Biking in the area

Post by **Léo** » August 19, 2011, 5:53 pm

Hello to anybody,
i am new on this forum but still to be friendly , i leave in Italia (sorry for my poor english,

so)but like thailand so much
then, we are a grop of friend (5) wich decided to come in isan for take a tour with bycicle but we dont want to transport our bike because so expensive price by plane.., then, we would like to rent (but is there some good bike for this kind of trip) a bike or buy a cheaper one (but not so bad as he can resist to 2 weeks of road )

wht kind of price we need to attempt ?

then can you give us some adviser for that and do you know some shop for be recomanded ?
thank's

Post by **fdimike** » August 20, 2011, 8:30 pm

Leo

I'm an avid cyclist living in Udon Thani. I don't think you'll find any bicycles for rent but there are a number of shops selling second hand bicycles. I don't know the prices for these bicycles but can help you find them when you arrive. Since you are all experienced cyclists expect to pay at least 10,000B and up for a new bicycle which you could enjoy. There are many new bicycles available for less than this amount but I'm afraid you may disappointed with them. When do you plan to arrive in Udon Thani?

Post by **Nick@AUA** » August 20, 2011, 8:48 pm

are you looking for mountain bikes or road racing bikes?

Post by **Léo** » August 21, 2011, 12:32 am

Thank's to all for reply to me ,
so usualy we will arrived in september if we can find a cheap ticket plane... so i understood that it will be hard to rent a bike( i thought also it will be hard....)
then second hand can be good of course, especialy because after that we will try to return back in thailand and we will be happy to get some help from you fdimike

Nick, the main things is to get a confortable bike , we are not in competition but would like to have no mechanical problem of course.... eheheh

thank's guy

Post by **stargate** » August 21, 2011, 10:43 am

as mike wrote you can get a good bike for under 10000 baht, your problem if you intend to do a tour on them will be buying bike racks. to put your bags on. i went into a bike shop in udon and came out with a very good rack. however if tried to buy five racks you might have to order them and then wait for them to arrive.

Post by **ralphudon** » August 21, 2011, 3:00 pm

Anybody know where LA bike shop has moved too? as every time I pass the shop they are closed. I had a couple of bikes from them. I have assumed they have moved location, or shut up shop permanent?.

Post by **fdimike** » August 21, 2011, 4:10 pm

Ralph

LA Bike has not moved anywhere. The guy (Peter) who owns it is the same guy who owns the bike shop at the 5 way intersection which is right down the road from LA Bike. Peter told me he is trying to find someone to run the LA Bike shop for him. See Peter if you need anything from the LA Bike shop.

Post by **fdimike** » August 21, 2011, 4:13 pm

Leo

Do you have any idea when you will arrive in Septemeber. I am planning a bicycle trip to Singapore oward the end of next month. I'll do my best to help you guys if you arrive before I leave.

Post by **ralphudon** » August 21, 2011, 4:18 pm

fdimike wrote:Ralph

LA Bike has not moved anywhere. The guy (Peter) who owns it is the same guy who owns the bike shop at the 5 way intersection which is right down the road from LA Bike. Peter told me he is trying to find someone to run the LA Bike shop for him. See Peter if you need anything from the LA Bike shop.

Thanks very much for the reply, I will be down there tomorrow.

Post by **Léo** » August 24, 2011, 12:46 am

stargate wrote:as mike wrote you can get a good bike for under 10000 baht, your problem if you intend to do a tour on them will be buying bike racks. to put your bags on. i went into a bike shop in udon and came out with a very good rack. however if tried to buy five racks you might have to order them and then wait for them to arrive.

Hi Stargate, thanks for reply ..

so, of course we will need a rack, not a big one because we will try to traveling lighter as possible but we need a changed for clothes and some few packs ...
we need to find a rack wich can be ok on the bike we wioll find too... maybe that will be the real problem !

Post by **Léo** » August 24, 2011, 12:50 am

fdimike wrote:Leo

Do you have any idea when you will arrive in Septemeber. I am planning a bicycle trip to Singapore oward the end of next month. I'll do my best to help you guys if you arrive before I leave.

hi again guy

ummm, normaly we will arrived at the end of september , maybe you will be in singapour already ...

so disapointed if we can't meet you but i can understand, "mai pen rai" !

just let me know when you have a ticket for know if we can planing or not or let me a good adress for check some bike !

alos an other question, can we find a strong wheels for puncture ... and is that easy to find someone for help us for changed it if we have no material enough ?

Post by **stargate** » August 24, 2011, 8:41 am

leo, if you do not know what to have with you inorder to repair a puncture then you should NOT be thinking of doing a bike tour.

Post by **fdimike** » August 24, 2011, 9:19 am

Leo

I expect leave on our bike tour to Singapore around September 25. If you arrive before then you can contact me and I'll help you get what you need. If you arrive afterwards I'll give you the name & telephone number for my bike shop. The owner is Thai but he speaks very good english and will be able to help you out with whatever you guys need.

Schwalbe tires are available here in Thailand but not their full line. If I were you I would buy the tires you want to ride with in Italy before you leave. I am currently riding on Schwalbe Marathon Extreme tires which are good for both on and off the road. there are many dirt roads here in Thailand so it would be best to have tire which can be used on both dirt and paved roads. These tires are not available here in Thailand. Schwalbe inner tubes are available here in Thailand at nearly every bike shop. I would stongly suggest you use an inner tube with a Schrader valve instead of the small Presta valve as it's much easier to fill the tires with air here in Thailand.

There are 2 other options you can use to help prevent tire punctures. You can install a Kevlar or plastic belt inside the tire between the inner tube and the tire or you can use a chemical sealant inside the tube. Both these options are available here.

