Street Track from the Far East: Unver Tokyo
When people with excellent taste decide to mix bike and car culture to create a bike brand based on their aesthetics and convictions, I expect nothing but great outcomes. Enter Unver, a Tokyo based bike company under the very wide Blue Lug umbrella.
On a bright autumn day in Tokyo, I decided to go on a ride with Tommy a.k.a. @moyatommy to get some insights on the project he’s been at for the past three years.
A short introduction first: Tommy has been riding track bikes for over ten years, and worked at Blue Lug for over seven of them. I’ve featured Tommy a bunch of times already on this blog, riding his Bianchi Pista Concept, or his Tracklocross Mash Steel.
With extensive mechanical knowledge and riding experience, Tommy knows what he is talking about, with some serious skills and experiences to back him up.
The following is a transcript of our conversation, translated from Japanese and edited for clarity.
Why make you decide to start Unver?
Well, I’ve ridden a bunch of track frames and I was wondering what would happen if I selected all of my favorite parts from the bikes I have, and just do my own thing. The Japanese track bike culture is mainly around Keirin. You see people reusing NJS parts and NJS frames everywhere, but at the end of the day, Keirin is an official sport. I wanted to give the Japanese culture a street frame like Affinity or Mash did. So, my boss trusted me to create something for Japanese riders, giving me basically green light on everything. Years ago, Blue Lug produced their own track frame, but it was never really a success for various reasons. I had an extensive talk with my boss about what I would do differently, and he cut me short and told me to start from scratch. So that’s what I did.
What where you focussing on while developing the Unver Rapid?
First thing first: Tokyo has A LOT of red lights. They are everywhere, and you find yourself constantly stopping and starting again. So I wanted a responsive bike that was as stiff as possible for these fast starts. But also a strong rear triangle for optimum skid response. It’s pretty much a bike made for skids.
If you wanted something supper stiff, why going with steel and not aluminum?
Trust me, I really like aluminum frames, but I’ve cracked too many. Steel is stronger, can be crafted with thinner tubing and, in the worst case scenario, can be repaired.
What can you tell me about the features of the Unver Rapid?
It’s honestly a pretty simple frame. It's a steel straight fork, simply because straight forks are cool, and you always have the possibility to replace it with a Woundup or an Alpina. Since I wanted something that you could ride for a while and follow through different riding styles, brake holes were just a nice addition. It also has internal routing located on the non drive-side, so cables are almost invisible when you look at your bike. My rusty prototype is fixed, but I ride my blue one as a single-speed commuter.
Other than that, the Unver Rapid has 28c tire clearance, and is available in blue and clear finish and at a totally affordable price (approximately 560€ /600$ when converted from Japanese yen]) so you'd have enough budget to build it with nice parts.
Seems a bit late to ask, but why “Unver Rapid”?
Actually a very good question. We’re almost all vintage cars enthusiasts in my friend group, and the color of vintage turning signals is called “amber.” So we just made it easier to pronounce in Japanese and we got “Unver.” Same for “Rapid]. It doesn’t mean fast here, but a derivative–from the VW Golf Mk1 “Rabbit.”
Do you think you will ever expend Unver to international retail?
Unver is a part of Blue Lug, so logistically speaking it’s a totally doable thing. But we want to experiment a little more with the Japanese market before we release the Rapid to the world. Trust me, it's not a long shot, probably a matter of months.
Anything else you’d like to add for anyone out there reading?
The Unver is a pretty simple thing, and there isn’t a crazy amount of innovation when it comes to track bikes designed for the street. But I wanted to show people that more expensive doesn’t always mean better.
All I want is to create a great riding experience for anyone who’d like to try Unver. We’ve tried many prototypes over the past three years, and seeing the evolution and the final release of the Rapid just makes me happy. It’s a frame that is meant to follow you throughout life. It's meant to be ridden, customized, beat to ground, stripped, repainted and everything that will make yours truly unique.
You can follow Unver on their Instagram account @unver_tokyo to follow what they come up in the very near future!
“Designed in Tokyo”
🎞: Fuji Pro 400H
📷: Nikon F100
📍: Odaiba
