Bicycling in Bandung

[Teabag]

Goooooooooood morning Indonesia

We, at least I, have still morning here in mid Europe.

My favorite sport is bicycling. I'm doing that 3 till 4 times a week, if the temperature is fine and if its not raining. I drive a MTB and my route is 40% on the street and 50% on forest trails. Oh yeah, 10% I push my bike because of weakness....

Last march we have been home again in Bandung for 3 weeks and I saw a couple of bike shops with respectable bikes in it. Also, I have noticed, that in the last 10 years, there are more people on the bike on their way in Bandung. Although it looked a bit dangerous, but that's Indonesia.

So my question is, are there bikers out there in Bandung ? And if yes, where do you go for biking ? North direction Dago and Lembang or where else ? Do you ride on the street, pure forest or are there even special bike trails ?

Lets share your experience, GPS routes are welcome too.

Cheers
Teabag

 

[Bad_azz]

Lots of people bike here.
not me - but friends do.

I guess it depends on where you live - how you want to go about it etc.
For example would you jump on the bike at home and then just go out? If so mountains are going to be a fair jaunt if you live in the city centre.
If you are located up in say Dago resort or Setiabudhi Regency you can get some decent road circuits with trees and jungle mixed in.
How many Km do you travel?

Would you put the bike on the rack and drive to somewhere and ride? If so- up and around Lembang / Cikole would be nice OR at the south of the city is Ciwidey & the mountains there.

I guess not easy to answer your question with too much detail unless I know more xx

 

[Teabag]

Thanks to the hints, Bad_azz. If I go biking, its about 20 till 40 KM. I may will have to organize some transport of the bike to the places I want to ride. Planed living area is around Gedung Sate, Horizon, Jalan Progo or if we don't like the city rush, then more up to the hills around Dago.

 

[Jaime C]

I've seen groups, usually on the weekend. Sometimes with a lead and trail car. I'm sure there must be Facebook groups.

I rode about 200-250km per week as a teenager. Sadly, I can't even balance on a bike these days.

 

[Teabag]

Hey, Jaime C, what about some supporting wheels on a bike. This would at least eliminate the balancing problems for left - right side. For the 'in front - backwards' balance we can fasten you with a rope on the handlebar.

Till today I resisted to open a facebook account.... maybee one day.

 

[nosox]

Here in ciamis its only 10-15 min bike ride til I'm in the forest/rice field area. I have a friend in Bandung who is into MTB riding with a group. If you like I can ask for info

 

[Teabag]

Hi Nosox

I would be interested for more info and also some real life story's about biking in Bandung. A riding group sounds very interesting.

Regards
Teabag

 

[Smallworld]

I haven't done any cycling in Bandung. I have done only hiking.

You will get a contact to someone from the hiking group either from the internet, facebook, bbm and then you simply enrol yourself by showing up on the previously arranged spot. There was a small fee of 5-10 ribu rp that we pay to event organizers for their effort to prepare all the walking tracks. You will be always walking with someone more experienced - pathfinder kind of person. At the end of walking you will get a meal (that is already included in the fee which was paid on the beginning). They also give water.
Don't forget to take jas hujan, fruits, nice hat (to protect from the sunshine and/or sunblock) and a lot of water.


PS. This is nothing like any hiking I have done in Europe even in mountains. Humidity, jungle is a real problem. My wife's biggest problem were mosquitoes.

Maybe this story will give you some insight how it looks like because I think cycling would be similar. I have seen very bad roads and very steep. When it is raining a road can quickly become a river or very muddy.

Some places are ... a bit cold and you can see pines growing just like in Europe. Sometimes you can smell the sulphur from the nearby volcano.

 

[Smallworld]

Forgot to give some links:

Bandung:
http://www.infobdg.com/v2/komunitas-sepeda-di-bandung/

The whole Indonesia:

http://goowes.co/2015/05/19/daftar-komunitas-sepeda-se-indonesia/

 

[Smallworld]

By coincidence yesterday in one of the cake shops in Bandung I met a guy who is doing "downhill". This is (from what he said to me) more extreme cycling way. I asked him to give me his details for the sake of people who would like to join cycling in Bandung. He knows other groups and have got contacts to other cycling groups. He is also selling, fixing bicycles, he can speak English quite ok (he lived 7 years in USA, 5 years in Nederland). Anyone interested please PM me for his phone number.

 

[Will_M]

Reviving an old thread...

I've been in Indonesia for 5 months and left my road bike back in the UK. Although I bought my GPS / HR monitor with me.
I definitely need a hobby; on my days off I get bored and always seem to end up working.
Living in the mountains south of Bandung, road cycling seems a little too harsh; I'm not TDF cyclist and smoke far too much. Plus the roads are 66% pot hole, 33% tarmac.

