Our rental bike program is with the world famous Rocky Mountain Bikes! Our mountain bike program welcomes riders from beginner to expert and includes a combination of a level appropriate lessons and trail guiding.

Basic Lesson Course

NORTHSTAR has created a curriculum which is based upon the Canadian Mountain Bike Instructor Course (CMIC) for those who have mountain bikes but do not have chance to ride trails or for those who want to start mountain biking. The 1 hour course covers basic techniques of riding on the trail such as; how to break, shift, understanding correct balance and much more. This will allow you to enjoy a genuine mountain biking experience in a safe manner.

Lesson Flow

1. Stretching
2. Neutral Position (Basic riding position)
3. Breaking (How to grip and apply breaks)
4. Shifting (How to shift gears)
5. Bike/Body Separation (Balance and weight position training on bikes)
6. Decent (Practicing to shift weight and how to use breaks on down hill terrain)
7. Balance Games (Standing Still Game, Slalom, etc)
8. Break
10. Trail Riding

Rental Bikes

We offer Rcoky Mountain Bicycle’s “Flow Raw” as our rental bikes. They are not only easy to handle for beginners but also tough.The light aluminum frame is designed for dirt jumping and has front suspension with 100mm of travel, disc breaks which allows even beginners to have a great time. We have a variety of frame sizes; 15″, 16.5″, 18″ which fit all riders. Come and enjoy the ride with great equipment.

Season

From Golden Week to end of Octobar

 

Pricing

With Lodging
Half day (3h) ¥4,500 （￥6,000*）
Full day (6h) ¥6,500 （￥8,500*）

Without Lodging
Half day (3h) ¥5,000 （¥6,500*）
Full day (6h) ¥7,000 （¥9,000*）

*Prices include lesson fee, guiding fee, insurance and an original NORTHSTAR water bottle. (price*) is for with our rental bike. Rental prices include equipment insurance.

Trail Guiding Course

We guide riders who have been riding trails from beginners to experts on trails throughout 1500m high Norikura-Kogen according to their riding ability. Riding thorough birch virgin forest and conifer forest makes gives you unique and special experience. Norikura-Kogen which gives a nice and cool weather even in the mid summer and colored leaves in the fall is one of best mountain biking location.

About Trails

Most of the trails are single track (about 1m wide) and are controlled by NORTHSTAR staff. For beginners, we provide easier trails first and eventually increase the difficulty as the rider progresses. For intermediates to experts, we provide a great mix of smooth trails – to – high speed and technical trails. You can enjoy short loops (2-3 Km) riding up by yourself or long trail rides (8-10Km) using transportation provided by NORTHSTAR. Come ride in the amazing beauty of Norikur-Kogen!

*All the trails in Norikura-Kogen need to have certified guides to ride because of safety and environmental protection.

Bike Park

We have a “North Shore Style” bike park in our front yard with ladders, teeter-totters, balance beams and jumps. It is not only for your technical improvement but also to enjoy it like a skate park.

About Bikes

For our trails we recommend a 120-160mm full suspension/all mountain bike. We have some uphill riding on the trails though most of trails here are downhill and we also suggest to have an adjustable seat clamp as we change our seat hight often. Especially for the advanced and technical trails, we strongly suggest to have flat pedals instead of clip-in pedals.

Season

Tours from end of May to June will not be using a technical trail up in the mountain because of snow and tours from July to October will be used all trails.

 

Pricing

With Lodging
1 Day Guide Tour ¥6,500 (End of May to October)
*Including guiding fee (9:00AM to 3:00PM)
2 Day Package ¥17,000 (July to October)
*Including 1 night lodging w/ 2 meals guiding fee (1:00PM-4:00PM for Day1, 9:00AM-3:00PM for Day2)

Without Lodging
1 Day Guide Tour ¥7,000 (End of May to October)
*Including guiding fee (9:00AM to 3:00PM)

**Also please contact us for custom plans or groups. If you are a group with more than 10 people, you can order a special lunch for ¥1,000. And if you are a group with more than 10 people and order a 2 Day Package from July to September, the dinner will be American Family Style BBQ.

Insurance

Trail Guiding Courses do not include insurance in the pricing. We recommend our wilderness/backcountry insurance (¥1,000/up to 2 days).

Common Topics for Both Courses

Age Restriction/Group Size

4th grade and up/from 3 people (For elementally school students participates need to have a guardian to participate with.)

Disclaimer

Guides will make the final decision about what trail to ride. Please understand that we will have your safety as a primary focus of this mountain bike tour. We will take into consideration the riding ability of our guests, the weather, and the condition of the trail to make this evaluation.

Registration

Please tell us your name, address, phone number, the date you would like to ride beforehand via phone or e-mail. Payment will be on the day of the riding. Please note that our lodge guests have first priority for the lessons, so contact us before coming to ensure availability.