Korean Job Discussion Forums

[japancube]

I am bringing only one of them. Which one is the question? I will be living near Cheonan city if that helps at all. Are there any mtn bike areas around there? I only have room for one.

Also, does anyone know of a proper high end bike shop in Cheonan? Id really appreciate any info. Thanks

[dannylelievre]

I dont know much about Cheonan, went there once, there were some mountains. I would say bring your road bike because you'll have a harder time finding a cheap road bike here than you would finding a cheap MTB. Cheap MTBs sell for 100 dollars here while I havent seen a lot of road bikes for less than 1,000.

[talltony4]

Mountain bike.

Korean hills are alright for MTB, and there's always a hill nearby. Korean roads are a bit busy for road cycling. Not to say that you can't do it, but I know which one I enjoy the most.

There'll be a high-end shop in Cheonan somewhere. Shimano stuff is cheap here, SRAM isn't common, no shoes bigger than US 10, complete bikes are expensive, mechanics can be hit and miss, service is very cheap. Oh and no large size bikes! Koreans are shorter, with small feet and big round heads so factor that into your purchasing plans.

[Cohiba]

If you need a bike to get around to your various classes, bring a road bike. The mountains here are hairy. All jaggy rocks, ravines, drop-offs and other nasty crap. If you do go on the mtn trails, wear body armour.
I have a free ride/XC hybrid. I swapped out the knobbys for street tires.

BTW, do you know anything about Cheonan? I hope you brought lots of
books to read and have broadband, because that is all you're going to be
doing buddy.

[kiwiduncan]

[kiwiduncan]

[retrogress]

bring the mountain bike because:

Since you have already swapped out the knobbies for road tires you're set to ride road. And if you want to you can get back in off road without much work.

If you bring a road bike that's all you can do, and you probably won't like riding on the roads.

With your mtn bike you can do 1)roads, 2)trails 3) fire roads 4) farm roads (cement one's that are littered with gravel and dirt here and there.

with your road bike you'll be stuck with just smooth roads.

Also: beware. All bike stuff in Korea is 200% or more of what you would pay back home. So if you need anything for your bike, BRING IT WITH YOU.

They do everything in two ways: department store components or top of the line components at rediculous prices. I recently was shown a bike by the owner. He proundly told me that he paid 9000 dollars with all the upgrades. Titanium? No. Just an aluminum KHS hardtail. They're crazy. But you'll find that out soon enough.

And in Cheonan (which is a nice city) you will find a bike shop, but again, you won't want to give them any of your well earned money. Although, you might find a group to ride with.

Godo luck!

[Cohiba]

[nosmallplans]

i had the same problem, my track bike or my ss mtb and ended up bringing the track bike, selling it and buying a xc mtb. there are tons of trails to ride and lots of groups to ride with... but i really miss 40mph left hand turns. :/

any 'decent' stuff here is going to cost you a pretty penny. be prepared for a fairly limited selection (if you're used to the vast choices of the QBP book) and higher prices. i'm actually having a custom frame made here but i'm still ordering all my parts from home.

consider also that road biking is rapidly gaining ground here in korea. my local mtb club will drop mtb this spring in order to try to train for a possible amateur tour de korea team. about a dozen members have picked up serious carbon fiber bikes in the past 2 or 3 months and we've been holding three-times-a-week spinning sessions at the local bike shop after hours.

[nosmallplans]

[japancube]

Thanks for all of the info.

I am currently leaning toward bringing the road bike. One reason for this is that when lived in Japan I toured around on the road bike quite a bit. I am planning on riding accross the counrty during my summer break.

My MTN bike is a Klein full and it rides like crap on the road. I may try to find a hardtial here in the USA and build it up before I leave. IN that case I will bring the hardtail.

[chrisyurhee]

I'm looking for tires, tubes, etc. and a used large MTB w/ disks

[kiwiduncan]

You know, despite being back in New Zealand now I still find myself missing the Korean trails from time to time. There really are some great places to ride in Korea.

Japancube, I tried searching for some images of mountain biking around Cheonan and I found these. I hope the links work.

http://www.wildbike.co.kr/cgi-bin/zboard.php?id=PdsXCPhoto&page=1&sn1=&divpage=1&sn=off&ss=on&sc=on&keyword=흑성산&select_arrange=headnum&desc=asc&no=645

http://www.wildbike.co.kr/cgi-bin/zboard.php?id=PdsXCPhoto&page=1&sn1=&divpage=1&sn=off&ss=on&sc=off&keyword=천안&select_arrange=headnum&desc=asc&no=630

Chrisyurhee, from what I've heard it's difficult to find larger frames in Korea, but YongsaNMTB near Samgakji station in Seoul might be worth checking out. If you are on Facebook try this:

http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/group.php?gid=11799660100

[chrisyurhee]

I'll check out that shop.
To everyone else - I'm still open to any and all advice, especially if you're wanting to sell rather than ship back.
Or better yet, if you're coming and are willing to bring a bike with you to sell (a bike is considered a piece of luggage on international flights BY LAW-they cannot charge you extra unless you have more than the allowed number of baggage items)

[technique]

Not to threadjack, but I'll be on my way to Korea soon too, and I've been having the same questions running through my head. Since the prices of nice bikes and parts are so high, is there much theft? I have a nice track bike that I enjoy on the velodrome, but also enjoy riding it on the streets. I was living in Chicago and never had it stolen. Should I worry about Korea?