In Hanoi, trying to decide on style and make of bike

Jan 26, 2013
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I'm getting all kinds of conflicting information. Locals and a trusted mechanic say to get a newer future. All the foreign travel sites and folks selling to expats suggest buying a manual bike like a Honda custom or a Win. I have no desire to buy a Chinese POS, that's going breakdown and be, I'm also not confident that a scooter will be good for touring, I'll be riding for 8 or so weeks.

does anyone have any input? It's also difficult to know which dealers to trust, any recommendations would be great.

thanks,
Eddie
 

feejer

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Feb 16, 2007
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I rented this red YBR125 from Flamingo for 3 weeks last April and it was perfect for almost everything we encountered. Decent power, all day comfortable, and excellent fuel mileage.

http://www.flamingotravel.com.vn/Motorbike-rent/dm236/

The only issue was ground clearance and soft, limited travel suspension when off road in the rough stuff. I bottomed it out several times in the far north West of Dong Van and I am
about 180 pounds along with a single duffel bag strapped to the rack. So if you are are heavier, packing a lot of gear, and/or plan on some challenging off-road exploring, a full sized
dual sport is the way to go. IMO touring Vietnam on a scooter is suicide. It's bad enough on a proper motorbike. But either way, stick with Hung and crew at Flamingo and you will
be taken care of. They have an office in HCM also, so if you want to do a one-way trip down and drop off, no problem.

He has long-term expat rental rates too, so don't let the web quoted $25/day scare you. I didn't pay that and only rented for 3 weeks.
 
Jan 9, 2011
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Howdy,
There should be some questions and which will help you to chose the right bike for the trip:
- You would be there for 2months or more, so it's quite a long time. Where will you ride? Along Vietnam or just around Hanoi? Will you ride offroad?
- How tall and how weight are you? How much luggage you have to bring along the ride? You ride with a pillion?
- Are you a good mechanic? I meant do you know to fix the bike with some simple issues?
- What is your budget for the bike if you chose to buy?

Agreed with feejer, Scooter touring along Vietnam is not a good idea, unless you are good mech and you have all the tools with you. And more, scooter is not kind of the bike which you can ride continuously 100-200km/day.

* So at first, should not be a scooter (automatic transmission bike), it could be a manual bike or an auto-clutch bike (damn, I don't know how to call that bike).

* Then for the brand - Definitely not a China made one. Believe me, you will spoil your trip with it. There are lots of common bike which people like to have it for their daily commute and living. We have Honda, Suzuki and Yamaha are three big names here. And now you can have all of them are made in Vietnam with good quality.
I have attached here with three webpages where showing listed price and product information for your reference.

* Other than many Countries, such as US, motorcycle repair is very common things here in Vietnam, you can find the motorcycle repair shops almost everywhere. And the important part is price, bloody cheap.

- Price list of three brands in Vietnam (in Vietnam Dong)
+ http://www.honda.com.vn/vn/xe-may/bang-gia-xe/
+ http://www.suzuki.com.vn/vi-VN/bang-gia-xe/102-mi.aspx
+ http://www.yamaha-motor.com.vn/san-pham-36-cate.html

To be noted that the differences in prices are not meaning quality of the bike. It’s more on the bike STYLE and some add-on functions or farkles.
Sometimes the price on the market may higher or lower than the manufacture listing, but not much.
And the price of the Brand new one could be much higher than the one has been onroad for hundreds km.

I ‘ve never had experiences with rental in Vietnam, so I have no comment on that. However, I believe they know what they are doing for their business.

Just ask, I will answer whatever within my knowledge.
 
Jan 26, 2013
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Thanks for the feedback! I ended up buying a 2009 Yamaha YBR 125 G from Flamingo Travel. If I knew they sold bikes, it would have been my first and last stop. This is great for many reasons, including the fact that the manager, Hung, purchased this bike in his name, so if something bad happens with the police, he's only a phone call away.

I plan to head out in the morning. I'm firming up my route now.
 

DavidFL

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wanderir;288254 wrote: Thanks for the feedback! I ended up buying a 2009 Yamaha YBR 125 G from Flamingo Travel. If I knew they sold bikes, it would have been my first and last stop. This is great for many reasons, including the fact that the manager, Hung, purchased this bike in his name, so if something bad happens with the police, he's only a phone call away.

I plan to head out in the morning. I'm firming up my route now.
Flamingo is always the best to deal with for renting / buying -selling back bikes in Vietnam.
They also run a banner on GTR. Just click on it
http://www.flamingotravel.com.vn/
& there they are.