By the way, the motorcycle you rented, is that a manual transmission or auto?

I did go to that mr bike rental dirt bike rental shop in Phnom Penh. I rent one Honda Xr Baja from him. Well i think USD 15 per day was reasonable since the bike was in good looking. i rejected the cheaper bike offered from him since it did not look good at all.

I would recommend http://www.mrbikerental.com if you plan for a long ride. the owner speaks really good english. thats such a suprising.

There are lots of cheap rentals but at their rates they cannot be expected to maintain carefully. If you get a bike there, have it checked by a mechanic (such as Dara shop near railway station or Bike Shop) before going on long tours.

good luck and enjoy!

i did google and heard mr bike rental ( http://www.mrbikerental.com ) was the best place to rent a dirt bike in phnom penh, cambodia.

Should i rent one from that shop?

regards,

Johny

Im planning to ride in Cambodia and Loas over 12 days entering from Poipet to Seam Reap-Phnom Penh- Kratie and exit to Laos, need some advice from you on the above road condition, interesting places to visit and if possible can i contact you when we reach Phnom Penh?

best regards
kenneth

I typically hire 250cc bikes. There actually are very few dirt bikes larger than 250cc around in Cambodia nad 250 does seem an appropriate size for the Cambodian circumsdances, forcefull enough to get you around quickly and light enough to maneuver tricky terrain.

I don’t have insurance at this point. Was quoted about 100$ a year for third party even if you only need a few months covered.

Stefan

Glad to hear from you. I am not aware that people insure rented bikes and it sounds plausible to me that such insurance is not common.

Riding bikes in Cambodia is arguably not very safe, in my view due to anarchic traffic rather than theft. It seems to me that 125cc scooters are much more likely to be stolen as there is only a very small market to resell dirt bikes, in which most Cambodians have little interest anyways.

If a rented bike is stolen or damaged then yes, you will most likely have to pay for it. Damage should not be much of a problem since labor is ridiculously cheap and rentals don’t check very carefully when you return bikes. I have returned bikes in very bad condition without trouble. Accordingly, bikes tend to be in bad shape when you rent them and you better check twice.

It does happen that people are robbed of there bikes but rarely and hardly ever with dirt bikes.

Taken together I don’t think the risk of your rented bike getting damaged or stolen should prevent you from going on this trip, as long as you feel able to deal with the traffic. Rentals usually give you a pad lock with your bikes, insist on it and use it and you should be fine. Many people don’t use it and are fine nevertheless.

Enjoy your trip,
Stefan