So nothing fancy here. I just spent a lot of time researching bicycles and buying a bike in Bangkok. I looked at all the different options and geared my purchase toward everything that I wanted to do with the bike. I hope this site is easily searchable since I'm hoping it will save others the legwork of having to go from site to site trying to find the best advice on bike buying. Keep in mind, I am sharing my experience and everyone will have different needs when purchasing but hopefully, you won't have to do as much work as I did and maybe make your life easier in the process. Forgive my writing in advance. I'm sick today and just doing this out of boredom. Hope it helps.
So, initially, I was going to get a cool single speed bike to ride around town but then my friend wanted to get some exercise in at high speeds so I decided to get a City Bike or Urban Bike that mixed the gearing of a fast road bike with the stance of a mountain bike (sort of). Pretty much every bike maker has them now and the popularity is growing pretty rapidly.
While looking for a good place to buy a bike, I came across the wicked awesome site that gave detailed instructions on how to get to most of the major shops around bangkok. The site is in Korean but he put some crazy good maps on there so it should be super helpful regardless.
http://blog.naver.com/PostView.nhn?blogId=2charlie&logNo=57600776
I will have to add my personal choices from the site but please make your own judgements. Also I would like to add some of the stores he didn't mention that I think are worthwhile.
Other stores:
The first is Specialized. It's in the back of the HSBC building on RAMA IV. Directly across from Lumphini Park. Between the SalaDang and Lumphini MRT stations on the south side of the street. The wrenches (bike mechanics) here are super cool and really seem to know their stuff. All bike enthusiasts. I had some problems with the assembly of my bike (will discuss more later) and these guys fixed everything in about 40 minutes and it cost me 200bht.
Second is the Merida store. It's on Thanon Luang, near Worachak. The store is called Cycle Sports or Sports Cycle. They are listed on the Merida website as the only distributer for Merida bikes in Thailand. Honestly, I'm not the biggest fan of Merida bikes but this is where I bought my bike. It's all about fit and comfort with bikes and they had what I wanted and it fits. Comfy. Fast. Again, their wrenches suck. Not a little. They are the worst wrenches in Thailand I think. Took most of the day to get my bike in ridable condition then I took it to Specialized and they had to basically redo the whole bike.
My opinion on the other stores:
ProBikes is probably the most popular store in Bangkok and for pretty good reason. Good location, pretty reasonable prices but you have to make sure they always give you the discount, one of the biggest selection of stuff. I thought there were better under-seat bags at Bike Zone. Not the biggest Trek fan in the world, but I think it might be a good option in Thailand. Best selection on good gloves at good prices. I will have to add that I've been to the store a lot and had absolutely no one help me at least 80% of the time. Made me want to buy somewhere else, and I did. Sometimes at higher prices just because the service was better.
WorldBike is a major seller of Giant bikes. My personal favorite but honestly, they just didn't have what I was looking for here at anywhere near the prices I wanted to pay. But they do have some great bikes. Also, they are super far away. Without traffic the taxi ride from Ekkamai station was close to 200bht each way. Not too many turns getting there, just straight up Ekkamai and turn right at RamIntra until you hit soi 75. Anyways, going there once was enough. Too far.
Other than that, someone posted on one of these blog sites about a store in the Mall next to Seacom Square. Note to everyone, the mall next to Seacom Square is really huge and really CLOSED. The whole frickin mall. But there was a really cute girl at the Scoozi Pizza at Seacom and if you walk just south of Seacom, there is a super good, super cheap Mugatha (the local grill on the table buffet places) restaurant that I would like to revisit. I think they have other locations, but it just takes me way to long to read Thai and I don't know where I put their business card.
I didn't bother going to other stores because it's just too much hassle.
Places to ride:
Bangkok is dangerous so buy night lights just in case. Always wear a helmet because they have reflective stuff and again, bangkok streets are dangerous. Pretty much every time I ride on the streets I see a scooter wreck. My friend's condo basically is a front and center window to daily scooter wrecks. As if wrecking in Bangkok isn't bad enough, they just lay you on the burning hot pavement until help arrives. I don't know if you've ever seen an ambulance in Bangkok traffic (especially during rush hour, or as I like to call, ALL DAY) but I can generally walk faster than most ambulances.
Having said all that, the easiest place to ride in the city is Lumphini Park. Right in the middle of town, if you're lazy, you can bring you bike on the train all the way to Chitlom or Ratchadamri and you're very close. Bike riding is only permitted from 10am to 3pm and the police will definitely stop you outside of those hours. Watch out for the mini Komodo Dragons and you're good for about a 3 kilometer circle with great pavement. Watch out for the kids.
RETRO:
Not really retro but on the Thanon Luang, you will find a ton of bicycle shops in and around the area that sell bikes from China. They are the same bikes you will see in pretty much every old Asian movie. They've got the metal bar under the handles that control the brakes and crazy good styling. Still tempted to buy one but since I hate accumulating stuff for no good reason, I can't bring myself to do it even though they are pretty cheap. The models go for between 5000 and 2500 baht. I think they are still made of steel which is super hip. So if you're in the mood, go grab one of these jobbies. Find some cool retro mechanic's shirt at Chatachuk. Buy some knock off converse and knee high socks. Be uber hip in a town that very few people will understand. For people who have the extra cash, you can go to Gucci in Paragon and find the same bike with Gucci logo for considerably more. But if you have to hip ....
That's what I got for now.
Here are some links:
http://bangkokbikehash.org/Links.html
http://majorbike.com/
http://maxrider.com/
http://www.myspace.com/bkkcyc
http://freeride.in.th/
BTW, I bought the Merida Speeder T2. Super fast upright bike. Reasonably light at 22lbs. Great for city riding without a bike tights because the seat is super cush. Tiagra components. Would I buy it again ... yes, because it fits my body pretty tight. Would I recommend it to others ... I wouldn't not recommend it but I think there are some downsides but if it fits, it's not a bad choice. Gets good reviews pretty consistently.
Friday, February 19, 2010
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