dynamo hub, and repaint it...
I fell down the rabbit hole of customization, started working at a bike shop to gain the knowledge to maintain it myself, and here I am today.
Let me help you build your own "companion"!
Of course, I’m all for choosing a bike as a "tool" for fun, but...
I also believe in cherishing the urge to "just want a cool bike" and finding a way to ride that suits you without overdoing it.
I think that’s a perfectly valid way to enjoy cycling, too!
I’d be happy to help you with that.
You can usually find me in the 1st-floor PIT, so please feel free to come by and chat.
See you later!
