After you’ve decided you’re committed, the next step is to find your hot new whip. No pun intended, but Honda for the WIN. Most people who are doing the drive opt for this standard, classic motorcycle known as none other than the HONDA WIN. These manual bikes are old, shitty and perfect for what you wanna do with ‘em. If a manual bike is a tad bit intimidating for you, you can pick yourself up a nice automatic scooter instead. They are equally as powerful [sometimes even more so], and they still give you all the fun of seeing Vietnam up close and personal. You’re going to want to scope out your bike before you up and buy it, so we suggest taking a few hours and cruising the streets of Ho Chi Minh City in the main backpacker ghetto known as Pham Ngu Lao. It might feel weird, but you should just take some time to wander around, and check out all the different bikes to get a feel for what’s on the market. Ask around, talk to locals and you will surely find at least 20 people who want to sell you a bike.
Once you’ve spotted one that looks like a WINner [the puns won’t stop here], you pretty much have three options for how to purchase this puppy. You can buy from a local who is willing to sell theirs, you can buy from another backpacker who is at the end of their trip, or you can buy from someone like Simon. Simon is a smart-ass British man who makes his living by buying bikes back from tourists, cleaning them up [for the most part], and then re-selling them back to tourists at a higher price. There are plenty of stops like this in district 1. Whatever route you go, your Honda Win shouldn’t cost you more than $175, and your scooter should cost no more than $300. Crucial: You absolutely need to make sure it comes with the blue registration card. This is incredibly important, so we’ll touch more on that later. Biggest tip? Find a desperate looking backpacker who has a flight soon so they’ll be willing to sell it on the cheap-cheap. Or check out this facebook page where people are now posting about their bikes for sale.
Oh and there is a fourth option but that’s for the moneybags: buying one brand new. But seriously, don’t buy your bike new because it’s expensive, and honestly half the fun of this trip is seeing if you can make it all the way on a bike that has a broken clutch. Ha, joking… kind of.
Whichever bike you decide to purchase, make sure to get the helmet included and try it before you buy it. Also understand that you are getting what you pay for and many times the speedometer, gas gauges or mileage counters don’t work. Forget trying to negotiate the price down for these things, because it won’t work. As long as you have all the electrical parts, you’re good to go. Everything else like the mirror, and lights are cheap and easy to fix.
Lastly, give your bike a name. You’ll be spending a LOT of time together over the next couple of weeks and you guys need to bond. We had a YAMAHA NOUVO that would spontaneously backfire so loudly it would scare other people, so we lovingly named her Tooter Bean.
Its a nice place, check out a shop I do know it very well
https://anmotorcycleservice.wixsite.com/vietnam
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