Table of contents
Rolf Henniges
22nd pictures
Rolf Henniges
1/22
The coconut ice cream is transported in the metal cylinder.
Rolf Henniges
2/22
Why only two wheels when you can have three?
Rolf Henniges
3/22
If there is no one who tells vehicles how they have to work, and since necessity is known to make inventive, creativity can be fully lived out.
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4/22
There are no special regulations for motorcycles either.
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5/22
With the climate in Thailand you definitely get thirsty.
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6/22
There is also still a place free for man’s best friend.
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7/22
Streets of Thailand.
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8/22
Street watching is usually much more interesting here than going to the cinema.
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9/22
Practical: the parasol is always with you.
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10/22
Peace!
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11/22
Almost looks like a pick-up truck from behind.
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12/22
One wonders how these bikes, which are not even ten horsepower, can cope with such hardships.
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13/22
MOTORRAD editor Rolf Henniges as an ice cream seller in Thailand.
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14/22
Certainly not the maximum yet, because things are always more crazy.
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15/22
Why drive alone in the blazing sun?
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16/22
Transporting gas cylinders in this way could be dangerous.
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17/22
Editor Rolf Henniges left his job for half a day: Paisan Sesu, 58, a Thai ice cream seller who makes his own coconut ice cream.
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18/22
Rare delicacy: The coconut ice cream is served in a roll and then sprinkled with roasted peanuts.
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19/22
MOTORRAD editor Rolf Henniges in a slightly different workplace.
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20/22
With a touch of comfort: the sidecar is more poorly than properly suspended via the articulated rocker and shock absorber.
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21/22
Attachment of the sidecar to the rear frame.
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22/22
The sidecar is firmly bolted to the engine, swing arm pivot and rear frame. There is no such thing as the TuV in Thailand.
to travel
Editor Rolf Henniges was out and about with the mobile ice cream stand
Driving report: Coconut ice cream stand in Thailand (with video)
Self-built cargo tricycle – ice-cold madness
How does a self-made cargo tricycle actually drive? MOTORRAD test editor Rolf Henniges used the opportunity during a trip to Thailand and cruised around the island of Koh Chang with a mobile coconut ice cream stand for half a day.
Rolf Henniges
03/03/2011
Rolf Henniges
MOTORRAD editor Rolf Henniges as an ice cream seller on Koh Chang.
He did not expect this question. Paisan Sesu stands with his mouth open behind his mobile coconut ice cream stand and doesn’t believe my words or his ears. Because I don’t just want to try his ice cream, which he makes in the backyard of his hut, I also want to do a few laps in his obscure sidecar Honda. “Yes / Yes”, he says hesitantly, and looks like an eagle owl that you ask about its moulting. This wish is completely unusual, but if I could sell a few ice creams on the side, the wages were right, I left my passport with him and I didn’t get off and on with his workplace, you’d get into business. We grin. The tour is sealed with a handshake. Ten minutes later I’m sitting behind the handlebars of a Honda Wave 110 with a blue sidecar and an orange awning.
A model from the world-famous Honda Cub family (cub = cheap urban bike), of which around 65 million units have been registered since 1958 and have been bustling around the world since then. The top priority in the construction of these small motorcycles was and is mobility. The fact that these things are practically indestructible is proven by the innumerable specimens to which sidecars are welded with invariably adventurous constructions. With just eight horsepower, 35 crates of beer can be transported in one go. Or four adult pigs. Or a 10-pack of 25-liter gas bottles. Or 14 people. No, I don’t tend to exaggerate. They are things that I have seen myself on many trips. Unfortunately. Do not you believe? Go to Asia.
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My new vehicle weighs an estimated 190 kilograms. With all operating materials, of course. Not what you’re thinking now, no. The Honda only has 0.9 liters of oil in its oil pan and the tank overflows after a maximum of 3.9 liters. Rather, they are goods from the sales room. In addition to his delicious coconut ice cream, Mr Sesu also sells drinks that he serves in small plastic cups. On the sidecar there are: twenty 1.5-liter bottles of Coke, Fanta and other gummy bear-colored drinks, a 45-liter cool box that is filled with ice, and the 30-liter metal cylinder in which ice cream is stored . This cylinder is double-walled. In the morning, Mr. Sesu fills normal ice cream between the two walls, which keeps his specialty cool inside. “The coconut ice cream stays cold until evening”, he says proudly. Knowing that it can get up to 40 degrees in summer.
