Bicycle of Light
It’s the cycling equivalent of Dekotora!
Spotting it on the street this evening outside a supermarket, I immediately grabbed my camera, took some shots, and waited.
Proudly owned by an old man smartly dressed in a tailored jacket and hat, he gave me an enthusiastic guided tour of the vehicle, pointing out the various features and explaining the different combinations of light settings. He informed me the entire setup cost a mere ¥24,000! (around $240)
He also showed me the new 20-pack of batteries he had just bought and demonstrated how he plays music as he rides (see the bright red CD player in the front basket).
Still images really don’t do justice to the spectacular display of this thing. Unfortunately, parked in such a brightly lit spot one can’t see the incredible amount of light emitted by the 17 multi-LED lanterns he has attached all over it. And the 87 (yes, 87) red chaser-flashers create a beautiful light show when seen in a darker area.
Nevertheless, check out the video below:
After a few minutes he headed off into the evening to the sweet, lyrical sound of Japanese Enka music, along with a total of 115 lights, 82 reflectors and a wide variety of bells, labels, straps and other bits and pieces.
When you consider that mosts cyclists have no more than 2 lights, this one radiates almost 50 times the light output – before taking into account his extra 17 LED lanterns!
Should we meet again, I definitely plan to take a portrait of him, lit by his wonderful creation.
3D images below…
3D viewing instructions here.
JapanGasm 
It’s kinda mesmerising…
Brilliant! Would love to include this in my collection of od bikes in Tokyo that I am working on (will appear on my blog in the future hehe). The best one so far is obviously the infamous bike of “Shinjuku Tiger”.
Never saw him in the flesh, but a fascinating spectacle!
He has an interesting bike too?
He has the most amazing bike, seen him often and talked to him briefly.