Wednesday 23rd July 2014

Animal Boat: PH2 meets

Continuing today's Japanese theme PH2 visits a Tokyo haven of retro motorcycling cool

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“I named my shop Animal Boat after Noah’s Ark. Noah saved the animals from extinction, I am doing the same with classic motorcycles. I don’t want to see any of them die.” Dressed in an oil-stained grey overalls with a flat cap on his head, Daisuke Mukasa exudes effortless cool. His shop in southern Tokyo is like nothing else. Part antique shop, part junkyard, every available centimetre of space is taken up with either a piece of quirky memorabilia or motorcycle component.

Owner Daisuke Mukasa is a true horder

Open the door and a narrow corridor leads to a black and white chequered counter that serves as a cafe. Hanging from one wall is a range of guns while skulls, tattoo magazines and boxed retro slot cars sit on the shelves and a pinball machine and double bass partially blocks the entrance. It’s an Aladdin’s Cave of retro cool, and that is just the part customers are allowed access to.

Lean over the counter of the cafe (avoiding the collection of guitars) and the workshop is a jumble of retro motorcycles. I managed to identify a near immaculate RZ350 (RD350 in the UK) but there are many more bikes that I simply have no idea what they are. Hanging from the ceiling like spider’s webs are exhaust pipes, forks and frames while a heap of carburettors lies strewn on a shelf opposite. Within this chaos, Daisuke calmly goes about his business of restoring and customising mainly pre-1970 but also 1980s bikes.

“I was working in a motorcycle shop in Tokyo as a mechanic but I didn’t enjoy it so I quit and decided to start my own business restoring and customising motorcycles from my garage at home. I had no money and just two bikes – my own and my girlfriend’s! I customised them both and that was the start. Seven years ago I bought the shop and that is when my business began,” Daisuke remembers. He speaks softly in good English, almost certainly learnt through his love of European style and magazines.

Named after Noah's ark, it's home to the esoteric

“I have always loved motorcycles and my passion is for pre-1974 machines. I think that the Japanese bikes from 1950s are a little too old, I love the 1960s style and also the early 1970s bikes. I collect not only Japanese bikes but also lightweight European ones, bikes like Aermacchis. I am lucky, I have many friends in Japan and they tell me where the old bikes are, which can be a problem. I can’t say no, which is why I have so many bikes, I am a collector as well. There are a lot of old motorcycles in Japan and I buy new ones at least once a month, which is why the shop is so full. I think it is a family problem, my father collects furniture and pottery and I collect motorcycles.”

Despite being only 42 years old, Daisuke goes against the grain of modern Japanese motorcyclists, favouring the old style rather than modern machinery. I ask him what it is that draws him to these bikes.

60s and 70s bikes of all descriptions

“I don’t like black boxes, I can’t fix them. Points, condensers, coils, I can work on these but not black boxes, that is why I love pre-1974 bikes,” he reasons.

Looking around his shop it is hard to imagine Daisuke does anything apart from collect bikes, however his business is growing and a steady stream of customers are searching out his expertise.

“My work depends on the customer. I can restore a bike, customise it, do anything that the customer likes. In Japan there are many riders remembering their youth and looking for an older machine to relive the past. Generally they know what bike they want and ask me to find it for them. I usually manage to and then I restore it to look good or customise it for them. I have a lathe so I can also make parts if required and I paint the bikes in my own paint room. Even if the bikes are very old it isn’t a problem, I have been very lucky. When I started my shop a collector called me and sold me all his manuals, I have hundreds of workshop manuals, possibly thousands.”

Bike parts, memorabilia ... just cool stuff

With such a huge array of bikes, what particular model does Daisuke ride?

“I have a 1965 CB450 and also I race a CB77 from 1965. It is not so rare but it is tuned with some official Honda RSC race parts, HRC used to be called RSC in the 1960s. I have added a five-speed gearbox and race frame with a 350cc big-bore on the engine. Classic bike racing is very popular in Japan and I race four times a year. The other riders are mainly old men, I am young in the race paddock!”

As I leave I ask how many bikes are in his shop, Daisuke draws in a deep breath, looks around and replies, “40, maybe? I am not sure. I also have another garage…”

Animal Boat website

 

[crofty1984]

The man is a hero.
I am also jealous as hell!

[andrew.delamare]

That place must be awesome to visit!

What a job that man has. Brilliant stuff.

[P4ROT]

Looks very much like my father's idea of heaven...

[RemaL]

thanks for sharing PH2 keep up the good work

[mr2j]

Rising Suns of Anarchy

[nickboazracing]

crofty1984 said:

The man is a hero.
I am also jealous as hell!

Ditto.
Truely awesome!

[soad]

I wonder what's hiding inside his other garage/shop.

[mechagran]

mr2j said:

Rising Suns of Anarchy

Ahhahahahah. Touche squire, nice touch.

I bet this chap would love my 1978 Turquoise Honda Express 1.

[cvega]

hoarder

[xxxscimitarxxx]

my kind of guy....I'd have a drink with him

[srob]

Chap in Article said:

“I don’t like black boxes, I can’t fix them. Points, condensers, coils, I can work on these but not black boxes, that is why I love pre-1974 bikes,” he reasons.

Amen to that. Although pre-31 is even better, fuel + fire = it'll get you home. And if you don't have one or the other it's easy to sort!

Cracking article by the way

[Biker's Nemesis]

I like working on Black boxes.

[SteveSteveson]

Biker's Nemesis said:

I like working on Black boxes.

Not that kind of black box...

[toxgobbler]

RemaL said:

thanks for sharing PH2 keep up the good work

This. Awesome, quite jealous.