Could someone recommend a decent Bicycle shop in Bandung to purchase an average MTB bike. Prices seem to range from 5juta to 140juta. I'm learning towards the lower end right now and see how I go.

Cheers
Will

 

[William King]

I don't know about Bandung, but I do know of a decent bike shop in Bekasi .... if you are down this way sometime.

 

[Bad_azz]

IBCC in the city has one in the back of the Informa shop. Quite pricey.
Address: JL. A. Yani, No. 12, Komp. IBCC B-3, Kacapiring, Batununggal, Kota Bandung, Jawa Barat 40271
Hours: 8AM–9PM

 

[Will_M]

Thank you bad_azz,
Found exactly what I wanted there. You were correct on the quite pricey bit. They tried to sell me one for 35juta (down from 70j) "banyak discount"
I opted for the lower level one and will see how I get on up and down the mountains.

There's also a MTB trail about 6km from my house that I found on the internet.

 

[Will_M]

Addicted to mountain biking now.

 

[Bad_azz]

It is very beautiful in the area you are located. There are some tea gardens & hot springs not too far away too.

 

[William King]

They tried to sell me one for 35juta (down from 70j) "banyak discount"

Was it a top of the range Cannondale ?

 

[Will_M]

Merida I believe.

I will check on Friday or Saturday as now my other half wants a bike now ....

 

[sumyunggai]

Could someone recommend a decent Bicycle shop in Bandung to purchase an average MTB bike. Prices seem to range from 5juta to 140juta. I'm learning towards the lower end right now and see how I go.

Bit late now, but my experience is as follows.

Indonesian brands: basically all junk except Polygon (try Rodalink, two shops in Bandung, but the staff probably are clueless)
Non-Indonesian brands: around 33% more expensive than Polygon, so you probably need a 50% discount for it to be worth it.

Actual bikes:

The 2018 Xtrada 6 Brown (6.6 million RRP - discount from independent should be somewhere around 8%) features the new (2017) M6000 Deore rear derailleur and a choice of 27.5" or 29" wheels.
It has a 2.91 to 0.75 gear range with NO front derailleur (quite fashionable at the moment, which means less to go wrong, but a lower gear range)
The hubs are cheap and may need replacement fairly quickly, likewise pedals

The 2018 Xtrada 6 Green is likewise 6.6 million but it features a rather old M610 rear derailleur (missing clutch and Shadow technology), plus you get a front double derailleur, hence a bigger gear range of 3.27 to 0.61. This means it has around 10% more potential top speed (downhill or whatever), and also a lower gear for climbing.

The 2016 Xtrada 6 Black/Red or Grey is 6.5 million and has 27.5" wheels only. There's a triple derailleur for even more range, here 3.64 to 0.61, making it a good 10% faster potentially again, but no better at climbing. Specs are otherwise similar to the Xtrada 6 Green. The 2015 Xtrada 6 Black may also be hanging around.

All the above feature slightly naff cranks & bottom brackets and have usable but by no means good Suntour XCR forks. The basic drivetrain is in each case 10 speed.


The Siskiu 6 is similar although very slightly better than the above. If you want a triple derailleur, the 2015 model is still hanging around on Rodalink online in large and small only (29"). https://www.rodalink.com/id/sepeda-polygon-siskiu29-6-2015/ Maybe different in store. 7.4 million

Newer (2016/2017) Siskius have double derailleurs and have internal cables, SLX rear derailleur, and proper Deore bottom bracket and cranks as well as slightly better frames. Price is 7.85 million 27.5" or 8.5 million 29". Again, should be discounted by independents, not by Rodalink. Still same naff XCR fork.

The Siskiu 7 ditches the coil fork in favour of a proper air Rockshox 32mm fork. The price is 9.5 million for the 27.5" or nonsensical 12 million for 29". You also get older XT rear derailleur instead of the newer SLX rear derailleur. It's still 10-speed. The 9.5 million is ok as the XCR is not really a great option. Aftermarket figure around 2.4 million for e.g., Epixon air fork to replace an XCR.

Cleo 5.0 this is available online in M/L sizes only (XS and S are sold out - it's an old model). It's a woman's bike but not particularly distinguishable as such. There's a 3*10-speed Deore drivetrain and the spec is generally the equal of the Siskiu 6. 7.3 million

Cheaper options: to be avoided really, as you will be stuck with a 9-speed drivetrain as well as naff bottom bracket, fork, etc.

Full suspension: you need to spending around 20 million and up, although this after discount is not bad https://www.rodalink.com/id/sepeda-dual-suspension-polygon-collosus-sx-2.0-26/