The Biker’s Life, A Biker’s Mansion!
The Purple Imo on Nov 10 2006 at 5:04 pm | Filed under: Japan: Only in Japan
For those that can’t get enough of a supercharged 2 wheeled machine riding between their legs then the next best thing must be sleeping with it! In the country where land is scarce and parking spaces cost big bucks, people naturally tend towards buying bikes. Japan consistently has one of the highest per capita sale of motorbikes in the world. Its no coincidence then that the motorbike big three; Yamaha, Honda and Suzuki are all from Japan. There’s a real passion for bikes here, and now there’s a new avenue for people who love there bikes to express it, the Riders Mansion.
The concept is simple, an apartment with a window/sliding door which opens directly from your kitchen or bedroom onto your own private, indoor garage.
Red Barron, the nation’s largest motorcycle dealership with over 250 dealers (a few of which are overseas), is banking on the fact that bike lovers will not only want to live under the same roof as their bikes they will also want to live in apartments located directly above a Red Barron shop. They’ve already built one, a 7 story building out in Nerima and there are plans for many more, 20 in Tokyo alone.
Initially the rent on these apartments is expected to fetch between 86,000 to 139,000 Yen for a 30 to 50 square meter 1K+Garage or a Studio+Garage pad. The rooms will of course have all the other mod cons that you’d expect from a ‘Garage in Room’ design; large roomy elevators, a bike wash area, automatic doors for the garage and naturally a washlet.
The company says that the ‘Interior Garage’ layout will appeal to people with parking and bike theft/vandalism concerns. The fact is that indoor parking space for apartment dwellers is rare in Japan and so the idea is likely to be popular with bikers who like to preen, polish and park their machines without having to worry about rain spots on their shiny paint and chrome.
Tell us what you think.
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8 Responses to “The Biker’s Life, A Biker’s Mansion!”
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Interesting article. Great idea too – I wish these were around when I was looking for a house!
Japanese people who like their bikes REALLY like their bikes – I can see these apartments doing pretty well.
By the way, you mentioned the big three – Honda, Suzuki and Yamaha. Anyone know how Kawasaki ranks?
I just miss my old ZZR…which came to a sad end outside the Kabukiza…may it rest in peace.
I didn’t know about this type of bike-mansion. But I read about on a English Page. I have to check Japanese internet now to find details. Thank for the link. Good informations for me.
so you wheel your bike through your bedroom to get it into the “garage”? wierd…
Coming home, the elevators are big enough and powerfull enough for you and your bike to ride up in, you then wheel it down the landing to your garage. Once in the garage you can then walk straight through to you kitchen or bedroom. Pretty cool really.
the more I think about this, the wierder it gets. Isn’t this the country where people take off their shoes before they walk through the door???
Sotei-guy, you underestimating japanese biker passion for their bike! Hideki-kangeki knows well. If it were choice between shoe and bike, I take bike!
Thinks of it as a damn big genkan. Shoes and bikes must be left at the door.
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