Hey Dave,
I also did that trip a few months ago, getting a bike is pretty straight foreward in Ho Chi Minh, a lot of bikes change hand over there. (we went with Style Motorbikes though, we bought brand new bikes and they take em back for 75-80% of the price in Hanoi, total 200 bucks for a month..) The beaten up Honda's have more character, I drove one of those in Cambodja, but had to maintain it more often.
Routewise, we obviously avoid highways, and we got a cell phone card so we had data to navigate (8 bucks or so for plenty of gb's).
The best route we had was from Da Lat to Na Thrang. 150 km's of winding curves and no traffic at all.
Easy Tiger hostel in Phong Na was a great place to stay, for some reason all motorcyclist who do south to north and north to south, stay there, very cool to see over a 100 Honda win's on a parking lot. It's a big place, but very well managed, amazing routes in that area also!
Have fun mate!
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