Here in Korea people love their gadgets. A few days ago a guy brought his bike into my LBS. IT was a standard Korean trophy bike, full carbon hardtail. But this guy was sporting a mini television on his bars. I had to go up and look at it just to make sure. And yep it was a GPS/TV/MP3 combo. Anyone else watch TV on their bikes haha? The battery was light by normal standards but heavy in the biking world. I can't imagine riding with a TV personally and kicked myself for not asking if he actually watches TV and rides (something the taxi drivers here do).

I'm just waiting for new cars to come with video-games as standard equipment on the dashboards.

I remember those taxi drivers.... Couldn't imagine riding a bike anywhere around there although a lot of people did. I have seen someone with a iPod video once playing a movie while they were in the middle of doing a century ride. Morons. People don't seem to care if they are putting others at risk other than just themselves.

well, to be honest some times I put on my MYVU glasses with my ipod and watch movies while I ride and use the force to steer. But having a tv on the handlebars? thats crazy.

I think it's not so surprising (though I haven't seen ones myself). Many older people like to strap on a portable radio on their bikes or backpacks and use the speaker to listen to music. I suppose it's safer than wearing a pair of earphones, though it's a lot more distracting to those around you.

I have done a fair amount of riding in Kangwon province and it was absolutely great. Riding in urban areas is not so much fun though.

nice to meet someone that's ridden here! I've only driven through Kangwon. The east sea is nice. are you still in korea? I'm west of seoul. Riding in traffic is a little scary here. I ride alone so it makes it twice as bad. But koreans are starting to get more tolerant of bikes. it's kind of weird how EVERYONE has an MTB. They use MTBs as touring bikes even. I've only seen one other guy in my town with a road bike. I'm having to drive 3 hours to get a bike fit and have my bike looked at b/c i can't find and bike shops with much 10 speed experience here.

riding in seoul can be scary but they have a lot of bike paths now. there's a particularly beautiful one that runs the entire length of the han river. you can ride through the whole city using it.

I am not in Korea anymore, alas.

I used to live in Ch'unch'on so all my riding was in the area around Ch'unch'on, Hwach'on, Hongch'on, and Kap'yong. The roads are pretty good and there are some fabulous climbs/descents.
There's even a velodrome in Chunch'on and last I remember, there was a Kap'yong high school with a cycling team.

that would be nice on the trainer... not so sure about it on the road..

dude, I don't even have a TV! /smug

Some of the bigger shops have good selection of road bike gear, though even there the split is 90% mtb, 5% roads, 5% others. Koreans just don't seem to believe you can actually ride a road bike even on newly paved roads.

All the major rivers have good bike paths, and nowadays they even separate pedestrians from cyclists. I live in southeastern Seoul (close to the Olympic Park), and there's many really nice (road) bike routes here.

I think from Gimpo, you can find some good roads away from Seoul. In the absence of a bike path, I generally like to pick older roads (what they call 'national' or 'rural' road classes), where most of the through traffic has moved to the newly built highways. They are generally pretty light on traffic, especially in the early morning hours.

well a lot of koreans think all road bikes are racing bikes. When I bought mine my korean wife got really mad because I bought a 'racing bike' and was going to "break my skull" and "become a vegetable". When I had the bike worked on at the LBS one of the guys thought I was crazy to even consider riding it on a slightly wet road, that's a bike mechanic. But like you said it's becoming more popular. When I rode on the Han river path I saw a few road bikers and even a recumbent bike.

On a note of support for koreans and their MTBs; b/c of road conditions here and the fact that korea is 70% mountains I kind get the popularity of MTBs and wish I'd bought a lightweight titanium hardtail instead of the road bike sometimes.

What road conditions do you mean? When I was riding in Korea (1996-1998), the roads were excellent. The last time I was there (2007) didn't seem any different. Are they falling apart now?

hmmm just a lot of construction and your less populated roads are really in need of repair. At least where I live anyway. you can also 'shortcut' a lot here if you go off road. You can surely ride a road bike here, I'm just saying I see the appeal in MTBs

So, whereabouts are you in Kimp'o?