Hello. This is Yoshimoto from Circles Tokyo.
Tokyo has become completely warm, making it a comfortable season to turn the pedals. This time, I’d like to share my experience of a Tokyo-to-Nagoya ride, which I took as a companion to our new Circles Tokyo staff member, Otaka, for his “Naoki Otaka’s Tokyo-to-Nagoya Company Entry RIDE! To the Holy Land, Nagoya!” journey.
Planning this trip
For me, this was my third ride between Tokyo and Nagoya. The previous two were based on a route following the Pacific side’s Tokaido road and a ride that leisurely enjoyed scenic spots with a stopover at Lake Yamanaka, but this time, I planned a route connecting the old Nakasendo and Chuma Kaido inland roads.
The Tokaido route is certainly easy to ride and rich in history, making it the go-to path for traveling between Tokyo and Nagoya, but it is basically entirely on-road. Another theme for this trip was riding the SKLAR I love so much. I decided to try the Nakasendo, which offers easier access to old roads and forest paths, as a route that can be enjoyed with a gravel bike capable of handling unpaved surfaces.
Since Otaka is a track bike freak—as mentioned in his introduction blog—I figured he’d need gears, so I had him ride my usual chromoly Super Something V1. As for me, I had the luxury of comparing bikes, so I rode the SKLAR Super Something Titanium for this long-distance journey. I’ll be reviewing both the route and the bikes, so I hope you’ll join me.
The Tokyo-to-Nagoya ride starting from Suwa
The schedule we were given was 2 days and 1 night. Since the primary goal was Otaka’s pilgrimage, we wanted to arrive at Circles by early afternoon, making it a grueling schedule with effectively just over one day of riding.
We boarded the Limited Express Azusa from Shinjuku at 7:30 AM and warped to Kami-Suwa via bike transport (rinko). The rain we were worried about stopped by the time we reached Kami-Suwa station, so we took a commemorative photo at Lake Suwa and set off! The Lake Suwa shoreline is well-segregated for pedestrians and cyclists, making it very cycle-friendly.
While reluctant to leave the beautiful lakeside scenery, we entered the Nakasendo. We crossed the Shiojiri Pass and headed toward our first objective, Narai-juku. In this post town of the Kiso Road that retains the atmosphere of the Edo period, we ate soba to build up the stamina needed for the pass crossing ahead.
After filling our stomachs, we tackled the Torii Pass, the highlight of our first day. The shortest route is through the Torii Tunnel, but there’s no way we would make such a choice. We approached it by entering the old gravel road and crossing the former pass.
We also properly adjusted our tire pressure. It can be a hassle thinking about having to pump them back up later, but this simple step makes a huge difference in the ease and enjoyment of gravel riding!
The Super Something Titan, fitted with 700/50c tires, combined with the frame’s characteristics, gripped the ground firmly like a fish in water as we pedaled toward the summit of the pass.
After crossing the pass, we followed National Route 19 while detouring as much as possible onto old roads, descending along the Kiso River. With fatigue starting to show in our legs in the mountain area at dusk, we stopped at “Kawakamiya” in Nakatsugawa to replenish our sugar levels with chestnut sweets. We arrived safely in Ena, our goal for the first day.
Day 2, with reinforcements from Nagoya
On the second day, we met up with Yu-kun, our reinforcement who had rushed over from Nagoya, at Ena station. The bike he brought was also a handmade titanium SKLAR model. We hadn't coordinated it beforehand, but it just so happened that three SKLAR bikes ended up riding together.
Unintentionally, this presence of reliable friends could not have been better, as it added depth to our theme of a “SKLAR ride.” From here, we headed into the nostalgic home route from Ena to Nagoya City, which I used to ride often via one-way train transport when I lived in Nagoya.
We passed through the scenery of terraced rice fields spreading across the hills around Kawanami station, and climbed the forest road to Kegon Falls. This is an area where the scent of soil is strong and the greenery grows deeper, differing from the quaint atmosphere of the old Nakasendo post towns. From there, repeating the ups and downs, we arrived at the Amagoi Pass, which I had traversed many times.
Seeing the nostalgic scenery again after a long time excited me so much that we even made an unplanned detour to the Mikuniyama Observation Deck. And for the descent, we took that trail, of course.
I once again envied the environment of Nagoya, where such high-quality dirt and old roads are spread out just by riding a little way out from the city. And although we were a little behind schedule, we arrived safely at Circles in Nagoya in the evening. Otaka’s pilgrimage concluded in the best possible way.
The choice of a Titanium frame
Generally, when people hear “titanium frame,” they might imagine a racy piece of equipment due to its rigidity. It’s true that the material itself is extremely hard. However, it becomes something completely different depending on the creator’s intention. Titanium’s expression can change in any number of ways based on the tube butting and bending techniques.
The Super Something Titanium I rode for two days possessed characteristics that seemed to be a direct extension of a chromoly frame. In terms of rigidity, my usual V1 is actually stiffer. I was impressed by the balance between the sense of stiffness, where you can feel a solid core within its suppleness, and the springiness. Even on back-to-back long rides, the physical burden was surprisingly low, and even on rough gravel roads, the bike didn’t bounce unnecessarily, giving me the feeling that it tracked the road surface reliably.
And when talking about SKLAR, one cannot ignore the geometry, especially the short chainstays. Titanium is a very hard material that is difficult to bend. Therefore, how to balance wide tire clearance with short chainstays is a difficult challenge that keeps every manufacturer and builder up at night, but SKLAR’s answer is a 3D-printed yoke design around the BB.
Thanks to this, it has achieved a chainstay length of 426mm, comparable to carbon gravel bikes with high degrees of molding freedom.
The rhythmic and fun control that makes you feel like you’re swinging the rear, which is unique to SKLAR, was alive and well in this Titanium model. This can also be said to be a benefit of the 3D-printed yoke.
Furthermore, thanks to this yoke structure, while this build is a 1x (front single), space is reserved to accommodate a 2x (front double) setup. The freedom to change the assembly to match the rider’s environment or riding style is the SKLAR aesthetic mentioned in the previous article. It’s a shared charm of all SKLAR bikes!
Finally, I’d like to share the most striking fact from this ride. My riding strength and Otaka’s are almost identical, or perhaps he is even the stronger rider. Yet, on both days, I was the one who clearly had more energy left in my legs during the second half.
The lightness unique to titanium was, of course, effective as the miles piled up, but so was the comfort and the distinctive springiness. The responsiveness, which turns power into propulsion without loss, must have helped my legs!
A bicycle is a vehicle where humans are the only power source, and the distance and speed you can travel depend on the rider as the engine. However, what maximizes the potential of that engine is none other than the frame. Depending on the structure of the equipment and the characteristics of the material, the roads you can ride and the range of your adventures change dramatically. It was a trip where I felt that realization firsthand.
Rather than just pursuing speed and efficiency, it’s about understanding the reliable structure and material characteristics, and taking care of the bike to be with it for a long time. I hope that through this experience, I’ve been able to convey even a little of the richness that such a bicycle with universal value brings to daily life.
If you have any detailed questions about this Tokyo-to-Nagoya route, SKLAR’s frame structure, or the material of titanium, please don’t hesitate to ask me, Yoshimoto, at the Circles Tokyo shop. I’d be happy to support you in choosing your own great partner. I’m looking forward to it!