When we visited Hokkaido on a previous trip, we came to Sapporo in search of a bike shop to get help with the Rohloff hub on Mary Ellen’s trike. This was how we found the revered Sam’s Bike shop, a great place. Looking forward to heading there today. Close by is another shop that we also really like, Shugakuso, an outdoor store where we bought our Japanese tent.
Wow, it is the 70th anniversary of this wonderful shop, the Shugakuso Outdoor Store. We really like shops like this and this is one of the better ones we have found in our travels. We originally came here to buy an Arai tent, hand-made in Japan by hand. These tents are excellent…lightweight, super easy to assemble and tall enough inside for Barry to sit up. We are fed up with what we can get at home…very expensive, not as robust and made off shore.
The store doesn’t have a large footprint but it has several floors with each floor specializing in one area.
The fellow (on the left) who sold us our tent (two years ago) is also an avid cyclist and camper. When we got to his floor, he glanced up with surprise and said…I know you! You are from Canada, ride trikes and bought a tent from me. We spent some time visiting with him and shared stories what of what we and he have done in the past 2 years.
Barry took the two of them down to see our trikes. It was so good to reconnect with him again. He also has a recumbent and he and his wife tour on a Comotion Tandem. Last year they rode to the northern tip of Norway and the Baltic countries.
Also at the Outdoor shop, Barry spent much time with this Swiss fellow who is doing a cycling/camping trip around Hokkaido and Honshu for 3 months. He is riding with two friends who also from the French of Switzerland. Thefellows are pretty excited as they wanted to extend their trip and were just approved to stay longer by the Japanese government.
Next stop is Sam’s Bike. We love days like this, visiting stores that specialize in cycling and travel as well as reconnecting with people.
We have an excellent Peak Design mount for our phones on our trikes, but the weak link is the Japanese Minoru accessory mount from Japan. It works well, but it routinely breaks after a period of time. We have looked in vain for something better at home for our trikes. So, today Sam has come to the rescue. He carries products by the American company, Problem Solvers. He is mounting it on my trike….no more having to wear my phone around my neck.
We received such a warm welcome from Sam’s Bike. She remembered that when we visited this shop before, they were having a celebration of the store’s anniversary and Barry won the grand prize.