Rentals
10 Reasons We Love the Honda XR150 for Touring Vietnam
The Honda XR150L is not the fastest, most powerful or most sophisticated motorcycle you can ride around Vietnam. That is partly why we like it. We have used XR150s in our rental fleet for years and have watched riders take them from Hanoi into the mountains, travel the length of Vietnam and deal with everything from city traffic to broken mountain roads.
That experience has given us a fairly good idea of what the bike does well — and what it does not. There are motorcycles with more power and motorcycles with better suspension, but for a solo rider looking for a light, simple and comfortable bike that is easy to live with day after day, the XR150 remains one of our favourites.
If you want to know what we change on the standard bike, see our 7 Honda XR150 Modifications We Make for Touring Vietnam.
Simple, Reliable and Easy to Live With
The XR150’s first big advantage is not something you will notice during a ten-minute test ride. You notice it after several days on the road, when the motorcycle simply keeps doing its job.
1. It is remarkably reliable
Reliability becomes considerably more important when you are hundreds of kilometres from Hanoi than it is when you are looking at a motorcycle in a showroom. The XR150 is mechanically simple and, when properly maintained, we have found it to be a very dependable motorcycle.
That matters on long journeys through Hà Giang, Cao Bằng, the Northwest and other parts of Vietnam where the next large motorcycle workshop may be a long way away. We would rather have a relatively simple motorcycle that keeps running than a considerably more sophisticated one that becomes difficult to diagnose when something goes wrong.
2. It is simple enough for local mechanics to understand
Motorcycle technology can be fantastic, but complexity is not always your friend in rural Vietnam. The XR150 has relatively little electronic equipment and uses mechanical systems that are familiar to motorcycle mechanics all over the country.
On the uncommon occasions when something does need attention, there is a reasonable chance that a competent local mechanic will understand what he is looking at. That does not replace proper servicing and preventative maintenance, but it gives the XR150 another useful advantage when your route takes you far away from a major city.
If you are considering one for a trip, it is also worth reading 3 Things You MUST Know Before Riding a Honda XR150. The fuel tap, reserve system and choke are simple once someone has shown you how they work.
Honda XR 150 Motorcycle Rental
Ready for adventure? The Honda XR150 is your perfect companion for rugged backroads, mountain passes, and open highways.
✅ Lightweight, reliable, and fuel-efficient
✅ Comfortable for long rides and multi-day tours
✅ Trusted by riders across Vietnam for the legendary Ha Giang Loop
Easy to Ride on Vietnamese Roads
A lot of motorcycle reviews concentrate on outright power. In Vietnam, control, weight and predictability can be just as important. You may spend one minute following a truck, the next avoiding a pothole and the next threading through slow village traffic.
A motorcycle that feels manageable in constantly changing conditions has a lot going for it.
3. The power delivery is gentle and predictable
Nobody chooses an XR150 because they are looking for frightening acceleration. What you get instead is smooth, manageable power that is easy to control on narrow mountain roads, wet surfaces, busy towns and the constantly changing road conditions encountered around Vietnam.
There are times when we would like more power, particularly for overtaking or when climbing with a lot of weight. But for ordinary solo touring, the XR150’s gentle engine is often an advantage rather than a weakness.
4. It is light and nimble
Weight makes an enormous difference when riding in Vietnam. The XR150 is easy to manoeuvre through traffic and simple to change direction when a pothole, dog, buffalo, broken section of road or badly positioned vehicle suddenly appears ahead.
Its relatively low weight also makes it much less intimidating when the road turns to gravel or dirt. Putting a foot down, making a tight turn or moving the bike around on an uneven surface requires much less effort than it does on a considerably larger adventure motorcycle.
That is one reason we regularly recommend the XR150 to riders who want an adventure-style motorcycle without the size and weight of a big ADV bike.
It Suits the Roads We Actually Ride
The XR150 looks like an off-road motorcycle, but we do not pretend it is a competition enduro bike. What it does very well is deal with the mixture of surfaces most motorcycle travellers actually encounter in Vietnam.
5. The suspension works well for normal touring
Most touring in Vietnam involves a mixture of good tarmac, rough tarmac, potholes, roadworks, gravel and relatively straightforward dirt roads. The XR150’s suspension is perfectly capable of dealing with those conditions if you ride it sensibly.
The relatively long suspension travel gives it a useful advantage over small road motorcycles when the surface suddenly deteriorates. There are limits, though: the rear suspension is fairly soft and does not appreciate excessive luggage, a heavy passenger or being hammered through rough terrain at speed.
We discuss those compromises properly in 10 Things We Don’t Love About the Honda XR150. Reading both articles gives you a much more useful picture than pretending the motorcycle is perfect.
6. It has a manageable seat height
Adventure motorcycles can become surprisingly tall. The XR150 has a seat height of roughly 825 mm and, just as importantly, the bike itself is relatively light.
That combination makes it considerably easier to manage than many larger dual-sport and adventure motorcycles. Seat height becomes particularly important when you stop on a badly cambered mountain road, have to turn around somewhere narrow or pull up on loose gravel.
The numbers on a specification sheet therefore tell only part of the story. For many riders, the XR150 simply feels manageable.
Excellent for Real-World Touring
A motorcycle used for travelling needs to do more than handle well for half an hour. You need to be able to ride it for several consecutive days without the motorcycle becoming hard work. This is where the XR150 starts to make a lot of sense.