Repairing a flat tire is very simple here in Thailand as there are thousands of tire repair shops around all over the country. They're easy to identify by the red and white painted tire/s hanging outside their shop. It's also a good idea to acrry a tire patch repair kit with you along with a bicycle mounted air pump just in case you are someplce without a repair shop.

Please let me know if you need any further information. I'll do whatever I can to assist you guys.

Post by **Léo** » August 26, 2011, 4:14 pm

Hi Fdmike and thank's again for your sweetness about us and our tour, your information are realy important for su and we are happy to know that we can prevent some of punctures with some chimical inside tube , i thought about it but realy not sure that we can find it in thailand !

so, about Schwalbe, of course, i know the reputation of the tires , so good but we dont know the size of our wheel we will find ...then , hard to buy some here .
Maybe we will not meet in Udon if you leave on25 because we have not reply for now about compagny but they project before to arrived in BKK on 24, then .... but of course if you can send me a number phone of your friend, can be good of course !!

thank's again

cia o

Post by **fdimike** » August 26, 2011, 6:08 pm

Leo

The chemical sealant will not prevent all punctures but may help to seal the small ones. There are several brands available & most bike shops will carry at least 1 kind. You may better luck installing a Kevlar belt inside the tire between the tube and tire. If you are an experienced cyclist you should already know it's difficult to prevent flat tires no matter where you ride. The roads here in Thailand are strewn with glass, wire, thorns & just about anything you can think of which will puncture an average tire. It's best to be prepared.

Most good mountain and or street bikes here are equipped with 26 inch wheels. I havn't seen any bikes in the Udon Thani area with the new 29 inch wheel as yet. You will also see many fold up bikes for sale which are going to have a much smaller wheel. I don't know how much you want to spend for the bike so it's kind of difficult to tell you what's available. I don't know where you intend to ride so it's also difficult to advise you on the type of bike. There are many dirt roads here in Thailand as well as many paved ones.

My friends name is Peter. He owns a pretty well equipped bicycle shop here in Udon Thani. His telephone number is 086 458-6195 when calling from inside Thailand. I will speak with him about your needs so he will know to expect you.

There is an excellent bicycle shop in Bangkok If you have time. The name of the shop is Pro Bike. Here's their web site: www.probike.co.th

Please let me know if I can help you guys out with anythingelse.

Post by **Léo** » September 4, 2011, 4:47 pm

Fdmike, so sorry for reply late but i was realy busy since 2 weeks ....

thank's again for your kindness and of course we know that we will have some problem with puncture (ahahah)and hope that we will have enough material or if not, some people can help us on the side of the raod...
so we would like to spend around 10.000 batsh for bike beause after this trip we will let it in thailand and i am not sure we can sail it back quicly , so ....

Thank's for your advised guy, about it, do you think peter can get any kevlar belt in shop or we need to thinking to carry it from Italia ?

for sure i will looking for peter's shop when we will arrived in Udon and hope he is open !

for moment i will looking also the links you give me ;

Post by **fdimike** » September 5, 2011, 6:39 am

Hi Leo

Peter has the Kevlar belts available in his shop. I think it will be a little difficult to sell the bicycle quickly when you leave. I'll speak with Peter about this and he may have a suggestion. If you plan to stop riding in Udon Peter may be able to sell the bicycles for you and send you the money later.

Here is another link which may be helpful: http://bicyclethailand.com/ This site has a list of many bicycle shops in Thailand and a forum where you can ask questions.

It looks like we will be leaving on 23 or 24 September.

I also wanted to tell you that there are 3or 4 Italian restaurants here in Udon Thani. I can send you the names and telephone numbers if you like. Let me know.

Let me know if you need anything else. I'm happy to help

Post by **Léo** » September 17, 2011, 4:22 am

Hi my "friend"

sorry again for reply to you late ....

so, we had problem for find ticket plane and 2 of our friends can't come with us.... :-& place
then we decided (with them !) to continued our project because not easy to take our holiday's all in same time ... and maybe we will changed a little bit our project and just take a bike for 10 days and start from Udon and back to Udon ...like this maybe we just need to rent few bikes and not buy one (or if there is a realy good second hand ...cheap !)
you friend also get some (good)bicycle for rent ?

is the shop open every day ?

thank's a lot mike and so sorry again

Léo

Post by **fdimike** » September 17, 2011, 9:27 pm

Hi Leo
I've already spoken with my friend Peter who owns the bike shop. He told me that he would do his best to help you out any way he could. His shop is normally open every day. Give his a call when you arrive. His shop is loicated at the intersection of Prajak Road & Adunyadet Road. If you open the map of Udon Thani on this website the shop is located at Grid N-12. This is a 5 way intersection very close to the Central Plaza shopping mall.

I hope you enjoy your time here in Thailand. Please let me know if I can help you in any way.

Regards
Mike

Post by **rjj04** » November 22, 2013, 1:16 pm

fdimike wrote: The chemical sealant will not prevent all punctures but may help to seal the small ones. There are several brands available & most bike shops will carry at least 1 kind. You may better luck installing a Kevlar belt inside the tire between the tube and tire.

I think I must have had ten flat tires in the last 30 rides. They haven't been more than 30 kms either. It is getting very annoying. So, I bought some sealant - a while back off of ebay - and today I went to the bike shop in my little town. The owner had never seen a chemical sealant (Joe's) before, and had no clue how to put it in the tire. They finally ran to the pharmacist and bought a needle and injected the stuff into the inner-tube. I guess I will soon see if this stuff really works or not.

About the Kevlar belts mentioned above, I can not find anything like that on ebay. I live too far from Udon to make a special trip in just to go to Peter's shop. Anybody seen these available online someplace? Or maybe I should buy a tire with a kevlar belt in it already?