“Velo De Kita” Hanging out with the Velo Orange Crew
Before the arrival of Igor, the owner of VO and Clint, the product designer of VO, we had a quick meeting on how we should welcome them to Tokyo.
“If there is a Coffee Outside, we should do an Orange Outside with the two!”
That’s exactly what we did in a cold winter morning in Tokyo. Allow me to write about that lovely day.
I arrived at the Hatagaya store around 8:00 a.m. There were already a few customers who came to ride with us and a few of our staffs. Many more people started to show up as time went by.
To Yoyogi-Park we go!
The group got split up, but we fortunately all made it to our destination.
Some people were already at the meet up spot! We joined them and started our picnic.
We ate a bunch of oranges, chatted about bikes, played soccer and played with some dogs.
Igor to the right and Clint to the left in the picture. Two sweet gentlemen. We were happy to see them interact with the Tokyo locals.
Many VO riders gathered for this meet up, which was awesome. Igor was constantly taking pictures of the Velo Orange bikes in Tokyo.
Say cheese!…or, orange!
It was a peaceful morning. Cold, but I could feel the spring peaking its head out.
I actually had the opportunity to spend the week with the VO crew, while they were in Tokyo.
Igor and Clint were such fun people to hangout and I was able to learn a lot about Velo Orange. I would like to share the week I spent with them because I want the readers to know more about the brand and the people behind.
Day 1.
I headed to Narita Airport with Colonel to pick them up.
We waited in front of the arrival gate with this welcome board that Jag, one of our bag designers drew for them.
“There they are!” (We got too excited and forgot to take pics of their arrival)
It was Igor’s first time in Japan and it was Clint’s first time in about a year in Japan.
We packed their stuff into the Blue Lug van and headed down to Hatagaya, where their airbnb was.
Igor is a huge fan of cars. As a car enthusiast myself, I was very excited to see him and talk about cars. We had a great chat on the way back from the airport,
I knew a place in Shibuya that is usually a meet up spot for tuner cars, so I decided to pass through the area before heading to their airbnb.
Yes, we were able to see some great cars.
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”
“I’m in heaven…”
Igor posted on his IG. I was so stoked that he was stoked.
The highlight of the night was when the RX-7 from Tokyo Drift passed by the famous Shibuya crossing, as soon as I turned on the “Tokyo Drift” song. It was too perfect.
*This scene.
Day 2.
A warm sunny day. We decided to do a Blue Lug store tour.
We went to all the stores under the Blue Lug umbrella. Blue Lug Hatagaya, Yoyogi-park, Kamiuma, Lug, Tandem, Bike Friday Tokyo and Friday.
We also had a traditional Japanese lunch,
ran into a college road race event,
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reunited with Clint’s favorite wig for the first time in six years,
And recorded a YouTube video. (coming soon!)
Day3
Orange Outside was on this day.
We also had a big dinner at Koya, our go to Chinese restaurant with the two and the Blue Lug crew, that night.
(The two learned about the famous Japanese meme, “Chari de kita”)
A bunch of our staffs gathered for this fun night. We enjoy their delicious meal with some drinks and called it the night.
Day 4.
Clint had a VERY important appointment. A haircut appointment at Hub, a barber shop that is also under our umbrella.
Wait, it’s not just a haircut…
Nice new look Clint!
Clint and I talked about VO bikes and parts while he got his new haircut.
We hit it off by liking the same kind of bikes.
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The bike pic above is Clint’s “Traveler’s check”.
And this is my Cross x Check.
I told Clint that this bike was on my mind ever since I saw this post and was one of the inspirations for my Cross Check build. He was stoked, I was stoked.
We headed down to our warehouse after Clint’s appointment at Hub.
Igor had a gnarly flat from a razor blade on the street, five minutes away from the warehouse. I’m so glad he didn’t get hurt.
We made it!
We did a little tour of this massive warehouse and hung out for a couple hours, trying tricks on their Neutrinos. Many warehouse staffs got hooked on the BMX-ish feel of the Neutrino. (Yes, I’m one of them)
Then we rode up to Shinjuku for a Tonkatsu dinner and went back home.
Day 5.
The two had a meeting in the day. Igor, Colonel and I met up at night to go to a car meet up in a near by location.
Dunk from the Online Store staff joined us with his Mazda Roadster/Miata
Despite being a Wednesday night, we were able to see so many good looking cars.
This Toyota Celica XX was possibly the best car of the night, which Igor’s father happened to own, many years ago.
Final day
Fun time goes by so fast. It was time for Igor and Clint to catch a flight to Korea.
I had so much fun hanging out with these two bike geeks! It was my first time to host guests from overseas, so I was able to learn a lot too. I am very happy that I got to be a part of their trip, since I dreamt of working by speaking english when I was just a child.
I unfortunately couldn’t make it to the airport to say good bye, but I’m sure we’ll meet again soon.
Thank you for coming and see you again!!
Takuma
