Hi all

We're looking into traveling in South East Asia next winter and would love to do it on motorbikes. I'd appreciate any info you've all got about hiring or buying bikes (new or second hand) in Thailand then taking them into Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam.
What bikes are available?
What are the prices like for renting/buying?
Is it feasible to take bikes out of Thailand into the other countries? Or is it easier to buy or rent in Laos or Cambodia or Vietnam?

Any other tips would be great too.

Thanks in advance

Gemma

you can rent bikes from Flamingo Travel in Hanoik, Vietnam and cross into Laos. Talk to Hung at Flamingo Travel. I did this last year, was great. You can also rent bikes in Chang Mai, Thailand and cross into Thailand. You should be able to google that. Tell me if you want me to dig up email address for Hung but should be easily searchable.

Cheers
Larry

I have rented two different years in Thailand and it is very easy to rent and very cheap. Mostly you will be getting Honda 125 bikes and they are very cheap at like $4 per day. I rented in Chaing Mai and there are lots of places there to rent. I suggest bringing your own helmet and any riding cloths you want as it is not easy to find what you want there. I also rented in Laos at Vientiane and it was again very cheap and easy there. I am not sure about taking them across any borders but just from past experiences and reading on here I do not think you can. That way you need to rent from somewhere and then return it to there so a loop ride works the best. I did not rent in Cambodia when I was there as I was only there 2 days but you could also rent there. I am planning on doing Viet Nam next January as I hear it is as easy to rent there.

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Larry Davis

I've just answered this very same FAQ in another topic. Here we go again:

You can rent/buy bikes in Vietnam and you can go to all the accessible countries, i.e. not China & Burma. You need a paper from the rental co. giving you permission to ride the bike across borders. If you buy it the rego must be in your name. A 125 or a Minsk will be all you can find there.

In Chiang Mai I saw bigger bikes for rent. The Honda 650 Bros is fairly common. However, most bikes in Thailand don't have legal plates, so you can't cross borders on them. You must tell the rental co. that you want to cross borders and it will cost you double. We hired a couple of Honda 250 trail bikes and paid about 1000B/day, no border crossings.

Check out gt-rider.com

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Cheers,
Peter.

Europe to NZ 2006-10

hi larry
like gemma i plan to do the same tour
im getting to bankok in the 13 of april (10 dayes from now)
on what bike did you ride?
by the way i found flamingo web:
Flamingo-travel

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one life, live it well

ok, by the way my quote should read "rent a bike in Chang Mai Thailand and cross into Laos" for more money, yeah.
I was on a Yamaha enduro on one trip and a Honda 250 Baja on another with Flamingo (once with Hung and once solo) and I also bought a Minsk to putt around Vietnam where I did a volunteer assignment.

Good luck

Larry

We have just returned from Thailand no problem renting bikes in Pataya (just make sure they are registered we had 250's but you could get just about anything. We payed 800baht a day, didnt cross any borders but we did cover 3000 km the road to Mae Hon Son from Chiang mae is a must 1864 bends, dont forget to collect your certificate from the tourist information in the town centre.

One way to keep the costs down is to have more on the bike Thai style like the pic below six on one bike Priceless

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Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do.

If you plan to buy and not rent you will have to do it in Vietnam, bikes from there can go to the other countries you list but foreign bikes cannot enter Vietnam, if you fancy a Minsk there always seem to be one or two for sale in Hanoi backpackers.
Also take your own riding gear, what is available there is rubbish, especially helmets.
Mark

I have rented two different years in Chiang Mai and it is very easy. The first year I rented a Kawasaki 250 dirt bike and paid about $14 per day which is very expensive. The second year I just rented a Honda 125 and paid about $4 per day. I rented in Vientiane Laos and paid about the same for a Honda 125. I rented one bike and rode it two up with my wife for about 1000 miles in Thailand. It works out good to headquarter in Chiang Mai and do 4 or 5 day trips and come back to replenish cloths. I just left a big bag at a hotel in Chiang Mai because I did not know you could cross boarders with a rental bike. Makes it harder as you need to come back to the same place but if you are leaving cloths it is not that big of a problem. Larry

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Larry Davis

Really good website this - gt-rider.com - thanks

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Reality is something you rise above. - Liza Minnelli (1946 - )

Thailand, Cambodia and Laos are accessible on bikes bought from any of these countries, even though some paperwork will be involved, and as a foreigner, you may have some trouble with language, etc. Probably Malaysia as well, even if it is officially a carnet country.

