Best country in SE Asia to buy a bike for touring??

[CristiRenee]

Hello Everyone!
I am new to Ride Asia and have scanned the forums but haven't really seen any good advice on what country in SouthEast Asia is best for buying a bike to tour.

My boyfriend and I just landed in Bangkok and want to buy bikes to wander through Thailand, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, and the parts of Myanmar we can get into for the next 6 months.
We originally though Bangkok would be the place to get a bike but from what I read the paperwork here seems like a nightmare for foreigners and crossing borders with it would be troublesome.
Is Vietnam the place to buy?
Any advice on this would be really helpful!!

Also any advice on the best bikes to buy would be great too.
Being from the US a 250cc seems small for hauling packs on a long tour but was told anything bigger is illegal in Vietnam.

Seems like RideAsia will be our new bestfriend for the next couple months,
Thanks!!

 

[Steve Canyon]

Get ready for a barrage of info....welcome to the sight....

Your going to have some fun, get yourself up to CM..

happy trails...

Ps, how did you here about us??

 

[nikhuzlan]

Malaysia.

The least troublesome place to buy a bike will be Malaysia. But its also probably the most expensive place to buy a bike in this region. I have a number of expat friends who owns Malaysian bikes and they have no problem entering Thailand, Laos and Cambodia. Vietnam is dodgy for everybody, but we have friends who have gone in with their big GS. The crossings were still tedious but doable.

For your reference here are some of the prices of bikes in Malaysia:

BMW R1200GS USD38,700
Yamaha R1 USD32,300
Harley Ultra Tourer USD63,225
BMW K1600GTL USD54,200
Kawasaki Versys USD12,300
Yamaha Super Tenere USD39,677
Yamaha XT660 Tenere USD22,600

Malaysia however has by far the best roads to ride on if you're on a roadbike. . The road surfaces are smooth and grippy, the roads allow sustained speeds above 160 to be maintained for a long time. The drivers are more predictable. The highways are excellent, the A roads are superb, the B roads are fantastic.

There are also many offroad trails. Best of all, if you are staying in the capital Kuala Lumpur, 250km loops covering great roads are just 15 minutes from your gate.

Thailand

Bikes are perhaps subtantially cheaper. How it works for a foreigner when buying one I have no idea. What problems at border crossings that a foreigner may face I have no idea. Phil and many more knows better.

Thailand has a great variety of roads. A mid-size DP bike ( 400 - 750 ) will be ideal. Comfortable enough two up, sufficient grunt for highway work, and not too heavy for some light to medium offroad work. Same bike would also be good for Laos and Cambodia. Of course, Malaysia too.

For Vietnam you're better of renting there.
If you managed to ride a foriegn bike into and out of Myanmar, please let me be the first to know. There's possibly an art to it.

Cheers from Malaysia.

 

[KTMphil]

CristiRenee


Where do you plan to start your motor bike trip from?

 

[DrGMIA]

Over eight years I've rented motorcycles in:
Myanmar
Thailand
Indonesia
Malaysia
Cambodia
Laos
Vietnam

The total costs of all those rentals did not equal the price of one well used "big bike" in any of those countries. The price of "big bikes" is often quite high due to import taxes. An 80% to 145% import tax on big bikes can make a $22,000 USD Honda Gold Wing cost $50,000. in Vietnam. My rentals in Vietnam ran from $10. USD per day to $35.00 per day for a big bike there.

Try thinking small and rentals where the riding is good.

Cheers,

 

[Marco]

Over eight years I've rented motorcycles in:
Myanmar
Thailand
Indonesia
Malaysia
Cambodia
Laos
Vietnam

The total costs of all those rentals did not equal the price of one well used "big bike" in any of those countries. The price of "big bikes" is often quite high due to import taxes. An 80% to 145% import tax on big bikes can make a $22,000 USD Honda Gold Wing cost $50,000. in Vietnam. My rentals in Vietnam ran from $10. USD per day to $35.00 per day for a big bike there.

Try thinking small and rentals where the riding is good.


I FEEL SO SORRY ALREADY BUT I COULD NOT RESIST THIS..

Part of this post is comparing OWN Bikes towards RENTED Bikes....OK??

