Vietnam Motorcycle Trip

[Chrisesbati13]

Hello,

My friend and I are flying into Da Nang, Vietnam December 5th 2018 and are going to be in the country for two weeks. We are going to head to Cambodia as well. We would like to purchase some used motorcycles to ride the coast south and potentially into Cambodia. Has anyone on here done something similar to this before? How do you go about purchasing a Bike and then Selling it?

Any info/tips would be very helpful! Thanks!

[jordanrtw]

Hey, I did this in June and July 2017, on a little local 110 cc Honda Win. It was a shocking thing but i could get it repaired everywhere. There are several backpacker motorbike sales pages on facebook. I've unliked them since I finished my trip but thats how I found my bike. It was a very straight forward process of meeting whomever had it and getting the 'blue card', its registration document with it. Ride it and then advertise and sell it in the same manner. Super enjoyable and one of my favourite holidays to date.

[markharf]

OP, maybe you'll come to a different conclusion from me, but when I went to Vietnam with only a couple of weeks in-country, the last thing I wanted to spend my time doing was buying, selling and maintaining a motorbike. I rented instead, from a reliable company which featured Japanese bikes and multiple pickup and drop-off points--including one in Hoi An, just south of Danang. The company is Flamingo Travel, easily Google-able.

I ran into lots of tourists spending valuable vacation time having repairs done while I kept merrily swerving around water buffaloes and schoolgirls on bicycles. Some of them seemed perfectly ok with that, but I sure wouldn't have been. If you find there are not enough words in your life, my word-heavy trip report is at http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub...otorbike-94861.

Hope that's helpful.

Mark

[AnTyx]

Yeah, for two weeks I'd just rent an XR150.

Also, pro tip: there are only so many places in Vietnam that are actually interesting to ride. Hai Van Pass between Da Nang and Hue is definitely one. The Northern mountains of Ha Giang province are another. I think the mountains around Da Lat would probably also be awesome. But it's a very long country, and renting bikes is so prevalent, that you'd probably do better to fly/take trains or nightbuses between major cities and rent bikes on location when you want.

[Kjswiley]

Originally Posted by AnTyx

Yeah, for two weeks I'd just rent an XR150.

Also, pro tip: there are only so many places in Vietnam that are actually interesting to ride. Hai Van Pass between Da Nang and Hue is definitely one. The Northern mountains of Ha Giang province are another. I think the mountains around Da Lat would probably also be awesome. But it's a very long country, and renting bikes is so prevalent, that you'd probably do better to fly/take trains or nightbuses between major cities and rent bikes on location when you want.

I agree with everyone that 2 weeks is not enough time to buy a bike, but it is as easy as described. You buy a crappy bike off a traveler, you give them money they hand you the blue card, you are done. You do not need to register anything in your name, the blue card will have some Vietnamese name that has long been irrelevant as these bikes have been sold hundreds of times. With the blue card in hand you can go from Vietnam into Laos, or Vietnam into Cambodia, but you cannot go from Laos to Cambodia due to corrupt border officials, well unless you illegally smuggle it in via the Don Det island route.

I disagree with there are only so many interesting areas to ride. I spent 6 weeks riding Vietnam and wanted more. Follow the Cambodia/Laos border, avoid the coast and you have great riding. Check out Vietnamcoracle.com for free maps and tips on where to go. Once you are in the mountains there is not much of a social scene going on, so I did a mix of Ho hi Minh Road as well as a few coastal cities to party with tourists once in awhile. People with only 1 month should focus on Northern Vietnam, but with more time there is some great riding and small towns in Central Vietnam. The South did not do much for me personally.

For the adventurous I am pro buying a crappy Chinese bike, it is cheap, and adds to the adventure. Most repairs needed will take 1 hour, a friend had his piston replaced in a couple hours, and I hear a rebuild can be done in a day, but that is all dependent on where you break down of course. With bike purchase + all repairs my current cost is at 7US dollars a day and if nothing else breaks (a fairly big if with these bikes) will get lower by the day. Far cheaper than a rental, and I will sell the bike and make a lot of that back as I hear demand is Laos is fairly high. Plus the breakdown stories are priceless, and I am currently in Laos which would be a bit more difficult with a rental, and I do not need to return it so gives me more flexibility.

[Tirthankar Bose]

Would suggest you to rent a bike rather than purchasing it and the repairing it everyday.
Ya that is the only thing that is going to happen.
If you have no idea about those bikes..chances are there you might get scammed.
So better rent it from a good dealer and then returning it when going back to your home.

[branco]

I've seen lots of blogs recommending buying a motorbike too, if that fits your budget and I think they got a point (and experience to as they did it themselves). That's the case if you're willing to go through the process of buying and selling afterwards. But if not, stick to the rentals.

Try traveling to the north of Vietnam by motorbike (Sapa, Mai Chau, Ninh Binh, ...), you can see the grandiose view. However, it's not for everyone as the road is quite dangerous. Safer trip at here

[g6snl]

Originally Posted by markharf

OP, maybe you'll come to a different conclusion from me, but when I went to Vietnam with only a couple of weeks in-country, the last thing I wanted to spend my time doing was buying, selling and maintaining a motorbike. I rented instead, from a reliable company which featured Japanese bikes and multiple pickup and drop-off points--including one in Hoi An, just south of Danang. The company is Flamingo Travel, easily Google-able.

I'll second that. I hired a YBR125 from the same place and travelled 2up with bags for several weeks with out any issues other than clutch cable going. But I was supplied with a spare and some other bits. Easy fix but paid a local mechanic 40,000 dong to fit which was around £1 (GBP) It was a stunning trip and we went well off piste and had a ball. Not once was the Motorcycle ever a concern, usual pre flight checks and off we went. I too met people who had purchased bikes and spent some serious time keeping them going. One american guy we bumped into had virtually rebuilt the whole bike by the time we met him. Lost many days hanging around. If you have the time fine, but on a 3/4 week visit I would not waste a day at all, it is a stuning place.
I think it worked out for us about £50GBP per week for hire, thats good value in my book.