All of my most extravagant ideas and plans usually start the same way; a daydream with no concrete path to reality. In this case, it was visiting my cousins and my Aunt and Uncle in Japan. I long entertained the thought of renting a motorcycle and touring around the country. That plan soon morphed into buying a motorcycle while I am there and flipping it before I left the country, which morphed even further into the behemoth of buying a rare Japanese bike and importing it back into Canada upon my return. I never anticipated that I would be the type to own a vintage sport bike, but as you probably tell, it is easy for me to get carried away by my passions.
The first three to four months of searching yielded little results. I frequented the Japanese classifieds for motorcycles Goobike Japan. However, as you can probably imagine, it is difficult to really engage in the process when you are sitting behind a computer over 8,000 kilometres away.
After doing some research, I found that a local Japanese motorcycle shop provides services to foreign riders to set them up with a motorcycle in Japan. Browsing their forums, it seemed to be frequented by expats who now live abroad in Japan. However, their services can also be used by someone such as myself who will only be travelling in Japan for 3 weeks.
Because of their dealer status, Apex Moto in Yamanashi has access to the two largest motorcycle auctions in Japan; AUCNET and BDS. Once you express an interest in this service, Apex will set you up on their auction site where you can see new bikes coming up for auction each week all over Japan. Don’t let the fact that I am half Japanese fool you into thinking that I was advantaged in any way- I will be the first to admit that my comprehension of the Japanese language is only a few levels above complete garbage! Luckily for me (and possibly you), Apex provides full service in both English and Japanese.
After doing research, I decided that during my time in Japan, I wanted a two stroke street bike. The NSR250 checked all the boxes; it is a rare, iconic Japanese sport bike, I could get one for under $10,000 Canadian dollars, it was a two stroke and it seemed nimble enough to navigate the notorious Tokyo congestion. The fact that it has amassed such a cult following has left me even more intrigued.
So I have sent my down payment to Apex (which worked out to be $1900 Canadian dollars), and can now actively participate in the auction process. I’m excited to see what I end up with!