:: Vietnam by Motorcycle - or by the Bikers

Viethorse, I just found this thread. Thanks for put them together. I will see you in September

As to the need for a license, police hassle, large vs. small bikes, etc. etc. etc.:

Feh. Why worry? Here's a single datapoint: the rules may say you need a local license and should carry all paperwork wherever you go, but this sure wasn't a problem for me. In 3000 km I was never stopped, never questioned or asked for papers, and never wished I'd taken a tour.

Standard caveat: YMMV....but you knew that already, right?

Mark

Depending on what size Moto ,

And licence u have ,

There's KTM dealer in saigon , does a fair spread of their models ,,,

But your far better off with something along these lines ..

Honda XR 150L ,mine ,,,,two or three dealers in hcmc , it's an import , but not expensive and perfect for Vietnam , particularly off-road ,, and simple to spanner on ,



Or one off these , crf250 L ,, great bike , expect to pay double the oz price ,,,rock solid more comfort , but more tech to deal with
Me ....Rental outta ha noi,,

impressed I bought one in oz .

Cheers

You could really get lost out there. A very lovely place to find oneself.

Thanks for your reply Toe Cutter I have an A2 Vietnamese licence so I was looking for something a little more comfortable for doubling my wife, the idea is for me to show my wife some of her country I have seen and she hasn't yet. I see that Honda has just released they are importing bigger bikes now so will probably look at the CB500X. Thanks again.

Try -
Thuong Moto in saigon

They do some bigger cc stuff ...
Cheers


415 pham van dong , linh dong , thu duc , hcmc

Good luck


Remember ,,,

Have a second wallet for presentation to the constabulary ,,,

No more than 3 to 400,000 dong in it , broken notes ..

Cheers Toe Cutter

Viethorse : how are the conditions in northern vietnam now (eg , Sapa) ? We're planning to ride over from Thailand / Laos / Vietnam in Sept 2018.

Thanks.

The route from Saigon to Mui ne is known to be a hot spot for corrupt cops, so to avoid this and city traffic I followed the advice provided on Tigit Motos website and 2 weeks ago went north to Cat Tien. An hour or so into the trip while leaving the city I was hit by corrupt cops who pulled me over for "speeding". They did the normal and threatened to throw the bike on the flatbed truck etc, so I eventually paid 20USD. I spent 2 years driving around Latin America and paid 0 bribes so do not fold too easily, but did not push too hard as I purchased the bike on a last minute whim so hadn't done any research, and was not sure how easily I would lose the bike.

On the other hand, in Hue I took off at a stop light 2 seconds early which the locals all do, but didn't see the cops on the corner, so should have been stopped. They started to come out to wave me over, saw I was a foreigner, and went back to the corner and proceeded to pull over a different person, so it can work both ways.

Aside from my 1st hour riding in Vietnam with the corrupt cops, all people, and police, have been fantastic.

Go for a ride with BM Travel Motorbike Tour, you don't have to care much about license if you ride mostly on off-road terrains or infamous places.
If you want to be the most careful, you should convert your country's driving license into IAA International Driver's License. It takes about 1-2 weeks to get the IAA.

It's been a while... And I am still riding. Now I have my new long range inmate - my son

Hi Viethorse,
thank you for opening this topic and collecting a lot of useful information.
In March 2024 I will join this motorbike trip in north Vietnam: https://www.google.com/maps/dir/Hoà...1d105.8510132!2d21.027964!3e0?hl=en&entry=ttu

is there any location that i should not miss on the route?
for example, between Ha Giang and Meo Vac, should we take the northern road QL4C, or the highlighted one?
We will have a guide with a pre-defined agenda, but there will have flexibility to adapt the trip, so we can take a detour if we want.
Any suggestion about this trip is welcome!
Thank you!
Luca

@Luca1977,

Your Northern route looks good.

I would recommend from Meo Vac head to Lung Cu flag pole which is on the border with China. Lung Cu is the northern most part of Vietnam.
If you are interested you could read my RR on Vietnam which i did in November 2022.

Thanks for the suggestion!
I guess that there is need for a special permit to drive there, correct?
Thanks
Luca

@Luca1977,
No permit required to go to Lung Cu.

So my son hit me up with this today.
He and his buddy want to ride Vietnam or Laos in March of 2025. They want me to come along. They will be 38 and39 and I will be 65.
They rented bikes in Hanoi 5 or 6 years ago and did their own thing for 8 or 10 days and had a great time. So they don't want to do a tour this time either.
His buddy is a free spirit world traveler. I'm into of having a basic plan.
My biggest concern is the plane ride from the east coast of the U.S. and the language. .
I would appreciate any information from folks that have been there done that.

I'm sure they will be following a trail of bread crumbs.
It's the duration of the flight that I'm not into.

Thanks for this one stop thread....
Veitnam is my next ride...


Thanks for the effort you have put in...