Korean Job Discussion Forums

[mzeno]

WTB: bicycle;Does anyone know of a decent bike shop in busan? I want to buy a high quality bike for touring. Thanks.

[joesunsangnim]

dont know about pusan, but when you said "high quality" red flags went off in my head.

just FYI, I brought a $700 trek mountain bike here from the states when i came four years ago. they counted it as my luggage so it was cool. thing is, when i was checking out the same bike here, it was about 1.4mil. that's a huge import tax if you ask me. that was also when the dollar to the won was just about even. when i was thinking about a new bike I found that in some cases, buying a bike from my local shop back home, and having it sent here as a "gift" was cheaper than forking out twice the price here.

I never actually got a new one, but replacement shimano parts here weren't that cheap either.

[mzeno]

Thanks for the information. I was already considering that option but was unsure of shipping costs. It sounds like you may be right.

[joesunsangnim]

even with $2-300 shipping costs it'll still probably be cheaper than any quality bike you want to get here. or wait till some family or friends are coming and have them bring it with them. it's a big thing to ask of someone I know, but as I said, they counted my bike box as my second piece of luggage and it was free....even with weight restrictions you could probably pay less to add it as extra baggage....dont know for sure but you do have some options.

[joesunsangnim]

even with $2-300 shipping costs it'll still probably be cheaper than any quality bike you want to get here. or wait till some family or friends are coming and have them bring it with them. it's a big thing to ask of someone I know, but as I said, they counted my bike box as my second piece of luggage and it was free....even with weight restrictions you could probably pay less to add it as extra baggage....dont know for sure but you do have some options.

[pandapanda]

Problem with shipping is that it can lead to import tax and such that add 20%.

[joesunsangnim]

I was gonna mention before that there area couple of cheeky ways to think about...

if your buddy buddy with your local bike shop then you could have them write an invoice saying the bike is ridiculously cheap...

or, my friend said she's ordering a mac book and having apple send it as a gift, wrapped and everything so that you can bypass the tax.

[pandapanda]

The invoice thing is ok until your bike gets damaged/lost while being shipped and you try to claim insurance and they pay you the $50 you said it was worth.

[nosmallplans]

there aren't many touring bikes available in korea. your best bet is to find a shop who's fitting skills you trust and ask them to get you a bike from http://www.hksports.asia/index.php.

i've explained this before in the general forum but the way the korean bicycle industry works is very different from how we're used to in the west. shops will not ally themselves to particular brands, though they may have favorites, and have access to order in just about anything you can think of. this is part of the reason why prices are higher - instead of purchasing directly from manufacturers' in-house distribution companies, shops have to purchase from third party distributors that carry multiple brands.

anyway, hksports has access to both surly and fuji bikes both of which manufacture touring frames. that said, their website shows no fuji touring bikes and only the surly big dummy though i've seen a fuji touring bike and a surly crosscheck and long haul trucker at their booth at last year's seoul bike show.

assuming you can properly communicate your desire, ask your lbs to try to order one of the bikes i mentioned.

your other option is to order a custom frame from young cycle - they easily put together a touring rig for you... but trying to get triple ring cranks, barcons, positive rise stems and other components. surprisingly enough, high-quality tubus racks and ortlieb panniers are easily purchased via http://citybike.co.kr/.