On Vietnamese plates, it seems to be possible to go to other countries, and return to Vietnam, but getting into Vietnam on foreign plates is unlikely (and there does not seem to be any ´under 175cc = okay` thing, but the net is full of rumours of course).

Hi currently in Chiang Ma
trying to figure out what the score is, there is one company in the north in Chiang Rai that will provide you all the documents and bike to enter Laos. However there is a catch you have to leave a deposit of the full value of the bike. Believe it is St Motorcycles the reason for high deposit is that you will need your passport for crossing and they want their bike back!

Motorcycle Rental - Chiang Mai, Thailand, S.E. Asia | GT Rider

In regard to prices you can get a klx 250 for 500 baht here for a day. Not including equipment. The other aspect they seem to be missing is travel boxes or decent racks for panniers, lots of people riding with back packs! I would think about bring over some decent one piece cycle panniers that you could hang over the back seat.

Think carefully of what time of year you want to travel. Its low season here now and really really hot. I personally think riding in this heat of road would be so energy sapping but hey every one to their own. Seems to be a lot of different views on hiring/buying in vietnam etc but people are doing it all the time, legality seems to be a bit of grey area.

Good luck stay safe
Mark
Jo and Mark Overland

Hi guys, I spent the last 15 months in Asia on my F650. I rode in Thailand, Burma(3 times), Laos and Cambodia and love it everywhere! I tried to cross into Vietnam twice- once in Laos and once in Cambodia. I tried the crossing in Bavet, Cambodia as it is only 167kms from Phnom Phen. I knew of a couple that rode their BMW 1200 into Vietnam through this crossing. The folks at the border were super friendly and wanted to let me in(to Vietnam). I spoke to an equally friendly police chief who explained to me the Vietnamese moto CC limitations. He said that if I had an accident or problems in Vietnam people might come to the Bavet crossing asking why I was let through on a 650cc bike. There is a CC limit on bikes in Vietnam regarding farangs entering the country. The Vietnamese wanted me to visit Vietnam and told me about other border crossings in Cambodia and Laos. After a year in SE Asia I wasn't in the mood to ride around looking for a crossing. Good luck to all of you. Everyone I know says Vietnam shouldn't be missed. Hook.

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"And I think to myself, what a wonderful world..." L.B. Armstrong. www.davesgreatescape.net
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Hey,

Just did some riding in Southern Laos through the Bolaven Plateau! Highly recommended! Just did the standard Pakse - Tad Lo - Attapu loop. Some beautiful and easy dirt roads, as well as some awful ones. I rented a yamaha 233 something, which was the cheaper alternative to a Honda XR 250 Baja.

Heres some things I picked up

-Make sure you've got your international license, its relatively easy to get and saves a world of trouble. Note that its not valid in Vietnam, and the Vietnamese license is a runaround to get, so most expats will keep riding if they're hailed by police and play stupid- doesn't always work though!

-Bring gear you trust! I was lucky enough to have a pig run out at me while sitting on 70km/h and ran straight into the side of my bike, knocking me over. Was wearing an Asian rental helmet, Asian thick denim jacket and some Levis. Ripped a hole in both elbows and one knee. I'll never ride again anywhere without the proper gear. If you can't do any better, at least wear a leather jacket and double up on your jeans. And I really recommend bringing your own helmet!

-A little obvious, but the visibility is amazing during the day, at night time, forget about it! At about 5-6pm locals light fires to cook and the smoke on the road cuts the visibility to about 2m

-Follow what the traffic around you is doing, if your overtaking everyone, its a good signal to take it easy for a while.

Anyway, stay upright and have fun. A mate of mine bought some maps off gt-rider.com and they are incredibly worth it.

Hi Hook ,really to gonne in Burma with your. Bike.?
Please where do you got permission motorbikes enter ?I am now in vietnam and I would like get Myanmari cossing land border from Thailand whit my Honda xr 650 in Itay registred.
Thank you for your ansare. Robertos