Where to buy a bicycle in Seoul

Posted on August 17, 2023

I bought a bicycle to ride the national bike route from Seoul to Busan, then ferry to Japan and keep going.

Buying a bicycle in Seoul was not easy, and I regret not bringing my own bicycle. If you’re thinking of doing the same, this post is for you.

Bicycle on the Korean national bike route — The bike I ended up with

Since I was not returning to Seoul, renting from Green Cycle Park was not possible. I was hoping to find a cheap used bike. I did not intend to keep it, so a new bike would have been expensive and wasteful.

The Seoul bicycle culture

Seoul has a vibrant cycling community, but it’s almost exclusively riding expensive road bikes and the occasional mountain bike. There is little love for touring bikes, gravel bikes, or anything that isn’t a race bike.

This extends to bicycle accessories. It’s nearly impossible to find fenders, pannier racks, side bags, or bicycles that can accommodate them.

There are some people commuting on old budget mountain bikes, and you will see them scattered around. There is also Seoul Bike, the city’s absurdly cheap bike rental scheme.

Bicycles in Seoul — The bikes you see on Seoul streets

There are English and Korean-speaking cycling communities. Among them are Dossa and Han River Riders Cycling. I owe the latter a debt of gratitude for helping me find a bike.

The Seoul bicycle infrastructure

Seoul is not a bicycle-friendly city. There is a beautiful bike path that lines each bank of the Han river, and a few narrow bike lanes, but for the most part, you will find yourself dodging pedestrians on the side walk, or dodging cars in the street.

Han river bike path in Seoul — The pristine bike path on the Han River. 20 km/h speed limit enforced by radar.

Sidewalk on a Seoul bridge — Otherwise cycling in Seoul looks like this.

In my two weeks in Seoul, I saw very few people on bicycles, except along the Han River.

Where to buy a (used) bicycle

Start with this article from expatguidekorea.com. It’s written by an actual human who tried to buy a bicycle. I am merely adding to that post.

This is where I found decent bikes:

Korea Bicycle Market, Bicycle Buy and Sale Korea (mostly spam) and Bicycle Classifieds Seoul
Dossa. A Korean-speaking bike community with a market section.
Dongmyo flea market has some used bikes, and some new. When I visited, the used bikes were in really poor condition.
Craigslist has a dozen bikes.
Wright Brothers. A well-known bike store. They have English-speaking staff, and they sell new and used bikes. The used-bikes are fairly priced, but they are not so cheap.
Bikely does not sell used bikes, but they are the only store I found that carries touring bikes, panniers, and other touring accessories.
Decathlon has stores in Korea, but literally every single bicycle was out of stock, as were most bike accessories.

Where to buy bicycle accessories

This was much harder. I could not find fenders anywhere, and only Bikely sold pannier racks and saddle bags. I found some 250 kilometres away, but by then it was pointless to buy them.