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.