Hi as the title says I'm looking to buy a bike in Vietnam. Any one got any tips or recent advice on best way of going about this ? Im thinking of getting a Minsk . I fly into Hanoi on the 5th December and plan to ride all the way south then if possible take it out into Cambodia ,loas then return to Hanoi for my flight home 7 weeks later
Any tips welcome or if anyone is out on the road and wants to meet for a then let me know.

Hi . I am doing a similar trip but not until February.

Check out craiglist , quite a few bikes on there. Mainly Honda Win, which are basically a C90.

Not exactly exciting but they are everywhere out there and cheap to fix with plenty of parts available.

I am sure there is plenty of other bikes available. Also check out the backpacking bars /hangouts. They often have a notice board with bikes for sale.

You shouldn't have a problem crossing borders as long as you have the blue registration card, or a bribe ! Have a great trip.

Sorry this should have been posted in South Asia section

Done.

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Hi,

Plenty of bikes for sale, but most of them are in very bad mechanical state . Take a couple of days to find a decent one!
Honda Wins or similar are cheap ( we bought them 250$ and sold them 150$ in Bangkok ) very few Minsks.......
Major roads in Vietnam are awful.
VOA ( Visa on arrival ) at airports ( NOT at Land borders ) but u still need a letter of approval. ( can nevertheless be "fixed" at the airport for about 150$ )
As u intend to come back to Vietnam, don't forget to ask for multiple entry visa! ( remember No VOA at Land borders ..... )
You can't take the bike to Cambodia unless: take a bus from the border to Phnom Penh - arrange customs - go back to border. ( there are fixers at the border ready to buy your bike for about 70$ )

Laos - superbe riding - VOA at Land borders.

No problems to take the bikes to Thailand.


have fun :-)


Vietnam & beyond ...: Nouvelle aventure......

Thanks. I'm getting a 3 month multi entry visa. Is the any problem taking the bike into Laos ? If I leave the bike at the border is it the easy to sort the paperwork in Cambodia ? How long will this take ?

Talk to Hung in Hanoi, he rents and sells Minsk bikes, and maintains them. Great guy, I did some riding with him 5 years ago int northern Nam and into Laos. goodle flamingotours in Hanoi. If that doesn't work pm me or get me at larrynunavut at hotmail dot com Tell Hung Larry Simpson sent you.

cheers
Larry

ps I bought a Minsk when I was there too and even brought it back to Canada, truthfully though you are better off with a Honda unless you are a great mechanic with a bag of Minsk parts.

One more tip for you when you travel from Hanoi to the South. You should find some short - cut streets instead of main street, because there are a lot of cars, trucks and motorbikes on the street and the traffic are very crowded. If you are foreigners, you can be confused with the traffic in Viet Nam

Hi just a a quick update. I got myself a honda win 100. I met a dutch guy in the street who was at the end of his trip and struck up a good deal

Guys,
Do you know of a good resource for info on border crossings/requirements for the countries you've mentioned above?
Just starting planning to do something similar to you, is a Carnet needed for say a Thailand purchased bike ridden through the other SE Asia countries?

Any info gratefully received!

Pete & Caf

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Hi everybody

does any of you have experience with drivers licences in Vietnam?

The internet is full of reports that you need a local licence, otherwise you would be arrested, blablabla... but apparently you only get a local licence when you have a 3 month visa. We only want to stay one month....

Any experiences?

Thanks.....

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I have just completed the Hanoi to Ho chai Minh ride and never got stopped once by the police. I met lots of people doing this and most didn't even have a bike licence in there own country and I never met a single person that had a Vietname licence .

thanks kito! - it's always the same: don't listen to all those horror stories on the internet...

vietnam, we're coming!!!

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I bought a Chinese Honda Win Clone in HCMC for my ride to Hanoi back in September. Most of those "Honda Wins" are not actually Hondas, and they have been back and forth many times, breaking down and being fixed as cheap as possible with junk Chinese parts. So be forewarned that these backpacker bikes are junk. They are maintained with cheap parts, often used parts and the break down constantly. Mine crunched second gear climbing a hill in the Central Highlands. A crook mechanic on Phong Nha wanted to charge me $175 to fix it. No thanks. I rode it with 1st, 3rd and 4th gear to Hanoi.

Another thing to consider is that the roads in most of Vietnam are terrible. I am not exaggerating when i say that Hwy 1 has about as many miles under construction as it has in good working condition. Forget trying to go at a quick pace with the Honda Win, Honda Wave, or Yamaha Nouvo. The roads will beat them (and you) to death. I jarred the headlamp out of its housing, just hanging by wires, while riding quickly in some potholed construction areas.

You will be more likely to find a reliable Wave or Nouvo, but those are automatic scooter style step through bikes and backpackers don't want to ride them. That is probably also why reliable ones are available.

After you get past Dalat up in the Central Highlands, the roads up there are much better and the riding is great. People don't see so many Westerners up there so you are welcomed even more than in other areas, although I found all of Vietnam to be quite friendly.

I stayed in Hanoi for a couple of weeks after the ride from HCMC because I have friends there from my previous trip. I decided to rent a good bike, a Honda XR 150 which is an enduro type bike, for an 8 day loop up through the extreme North and Northeast of Vietnam. The XR 150 was newish, only had 5000 km on the odometer and cost $25 per day. The guy at the rental place gave me the choice of leaving my passport, leaving a 4 figure USD deposit, or leaving my drivers license. Hmmm, passport, $, or a DL which I can get a duplicate of for a few bucks? I left the drivers license.

Riding the Win was a fun experience, but that Honda XR 150 was a different world. I would say that it is just about perfect for Vietnam. It had plenty of performance (and I am a big guy) and the suspension ate up the bad stretches of road. I have a KLR 650 at home (US) and that is smallish/slow by our way of thinking, so it seems funny to say that the 150 was quite adequate. But it was.

That was my second trip to Vietnam, and I will probably return this Summer. I am giving serious consideration to buying a new or newish XR 150. I have a friend in Hanoi who has checked the prices a bit for me and she says the used ones are almost as expensive as new. I think the new ones are in the $3000 to $3200 range. I am leaning toward buying a new one on this trip, and just storing it at a friend's house when I leave.

I have been told by a reputable source (A UK run Vietnam bike touring company) that your home license e.g. UK bike license is now recognised in Vietnam!

On a side note - I flying in to Ho Chi Minh on the 4th of April and flying out a month later - sorry to hijack thread but I'd be interested to know what routes people would take given I have a month? - I have to make it a round trip as my flight is planned back out of HCMC.

If anyone fancies joining I'd be up for some company!