There is GOOD TV Serie called Two & Half Men....

In there they stated CLEARLY comparison between wife and rented female,,,
Wife is very expensive since married and year and year after year money consumption,,
BUT
When renting female it's ONE (1) time pay ONLY and it's way cheaper in LONG TERM....

SO SORRY, but have to have nice sense of humor all the time and funny head to relay OWN BIKE TO Rented Bikes,,,,,,,,,

Have a FANTASTIC DAY,,of yeah,, i been married 13ys and have BMW K1200LT 2004 bike and money goes a LOT,,,,, : : : :

Cheers,

 

[CristiRenee]

So happy to be getting some good info!
I did a ton of research online and didn't really get any good concrete info but this forum came up several times and seemed like the best place to go.

We both ride so we would be getting 2 bikes and our packs aren't all that big so a bigger bike isn't all that necessary. Looking to drop a few hundred and then sell them before we leave.

We are in thailand doing some scuba now and will start our trip from whereever we figure out where to go to buy bikes.

We met a guy a few months back in India who had bought a bike in Bangkok for about 300$ US and he said he didn't have any problems at the myanmar border or cambodia. In hind sight i wish i would have asked him a lot more questions about how he did it.

As much as we don't have a plan we know with the visa situation and people visiting we will be jumping borders quite a bit making renting more difficult.
10$ a day for 6 months adds up to quite a bit more than what we are hoping to spend
buying and selling at the end will mean eating a bit of the cost but seems a bit more justifiable for our trip

Keep the info coming!
Thanks a million

 

[KTMphil]

he said he didn't have any problems at the myanmar border

If this was the case it's highly unusual as foreign motorcycles are prohibited into Myanmar. I have heard that you cannot even ship motorcycle parts into Myanmar as they are concerned that you will construct a foreign motorcycle, cannot confirm this though.

 

[Sherrie]

What about the legalities of the buying the bike, some of the research we have done points to us needing a non immigration visa. Anyone had any experiences?

 

[KTMphil]

With a letter of residency from a condo building, that will qualify you for getting a residency letter/ certificate from Thai immigration which will enable you to register a vehicle, car or motorcycle in Thailand.

What about the legalities of the buying the bike, some of the research we have done points to us needing a non immigration visa. Anyone had any experiences?

 

[LivinLOS]

Buying a bike for 300 what ?? USD ??? And your looking for over 250cc ?? I think you might need some more research.. A good 250 will be 2k usd min.. More like 3 or 4 if its late model.. And your worried about spending 10 USD per day ?? Not being nasty but but a 250 rents for maybe >30 usd per day.

As for borders, if anyone got a bike into Myanmar in the last 10 years it would be huge news (beyond the Shan state few kms.. I mean in to tour).. There is a guy who got a pickup in, with massive amounts of strife and consular help.. I have had some email discussions with a guy in Rangoon who can get bikes, outside of rangoon as they are restricted, but its a lot of money to rend old old bike.

Same really goes for Vietnam, there are some entry points, that open and close, but not on the budget your talking.

I would say fly to your locations, rent a scooter and enjoy as much as you can.. Or radically readjust the rental costs of a big bike. Either than or look at buying a simple 125 like a sonic or dream or wave or similar, dropping Vietnam and Myanmaar (or flying in and renting locally).. A sonic type bike can do Laos, Cambo, Thailand and Malaysia and is disposable type money. The road speeds here are low, and touring on a 125 is entirely possible. We did a couple 1000 kms in Vietnam and our average speeds were 50 kph once stops where in, a sonic can pull 100 and thats the speed of the roads in much of the rough stuff and is findable for maybe 500 - 700 USD for a decent condition one, less for a ropey one.

 

[Sherrie]

Thanks KTMphil and IivinLOS,

For myself and Patrick we are trying to figure out if renting is better than buying. When we had planned just one month, renting made more sense. But now we are thinking about staying for 4 or 5 months and the ability to cross borders is what makes us want to sink the money in to buy. We are also thinking about a Wave rather than a motorcycle. We rented a scooter in Cuba (a crappy Chinese one) and we still had a blast, despite it breaking down.

