Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Asiablue]

Any suggestions as to where its best to hunt down a bargain? Every time I walk into the local shop, it has a sudden price increase.

[nathanrutledge]

What do you want, quality or a bargain?

Bargain, that's easy. Learn some Korean, know what you want, research on-line to find some prices, go and dicker with the dealers.

Quality, that's easy. Find a high end bike dealer. I go to Hi-tep in Yongin (they are the only Specialized dealer in Korea, or so the distributor told me) but I've seen some other high end places near Yangje, in Bundang, in Gangnam.

What are you looking for?

[UknowsI]

I think most people are looking for a reasonably priced high quality city bike. The problem is that many bikes focus on functionality you don't need. Cheap bikes in Korea usually have full suspension and are off road bikes. I haven't been to expensive bike shops, so I don't know what they are like, but they are usually either expensive off road bikes or racing bikes. What most people need are city bikes. City bikes are probably considered medium price range, but the problem with city bikes is that many of them focus too much on design and not as much on quality. If someone could give some advice on where to find good quality city bikes I would be grateful.

[nathanrutledge]

Well, again, define "quality."

You can find bike shops all over the place selling Lespo and Samchully, and those bikes are decent, but you get what you pay for. For example, how many bikes in the US do you see with drum brakes? Not clutch brakes, but an actual drum on the wheel? I hadn't seen one of those since my grandfathers 1930's Schwinn until I came to Korea. I had a small, Korean bike with a drum brake. It sucked. The brake had terrible stopping power. The bike itself was steel, so it weighed a ton. The seat was uncomfortable, it rusted if you left it outside, etc...

You get what you pay for. You can get a solid bike that will get the job done for 100k, no problem. You'll probably be disappointed. 250-350k is more likely the range you'd have to spend to get what I would consider "quality." Caliper brakes at a minimum, aluminum frame, comfortable seat.

Anyway, like I said, bike shops are all over the place. You can't swing a dead cat without hitting one, and they'll all carry basic bicycles.

[sheriffadam]

Drum brakes rule, you need to adjust it.

op: Just go to Homeplus/Emart if your too backwards to know what a bike shop looks like or use the internet and GMarket.

[koalathekyle]

I'm selling my racing bike, a Japanese imported GIANT TCR...

http://forums.eslcafe.com/korea/viewtopic.php?t=194597

How tall are you?