HOW TO: Buying a Motorbike, Hanoi, Vietnam
It's the Vietnam dream, to ride from one end of the country to the other by motorbike. Chilling in random off-the-beaten-track towns as you find your way from tourist city spots, through tropical jungle, past beautiful sandy beaches, taking in the incredibly history and culture Vietnam has to offer.
Its been a bucket-list item of mine for a while, and I finally got the chance to tick it off in January/February 2017. A month on the road, starting in Hanoi and ending in Ho Chi Minh (Saigon), travelling with our trusty Yamaha Nuovo 110CC bike.
The most important part of the planning for this adventure? The two wheeled form of transport that you'll become very familiar with after over-2000km of Vietnamese roads.... So, here is my guide to buying a motorbike in Vietnam.
1. Know your bikes
You will no-doubt read a lot about Honda Winns when researching about previous travellers who've done this trip, and for good reason. They are easy to find, relatively cheap to buy ($220-250) and easily fixable along the way. However, they do tend to break down a fair bit.... But luckily there are bike mechanics everywhere here, literally everywhere, so this will just be a cost problem than much of an actual inconvenience.
I ended up with a 110CC Yamaha Nuovo, which took around 150kg of weight (2people and a big backpack) with no problem. We squeezed out 90KM at top speed when she was fully loaded, which is plenty fast enough on Vietnamese roads where no one seems to care if they cut you up and make you crash out. We paid around $170 for her then $70 on repairs (find the full price list at the bottom of the article). Our Nuovo managed around 130km from a full tank (3L).
The other bikes we considered were:
Honda Dream or Wave - both of which are just as popular with locals as the Winns are with travellers.
Honda Future - we loved this bike but lost out to another traveller who was willing to outbid us.
2. Where to look
You can head over to any of the rental shops and find a bike that tends to come with helmets and insurance etc. You will, however, pay a lot for this service, with the prices while I was looking sitting around $500/600. I would maybe suggest if - like me - you know practically nothing about motorbikes that this option could be worth the extra money as it takes away any worry about what happens if you break down/get in an accident.
This idea can also be used for hostels/hotels that organise everything for you and all you have to do is pick up your bike with your group and get going. Your hostel can transport your luggage to your end destination too, which is super ideal!
With the above 2 options you will have to leave you're passport with them, which to me sounded kinda dodgy but I have friends who have do e both and it's been find, so each to their own.
The way we found the Nuovo was through Craigslist.com.vn, where there are a huge number of bikes for sale and emailing enquiries is incredibly easily done, finding out all the information you need before bothering to go and see the bike in person. Start this process before you get to Vietnam, it can take hours to trawl through every available option and you don't want to be wasting valuable Vietnam time!
The final option is joining the Facebook group Hanoi Massive. With around 80,000 members there are always bikes popping up on there too.
3. So you've bought a bike
You've trailed through a the available bikes of interest to you, you've met up with the top options and had a spin on them, and you've picked your favourite travel buddy for your trip... Now what's next?
Take your new travel buddy to a mechanic. Unless you know all there is to know about motorbikes, this should 100% be your next step. The guy who sold you the bike may have missed out a couple of details that need attention (accidentally of course). Luckily in Vietnam there isn't shortage of mechanics, the thing is a few won't speak any English and another few will see you're foreign and so expect you can be duped into paying a hell of a lot - comparably to Vietnamese locals anyway.
I know it's age old advice, but really do shop around. The guys who speak English will tend to charge more as they know your need for their services compared to the relative convenience of sign language-ing your problem to someone who doesn't speak your language. However, if you can get your point across even with the language barrier you are likely to get a better rate.
For example, we needed our wheel tightening and the first guy we went to - who was the only mechanic for a few km along Highway 1 - changed a measly 5000Dong (around $0.20) but 100km later it was loose again. The next guy we went to, in a city with a decent amount of competition around, refused to take our money (we ended up giving him 10,000 Dong, which is around $0.42). This second mechanic fixed our problem completely, and didn't even want paying for it!
The mechanic we used for the majority of our initial fixtures was recommended to us by a random Australian man and Canadian man we drank beer with. He spoke good English and got the job done in a couple of hours. He may have overcharged us but we needed it sorted quickly and didn't have time to mess around, and he did waver on the prices a little.
So here you go! You're ready and set to start your adventure!
Good luck and take care. Vietnamese roads are absolutely crazy, so drive slowly and keep your eyes peeled at all times or you will likely get into an accident.
However, you will have the most amazing experience!
No experience worth having is ever easy!
Enjoy my friends!