Rolf Henniges
Editor Rolf Henniges left his job for half a day: Paisan Sesu, 58, a Thai ice cream seller who makes his own coconut ice cream.
You start with a kick starter. The one-year-old Honda Wave shows 6000 kilometers on the odometer. After around 60 kilometers, Koh Chang would be circled. Unfortunately, this is not possible, because there are around five kilometers of connecting path missing in the southern part. Therefore, Mr. Sesu has to decide anew every day whether he is chugging along the western or eastern side of Koh Chang. The small 100-cubic single-cylinder gurgles like an emergency power generator when the vehicle is stationary, and it thunders from the narrow silencer as confidently as from European Harley pots. I look at him: “What about compulsory helmets?” Mr. Sesu grins and explains the rules to me. First: In Thailand, helmets are compulsory. Anyone caught without a helmet pays a fine of 500 baht (around twelve euros). Secondly: “However, you don’t need to put on the helmet, you just have to carry it with you”, he laughs and points to the green plastic cap in the shape of a riding helmet that dangles from the scaffolding above my head. A swimming cap would provide better protection. Well, one should adapt to the national customs…
The first gear is levered in using the rocker switch. Shift pattern: all four gears down. There is no need to clutch, because the Honda has a semi-automatic. Gas. The vehicle begins to move hesitantly. In short: around 190 kilograms of motorcycle with sidecar plus 68 kilograms of driver – that gives a power-to-weight ratio of around 35 kg / hp. That animates. When I’ve sold all the stuff here, it’s guaranteed to be faster on the way back, I’m secretly happy.
Rolf Henniges
Certainly not the maximum yet, because there are still more insane ways.
Gear change. After around ten seconds the speedometer shows 20 km / h. Second gear, 40 km / h. Great. Third gear – somehow it doesn’t slip in as well as the first two. 60 km / h – paper cups blow, bottles clatter, the lid bounces cheekily on its ice cylinder and the Honda lurches threateningly. Your left spin is frightening, I have to counter-steer strongly, otherwise we will end up in the ditch. Irritated, I try to find the reason. The sidecar wheel has an estimated centimeter of bearing play. Can it be because of that? Or do I just need more sidecar experience? Pothole, the first. The load stumbles. It’s good that the street is so wide here. Slow down. A double-piston floating caliper decelerates at the front and a drum brake at the rear. Pothole, the second. Somehow I have the feeling that the sidecar is taking a lunge. Unusual. I stay in third gear at 40 km / h and look down. The sidecar is welded from 20 mm round tube in ST37 structural steel quality and is connected to the 100 series Honda at three points: engine mount, swing arm pivot point and rear frame. The welder was guaranteed not to have received any applause for his work. While driving, it looks like the motorcycle and sidecar are dancing a waltz. Unfortunately everyone at their own pace.
Passers-by beckon along the way. Customers! I have to turn around. Brakes, first gear, turn the handlebars, be careful when accelerating. I am surprised because the vehicle almost turns on the spot. The young boys look puzzled. They don’t speak English, I don’t speak Thai. It’s enough to sell ice cream anyway, because Mr. Sesu explained everything important to me in no time at all. His coconut ice cream comes between two halves of a roll and is sprinkled with peanuts. After an hour, I unwound ten kilometers, successfully fought four inclines, avoided three wrong-way drivers and sweated out four liters of liquid in the process. But at least three ice creams sold. An arduous job. When Mr. Sesu tenderly embraces the center of his life again four hours later, he is delighted, because three bottles of soda are empty and a good deal of the ice cream is missing. “Everything in here”, I confess and point to my stomach. It’s the truth. Ultimately, he wants to know what I think of his ice cream stand as a test driver. “Well, he drives stubbornly in fourth gear”, I say carefully. “It can be”, says Mr. Sesu and smiles knowingly. “But I’ve never got beyond the second here on Koh Chang.”
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