Okay, a little back story:
Last summer, I took a job in Myanmar (or, if you prefer, Burma). Had to sell off my Zook and mothball my Honda. No big deal, right? After all, Burma used to be a British colony. Soooo...I'd just scour a few rattan barns and, in no time at all, have a modest stable of Royal Enfields, BSA's, Nortons, who knows what all?
Yeah.
When I got here, I discovered that Yangon (or, if you prefer, Rangoon) is a no-motorcycle town. Legend has it that one of the Generals was cruising downtown in his limo and got T-boned by a scooter. Overnight, the law went into effect. Consequently, I find myself living in a place where motorcycles are not just unavailable, but illegal.
Crap.
Enter the (small) silver lining:
The Brits didn't leave Vincents laying around here. They did, however, leave a crap ton of rodbrake Raleigh bicycles. Is it an overstatement to call these the Vincent of bicycles. Probably. Still, they're British, they were only offered in black (at least in this part of the world), they look cool (due in large measure to an unusual front fork arrangement), and they've got kinda shitty brakes. So, there are some real parallels.
But the Burmese made them cooler yet.
They fit these bikes out with sidecars.
Westerners here call them "trishaws." The locals call 'em "sai-kaa." (Yeah, pretty much the Southeast Asian pronunciation of "sidecar.") All the steel bits are hand-forged with very clever forges made old car rims filled with cement, and the seats - forward and backward facing - are made of teak.
It took me a while to find a source for this thing, even though they're all over town, as taxis. I'm pretty sure I'm the only white guy in town with one, and the reactions of the locals when I ride around wupport this theory. It doesn't make up for a year without a motorcycle, but this thing is still a hoot. If I can figure out how to get it back to the States, it may become my summer job. Pedicabs are crazy expensive to hire back home, and I think this one is pretty special.
In fact, I thought about posting "the trishaw of death" in the Sidecars and Specials area, but I didn't want to muddy the waters of DTT.
BTW, any insights on cheap ways to get it home would be appreciated.