7. It has excellent fuel range
The XR150 combines a large fuel tank for its engine size with very modest fuel consumption. Rather than chasing a theoretical maximum, we normally tell riders to regard 300 km-plus from a tank as a sensible conservative range under normal touring conditions.
Actual consumption will depend on the rider, luggage, road conditions and motorcycle. Even so, that is already farther than we would usually recommend riding in a normal day through the mountains of Northern Vietnam, so fuel range is rarely something an XR150 rider needs to worry about.
Older carburetted models use a reserve fuel tap rather than a conventional fuel gauge. If you have never used one, read our 3 Things You MUST Know About the Honda XR150 before leaving.
8. The seat is surprisingly comfortable
Seat comfort is difficult to judge when you first sit on a motorcycle. The XR150’s seat is fairly broad and soft compared with the narrow seats fitted to many more dirt-oriented motorcycles.
After several days on the road, that becomes a much more important advantage than it initially appears. It also gives you some room to change position during the day rather than locking you into one spot.
There is enough passenger space for two people, but we still regard the XR150 primarily as a solo touring motorcycle. Add a passenger and luggage and its limited power and soft rear suspension become much more noticeable.
Comfortable, Practical and Easy to Improve
The XR150 works surprisingly well straight out of the box, but years of running them have also shown us where a few small changes can make them even better for long trips. None of those modifications changes the basic character of the motorcycle, and that is exactly what we want.
9. The upright riding position works over long distances
The XR150 puts the rider in a fairly natural, upright position. You are not leaning heavily onto your wrists and you have a good view over the traffic around you, both of which are particularly helpful when riding through Vietnamese cities and when spending several hours on the motorcycle.
We fit handlebar risers to many of our touring XR150s because taller riders can find the standard bars a little low, particularly when standing on the footpegs over rough sections.
Along with charging, luggage carrying and suitable tyres, this is one of the practical changes covered in our 7 Honda XR150 Modifications for Touring Vietnam.
10. It does not need much to become a very good touring motorcycle
Perhaps the thing we like most about the XR150 is that it does not need to pretend to be something more complicated. A properly maintained standard bike can already take you a very long way around Vietnam.
Add a sensible luggage rack, phone holder, charging point, comfortable bar position and tyres appropriate for the route and it becomes an extremely practical small touring motorcycle. Those changes do not turn it into a hardcore off-road bike or a high-speed adventure motorcycle; they simply make a bike that already suits Vietnam even easier to live with.
For riders trying to decide whether the extra performance of the next model up is worthwhile, see Honda XR150L vs XR190L: Which Is Better for Vietnam?.
FAQ
Is the Honda XR150 good for touring Vietnam?
Yes. For a solo rider travelling on a mixture of paved roads, mountain roads and relatively easy dirt, the XR150 is one of the most practical small motorcycles we use in Vietnam. Its strengths are its low weight, simple mechanics, comfort, excellent range and predictable handling rather than outright speed or power.
Is the Honda XR150 suitable for the Hà Giang Loop?
Yes, assuming the rider has the appropriate licence, experience and ability for the conditions. The XR150 has enough power for normal mountain riding and its low weight makes it well suited to the tight roads found around Hà Giang.
Weather, roadworks, landslides and surface conditions can make individual roads much more difficult, however, so the motorcycle alone does not determine whether a route is easy or hard.
Is a Honda XR150 powerful enough for Vietnam’s mountains?
For normal solo touring, yes. You will need to use the gearbox on steeper climbs rather than relying on large amounts of torque, but an XR150 is perfectly capable of riding the mountain roads normally used by motorcycle travellers.
Add a passenger, too much luggage or steep loose terrain and the bike’s limited power becomes considerably more noticeable.
Can two people tour Vietnam on an XR150?
They can, but that does not mean it is our first choice for a long two-up trip. A passenger plus luggage increases the load on the engine and makes the XR150’s relatively soft rear suspension much more obvious.
For shorter journeys or two lighter riders it can work perfectly well, but for a long two-up tour we would normally consider a larger motorcycle.
Should I choose an XR150 or XR190 for Vietnam?
For a solo rider who values low weight, simplicity and easy handling, the XR150 may be all the motorcycle you need. The XR190 gives you more engine capacity and fuel injection, which becomes useful when carrying additional weight or when you simply want more performance available for acceleration and overtaking.
Our XR150 vs XR190 comparison looks at the differences in more detail.
Why We Still Love the Honda XR150
There are faster motorcycles, better off-road motorcycles and considerably more sophisticated motorcycles than the Honda XR150. But choosing a touring motorcycle is not simply a competition to find the biggest specification sheet.
What makes the XR150 work so well in Vietnam is the combination. It is light enough to manage easily, simple enough to understand, comfortable enough for consecutive riding days and economical enough to give excellent fuel range. Most importantly, it suits the kind of roads that travellers actually ride here.
After years of running them in our fleet, we know their weaknesses as well as their strengths. That is why we are comfortable recommending them: not because the XR150 is perfect, but because for the right rider it is extremely good at the job.
If you are thinking about renting one, you can view our Honda XR150 rental, compare it with the Honda XR190, or contact AZ Motorbikes and tell us where you plan to ride, how long you have and whether you are travelling solo or with a passenger.