NoobowSystems Lab.
Vehicles
SUZUKI DL1000A V-STROM 1000 ABS [VU51A; MY2014] (2017-)
    An failthful Yamaha TDM850 "Teedy" served for 6 years and 6 months for long distance commuting every week, and occational pass finding mountain tours. The machine showed its age and genuine part supplies were gradually discontinued. Time to find a new machine, however it seemed no model could perfectly replace Teedy as it was so matched to my operational requirements. One day at motorcycle and parts shop we were shopping materials to fix the broken exhaust pipe of Teedy, Keiko find this bike among other used motorcycles, saying to me, "How about this one? Good for highway commuting, and good for mountains. It has obvious scratches due to crash, so the price is very reasonable."
YAMAHA TDM850 [4TX; MY1996] (2011-)
    Having an unwelcomed necessity of long distance commuting, I chose this YAMAHA TDM850 --- the "fully modified, highway-special version of XTZ750 Super Ténéré" --- so that I could enjoy the commuting which would be otherwise just a tasteless and painful effort.
The Innov'ter : HONDA PS250-6 [MY2006] (2009-)
    All of a sudden, this unique big scooter made a middle aged motorcycle rider awoke from 14 years long of hybernation. The HONDA PS250-6 has a heavy duty off-highway flavor. However it is not designed to be a off-road vehicle but a conventional big scooter. Nevertheless as an innate off-road rider I cannot keep this machine only on termac.
The Turbo Falcon : DAIHATSU TERIOS KID CX 4WD (2002-) (Japanese)

    In November 2002, we had to have a new vehicle to provide a mean of transportation for our new Chief Science Officer. The new vehiecle must have 4 doors, and must have a cross country capability, it must be a midget class due to our space limitation. There is only one model fulfilling our needs. The Turbo Falcon has arrived.

    (January 2003 - Updating )
The Fat Burning Engine (Japanese)

    Diagnosed as "too fatty", I purchased a bicycle and started exercise. The bike looks cool, but it was pretty cheap.
    This folding mountain bike is all steel made except rims, and weighs 20 kg. Kind a joke, but it is best for exercise, right? It's expensive to buy a bike 5 kg lighter, but my purpose is to drop 5 kg from my body; well, if I will not give up. Okay, let's see if this cheap bike breaks first, or I give up. This is the maintenance record of this cheap bike, which I named "Charles Babbage".

    (April. 2002)
The Compromised Solution : TOYOTA HIACE WAGON 4WD Super Custom Limited (2005-2008) (Japanese)

    The trustworthy Delica Star Wagon began to show its age, and its older generation Turbo Diesel had become too much against the environmental protection movement. I wanted to return to 1 box cab-over van so that I could resume my off-road motorcycling. However the diesel bashing led by the Governer of Tokyo and the crash safety requirement had made buying a used diesel cab-over van impractical. I was really disapointed that I could not find any type of car I was looking for. One day when I was stopping at a traffic signal I found this car directly watching me at a used car shop. As soon as the light went green I made a turn into the shop and I told a salesman, "I take it."
MITSUBISHI DELICA D:5 4WD (2008-) (Japanese)

    < Individual page not yet available >

    It was quite an unexpected event that the 1KZ Toyota Diesel Turbo engine with high reputation in durability suffered a cooling system failure which made the engine nearly dead. The cost of replacing an engine was too high for a 14 years old vehicle. There was no complain with Toyota Hiace except one thing - the crash worthiness. I would gladly pay 30000 USD or even more, if it would save my legs from total loss due to a severe frontal collision. This could be a time to pay money for safety... My decision was the D:5 which promised high level passive safety performance, passenger comfort and computer augmented off-road capability well surpassing its predecessor.


VEHICLES IN THE PAST
(Individual pages not yet published)
SUZUKI HUSTLER TS50 (Type VIII) (1979-1987)
    The very first my own motorcycle - my original purpose was to go to mountains so that I could operate on 50MHz SSB. The small Hustler instead taught me the fun and joy of motorcycling, especially the long solo tour and mountain / offroad riding.
SUZUKI SP370 (1982-1983)
    The SP370 was the first 4 stroke dual purpose motorcycle by Suzuki. The combination of the torqueful engine and the lightweight body provided a powerful start dash, but the simple OHC 2 valve single engine without a dynamic balancer caused very severe vibration.
YAMAHA XT400 (1983-1986)
    The faithful Yamaha XT400 "Super Enduro" was my best motorcycle ever.

