- Yes that's an eagle, but can you spot the other bird? (Image Wendy Forster)

Eye opening motorcycle cargo

Livestock, babies, glass windows, you name it, someone will have carried it on a motorcycle.

James May announced yesterday that he is setting off an a two month filming trip around Japan for a new Amazon Prime travel show. As Japan is the home of the most successful small motorcycle of all time, the Honda Cub, it made me think about all the things I've seen being carried on small motorcycles while travelling over the years. Here are some of the most eye opening things I've seen on a motorcycle.

1. The Eagle has landed

At first sight you might look at this photo and think, yes it's motorcycles stopped in Hanoi traffic, then you see it, a real live eagle. There is a hawk too in front of the rider, if you look very closely, but the eagle rather steals his thunder, there might be some wingspan envy involved..

Hawk eyes? (Image Wendy Forster)

Hawk eyes? (Image Wendy Forster)

As you can see from the looks of the man following him and the child on the bike in front it wasn't just us who though this was jawdropping.

2. Tiny children - start them young

You very soon get used to seeing children and whole families on motorcycles in Vietnam and India. Mothers clutch tiny infants as they ride, often side saddle, with the rest of the family on a scooter. This baby caught my eye though out of all of them.

The leader of the pack (My own photo)

The leader of the pack (My own photo)

I think it was because his little hands are outstretched as if searching for baby handlebars. As they came towards our minibus the baby almost seemed to have made eye contact with me, I caught this shot and then they were gone.

3. Dangerous cargo delivery

Several times while travelling down through Asia I've seen plate glass, glass doors and other large glass items being carried on small motorcycles.

Knock Knock....

Knock Knock....

As you can see it takes two, you really do need a pillion passenger for this, just to make it, well, safe probably isn't the right word...possibly I mean balance.

While I was considering the different types of dangerous item I've seen on the back of a bike a friend sent me this, apologies for the poor quality photo, but I think it sums it up rather well!

How many seconds since the last accident?

How many seconds since the last accident?

4. Farm to market - It's quackers

Motorcycles, however small, are the basic motorised transport for the mass of the population in Asia. In most cases people can only afford to have a motorbike and that has to serve for all their transport needs. This applies whether it is for their family or work related.

In more rural areas I saw a lot of livestock being transported, to my Western eyes sometimes in conditions I found unsettling, but that is the only solution for millions of people.

It's quackers (My own photo)

It's quackers (My own photo)

These people were transporting ducks and piglets on a rural roads leading into Hoi An.

Pigs in a basket (My own photo)

Pigs in a basket (My own photo)

5. Hotel Laundry

I honestly have no idea how this lady can have loaded up her motorcycle with this much laundry, never mind set off and managed to travel at about 25 miles an hour with it like that. The weight on the back wheel and the load leaning on her back must make it almost impossible to ride and yet she was moving through the traffic easily.

Cirque du Soliel is missing an act (My own photo).

Cirque du Soliel is missing an act (My own photo).

Stopping for traffic lights and getting off at journey's end without the entire cargo falling over has to be a skill you can only acquire with practice, so somewhere there must be pile of laundry lying in the road but we did not see any, thankfully for all concerned.

Over to you

All this lead me to consider what May might on see motorcycles while he's travelling through Japan. I expect in some areas it's very similar to the areas of Asia I have travelled through, with the small motorcycle as the 'go to' delivery vehicle for the masses.

As we know he's already had a go at noodle delivery on a Honda Cub and I thought you might like to see that film again, so here it is.

Do you have any eye opening things you've seen on a motorcycle? Have you seen a load bigger than the laundry or potentially more dangerous than the plate glass? Let me know in the comments below.

If you want to read a more in depth piece on my trips to Vietnam and India you can read my previous articles here:

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Comments (4)

  • An enormous hawk on a tiny motorbike might be quite helpful, to lift bike & rider over any traffic jams.

      2 years ago
  • I believe this was an episode of James May Cars of the People.

      2 years ago
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