 

[KTMphil]

Sherrie -- gave some comments in the thread link below

soon-to-be-se-asia-riders-t827.html

Thanks KTMphil and IivinLOS,

For myself and Patrick we are trying to figure out if renting is better than buying. When we had planned just one month, renting made more sense. But now we are thinking about staying for 4 or 5 months and the ability to cross borders is what makes us want to sink the money in to buy. We are also thinking about a Wave rather than a motorcycle. We rented a scooter in Cuba (a crappy Chinese one) and we still had a blast, despite it breaking down.

 

[LivinLOS]

I am sure many of the 'big bike' crowd will disagree with me.. But if your focus is on touring and seeing the place, under your own steam and power, I see a 125 as totally viable. Sure its not a off road beastie, but you can plug these kind of things through anything. I once rode / dragged / crashed a 125 dream, 2 up, over the corona of a volcano and then through miles and miles of goat trials out the other side, still 2 up, until we made it back out to civilization.

Many times you dont need to go faster, you just want to, and by being slow, which makes you stay off the main roads, you see plenty of local life. Its a different pace, but its just as valid an experience.

A wave can be bought for 15 - 20k (less is possible but maybe penny wise and pound foolish if you want no trouble) they can be fixed anywhere and bits are cheap as chips. I would also look out for a 125 'sonic' as it has a fair bit more power, a clutch, and rides that bit more like a bike. I am sure a decent sonic could be found at 20 - 25 or up to 30 for a cleaner later model.

Are you thinking a bike each ?? As 2 up with luggage starts to get to be a strain.

 

[Sherrie]

We are thinking one each! And I completely agree with you on the 125 cc being ok! At least, without having ridden one there I do!

But one of the reasons why I was hesitant for SEA to begin with was that I thought my beastie (and as I am 5 foot 2 on a tall day the F 650 is a beastie to me) would not be as much fun to ride in the terrain there. I want something that if I drop it I can get it back up by myself (with my present bike I need help) and except on a highway (which I want to avoid as they are just plain boring) I rarely go over 80kms an hour anyway. In Mongolia my speed was about 50 kms and hour off roading. I want to do exactly as you said, something I can push, manhandle and otherwise just enjoy!

 

[Captain_Slash]

I did a four month 20 000 km tour of Thailand a few years ago on a Honda 125i Wave and it did the job perfectly well

 

[Sherrie]

We just bought Waves in Malaysia. (Well paperwork is underway, should have them tomorrow, maybe I should be careful what i say).

Super easy, gave them a copy of our passports, entry stamp, and a deposit. We should have the bikes tomorrow when all goes well and we pay the rest of the money.

Looking forward to the coming months! :-)

 

[KTMphil]

Sounds pretty easy Sherrie - Hope to see you up in Chiang Mai.

We just bought Waves in Malaysia. (Well paperwork is underway, should have them tomorrow, maybe I should be careful what i say).

Super easy, gave them a copy of our passports, entry stamp, and a deposit. We should have the bikes tomorrow when all goes well and we pay the rest of the money.

Looking forward to the coming months! :-)

 

[singaporedream]

hey guys, the cheapest place is SINGAPORE!

SINGAPORE!

SINGAPORE!

SINGAPORE!

 

[Sherrie]

We just write a post over on our blog on the hows and whys of buying our bikes in Malaysia, why we did not buy in Thailand, as well as what we were told about Cambodia. In case our decision making process helps anyone in the future you can find it here:

http://www.unleashyouradventure.com/buy ... -east-asia

And thank you everyone who wrote back in this post, it was the most help we found throughout the entire process! You guys rock! :MJ

 

[BobS]

The link will not work as written. You have to add the letter "a " at the end to make it south-east-asia.

 

[Captain_Slash]

We just write a post over on our blog on the hows and whys of buying our bikes in Malaysia, why we did not buy in Thailand, as well as what we were told about Cambodia. In case our decision making process helps anyone in the future you can find it here:

http://www.unleashyouradventure.com/buy ... -east-asia

And thank you everyone who wrote back in this post, it was the most help we found throughout the entire process! You guys rock! :MJ

Yes Malaysia really makes things easy for tourists, just turn up at the border and you get a 90 day visa completely free of charge, you are made to feel welcome straight away plus it sounds like buying a bike is really easy there too