    < Individual page not yet available >
SUZUKI RH250 (Type II) (1986-1987)
    < Individual page not yet available >
HONDA GYRO-X (Type II) (1988-1994)
    This small, unique three wheeler is now called "Pizzza House's bike" as it is popular as delivery vehicle. The odometer had already counted more than 4000km when I acquired this fun machine from one of my friends, and it was before the Pizza house's boom.
    GYRO-X was quite convenient especially when a big luggage had to be carried. Rishiri Island and Rebun Island (in Hokkaido) tour was extremely fun and was certainly one of the best touring experiences of ours.
    The 4 digits odometer counted more than 14000km afterwards, until I had to say goodby to this lovely, durable and fun bike before we moved to the United States.
HONDA XR250R (1989-1994)
    < Individual page not yet available >
ISUZU FARGO LT Diesel Standard Van (1986-1989)
    Graduated from the University, I bought my first car so that I could commute with it. The requirement was simple - a low priced used van capable to load my motorcycle. Days later, the car dealer picked up this ivory diesel van for me.
ISUZU FARGO LT Turbo Diesel 4WD Long Van (1990-1994)
    In addition to its underpower, the first Fargo Van suffered many troubles and it eventually went below the tolerable level. On a Saturday night I drove it to search its successor. After 6 hours of scanning a hundred of used car shops, I finally found her.

    I jokingly told to my friends that I repainted my van in red, added a turbocharger, increased the stroke of the engine to 2 liter, added a floor-shift 5 speeds 4WD drivetrain, extended a body, added power steering, and installed stylish headlamps.
CHEVROLET ASTRO Passenger Van CL California Package (1994-1999)
    1 month after arriving the U.S. the Chevy Astro Passenger Van became my mobile research and development platform. The reason of choice was simple - it was a tough, truck-based, rear-driven vehicle.
    My expectation towards the American made cars was happily neglected; it did not have any serious trouble or problem during my stay in the United States. The Astro served 4 1/2 years for the continuous think-code-drive-debug cycle.

    (January 1995 - March 1999)

    0miles - 85000miles (drove 85000miles)
HONDA CIVIC LX Sedan (1995-1999)
    After weeks of hard training and several failed attempts, Keiko finally got her California Driver License. The reward for her was this brand new Civic. Reason of choice was simple. It promised unparalelled resale value.
MITSUBISHI DELICA Star Wagon 4WD Exceed (1999-2004)
    April 1999 - we returned from the U.S to Japan. We didn't see any brightness in the future and had no hope; We were defeated and were completely burnt out. Our dream was over.

    Although we were in need of means of transportation, we did not any desire to have nice cars. We went to a used car shop, walked among its stock, stopped in front of this 10 years old diesel 4WD. It did not have a cargo capacity we wished, but it promised super capability for offroad driving.

    (April 1999 - December 2004)
    75000km - 148559km (drove 73000km)
The Millennium Falcon: DAIHATSU MIRA (1999-2002)
    When we called a salesman of the used car shop and told him we'd buy the fair conditioned Delica Star Wagon, he said "Thank you very much, Sir. Please come in to the office, we will prepare the paperwork". We then replied, "Wait a moment, we'd buy one more. Perhaps one of the midgets over there - okay, that white one."
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Copyright(C) NoobowSystems Lab. San Jose, California 1999.
Copyright(C) NoobowSystems Lab. Tomioka, Japan 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2011.

http://www.noobowsystems.org/
May. 23, 1999 Created.
Feb. 13, 2000 Revised.
May. 14, 2000 Revised.
Jan. 07, 2001 Revised.
Oct. 07, 2001 Revised.
Jan. 05, 2002 Revised; Added English comments for each page.
Apr. 14, 2002 Revised.
Sep. 11, 2004 Revised; added Turbo Falcon.
Jan. 02, 2007 Reformatted.
Mar. 27, 2010 Reformatted. Netscape Navigator compatibility.
Feb. 06, 2011 Added TDM850.
Apr. 29, 2016 Activated Delica D:5 page. [Noobow9100D @ L1]