Eleven seasons, one workshop, and a list of what we do badly
A Vietnamese company running cycling and motorbike tours with our own fleet and our own mechanics. Here is how we are put together, including the parts we are not good at.
What the company is
demo_legal_entity_name, operating as Vietnam Biking Tours, licensed as an international tour operator under licence demo_tour_operator_licence_no. Head office and workshop in Hanoi, a second office in Ho Chi Minh City for the southern routes.
We started as two guides with six bicycles running weekend trips to Mai Chau. Eleven seasons later there are forty-two bicycles, eleven motorbikes, two full-time mechanics and a workshop, and the thing that has not changed is that the people who plan the routes are the people who ride them.
We are not an agency. When you book a trip with us, the guide, the driver, the vehicle and the bikes are ours. The hotels and the homestays are not, and we say which is which in every itinerary.
How we are put together
| Part of the company | People | What they do |
|---|---|---|
| Guides | 9 full-time, 6 seasonal | Ride with groups. Every one did a workshop season first |
| Mechanics | 2 full-time | Service the fleet, travel with larger groups |
| Drivers | 5 | Support vehicles. Each drives a fixed set of routes |
| Trip planning | 3 | Answer enquiries, build itineraries, book suppliers |
| Events | 2, plus contractors | Corporate and charity rides, route surveys, permits |
Everyone is employed rather than engaged per trip, which is unusual in this industry in Vietnam and is the main reason our prices are not the lowest. It is also why the guide who takes you over the Ma Pi Leng has ridden it forty times rather than four.
Events and organised rides
Alongside the tours, we run bike events for other people: charity rides, corporate rides, club trips from abroad, and support for cyclosportive-style events organised by Vietnamese clubs. This is about a fifth of our work and it is a different kind of job from a twelve-rider tour.
What an event usually involves
- A route survey ridden by us, with a written hazard note for every junction that needs a marshal
- Permits and police liaison with each provincial traffic department the route crosses, which takes six to ten weeks
- Support vehicles at a ratio of one per 25 riders, plus a sweep vehicle and a mechanic's motorbike
- Feed stations, medical cover and a broom wagon
- Bikes for riders who fly in without one, up to our fleet size
Scale and lead time, honestly
| Riders | Lead time we need | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Up to 30 | 4 weeks | One vehicle, one lead guide, straightforward |
| 30 – 60 | 8 weeks | Marshals, feed stations, provincial permits |
| 60 – 120 | 3 months | Full closure plan, police liaison, medical cover on route |
| Over 120 | We will decline | Not our size of job, and we will say who to call |
What we charge for events is a planning fee plus cost, itemised, rather than a per-rider price with everything folded in. It makes the quote longer and it means you can see what the marshals and the ambulance actually cost.
Booking a large ride six weeks out. Provincial permits for a route crossing three provinces take six to ten weeks and cannot be accelerated. A ride planned inside that window either becomes a smaller ride on quieter roads, or it does not happen.
What we are bad at
Every tour company's about page says what they are good at. Here is the other half, which is more useful to you.
- Languages other than English and Vietnamese. We have one guide with workable French and nobody with German, Spanish or Japanese. For a group needing another language we hire an interpreter in, and it is never as good.
- Very large groups. Above 120 riders we are the wrong company and we will tell you who to call instead.
- Luxury. On the coast we can put you in a good four-star hotel. In Pu Luong, Meo Vac and Dong Van the best room in the district is a clean fan room with a view, and no amount of budget changes that.
- Last-minute departures in high season. October and November in the north are booked out two months ahead at the accommodation level. We can rarely help you inside three weeks in those months.
- Multi-country trips. We run Vietnam. For Laos or Cambodia we work with partners, and we will say plainly that we are handing you over rather than pretending it is all us.
Why there are no customer reviews on this site
Because you cannot tell ours from anybody else's, and neither can we. Written testimonials on a tour operator's own website are worth almost nothing as evidence: the operator chooses which to publish, and a fabricated one reads exactly like a real one.
What we offer instead is better and costs us more: ask us for two previous riders from your own country who did the route you are considering, and we will introduce you by email so you can ask them directly. Some say no; most say yes. You get an unedited conversation with somebody who has no reason to sell you anything.
We are also on the public review platforms under our own name, where the reviews are outside our control, and that is where you should look for a general impression.
Responsible riding, in specifics
- Homestays are paid directly and in full on the night, not through an agent, and the rate is the same for our groups as for anyone else
- We carry our rubbish out of the reserves. The van has a bin and it is used
- No riding through village schoolyards at going-home time, which sounds trivial and is the single most common complaint communities make about cycling groups
- We ask before photographing people, and our guides interpret the request rather than gesturing with a camera
- We do not run trips to ethnic minority villages on market days in numbers above eight, because a market is a place of work
Talk to us
Ask us anything, including the awkward questions
About the fleet, the guides, the insurance position, or an event you are planning. We answer within a working day.
Practical next steps: the six routes, what they cost, or phone numbers and office addresses.
Questions travellers ask most
Are you a Vietnamese company or a foreign one?
Vietnamese, registered in Hanoi, with a Vietnamese international tour operator licence. Everyone on the payroll is Vietnamese except two seasonal guides.
That matters practically: we hold the licences and permits ourselves rather than renting a local partner's, which is what a foreign-owned operator has to do here, and it is why we can commit to a departure without a third party's agreement.
Can you organise a corporate ride for our company?
Yes, up to about 120 riders, and the section above sets out what the lead times and the structure look like.
The first conversation is always about the date and the number, because those two decide whether the permits are possible. Bring them to the first email and we will tell you within a day whether it can be done.
Do you take group bookings from cycling clubs abroad?
Frequently, and it is some of our favourite work — a club that already rides together needs much less managing than a group of strangers.
For clubs we will usually build a route rather than sell one of the six, because clubs tend to want more climbing and fewer stops than a standard departure. Send us your club's typical Sunday ride and we will design from that.
What happens if there is a serious accident?
Every guide carries a first aid kit and a trauma card with the nearest hospital, its distance and its capability written on it for each day of the route. The van is the ambulance in most of the places we ride, because a real one is an hour away.
We call your insurer's emergency line, not ours, and we stay with you. In eleven seasons we have had broken collarbones, one broken wrist and a concussion, and no fatality. That is the honest record rather than a safety claim.
Read next
Tell us about the ride you have in mind
Dates, party size and the places you care about are enough to start. You get a draft route and an indicative price, not a brochure.