While brainstorming family transport ideas for our potential arrival in the USA, I remembered there are sidecars available for my classic Vespa.
I Miss My Vespa 🛵
I should first mention I am not a car person and neither is my Cambodian family. In the past we've owned bicycles, scooters, motorcycles, and even our own tuk-tuk in Cambodia. We might find ourselves in the USA before 2022, so I've been brainstorming family transportation solutions that don't involve owning a car, something we can't afford to maintain or purchase.
The only thing I have for transport back in the USA is my Vespa PX200, so I've been thinking it might be time for a sidecar, allowing me to legally transport 3 out of 4 family members. With this sidecar for the Vespa, I'd only have to arrange a small bike for 
The only example I have of a Vespa and sidecar combo is the above photo, taken in 2009 when I attended a scooter rally in Cincinnati, Ohio. Okay, this isn't exactly a beautiful rig but it still demonstrates the scale, allowing your imagination to brew.
Enter The Cozy Sidecar 🧸
It's not impossible to find a sidecar for vintage Vespas in the USA, but it will require a 2,000+ km road trip to grab one in Texas from the American Scooter Center, where they retail for $2,095 USD. This may be the first tangible thing we'll purchase with converted crypto earnings, and Hive was the springboard for it all.
An AutoRickshaw Would Be Better 🛺
We would much rather have a Bajaj RE like we had in Cambodia, or a Piaggio Ape, but the United States has really strict laws making importing and licensing one of these nearly impossible.
It may be possible in the distant future because I've been communicating with a Piaggio dealer in northern Mexico who can export them to the USA without an engine, where they are often used in shopping malls and movie sets as decorative props.
After receiving the Ape in the USA, I could then arrange a second shipment for the diesel engine. The Ape would have to be registered, but I think I have a workaround for that if I can strip the logos and serial numbers and request a new VIN number for a "custom homebuilt" bike.
With some receipts for custom modifications and materials, this is theoretically possible to achieve, but a sidecar and another bike for Pov will be be the easiest and cheapest solution.
What Will @Sreypov Ride? 🛵
The above scooter is a modern 50cc twist-n-go that I bought in Cambodia for @Sreypov before being separated for 6 months due to visa complications. She got quite comfortable and confident on this little thing, and she's even driven a Honda Dream a few times, which has an auto-clutch and 4 gears.
Even though she's capable of riding a 125cc Cambodian style underbone motorcycle, in the USA she'd have to first pass a written test for how to drive a car, then pass a physical driving test with a car, and then she would receive her driver's license. Only with a driver's license in the USA can you attempt to obtain a motorcycle license, which also requires a written test and physical riding test to ride anything bigger than 50cc.
Maybe A Honda C100 🏍️
The Honda C100 is one of the few 50cc underbones available in the USA, and they occasionally come up for sale like the above bike, which is listed on Facebook Marketplace for $1,500 USD. The 70cc and 90cc versions of this bike are much more common and cheaper, but are technically motorcycles by law, so there would be too much bureaucracy for Pov to conquer.
With a VIN number on the frame for a 50cc bike, we could do an engine swap from a 70 or 90 donor bike (hush, secret), then she could keep up with small town traffic and occasional short highway trips. Life is boring in Suriname, so I try to stay distracted with dreams for the future such as this.
What do you (ASEAN) Hivers think? Can you envision Pov on this beautiful 1965 Honda C100?
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