At the bakery a camping guest - we live in a reasonable tourist area - arrived on a two-wheeler of the kind that you find with the more stylish camper owners. A classic Honda cardigan pocket. He was wearing sandals, shorts and a T-shirt with a V-collar. The man ordered a baguette, settled the bill, walked outside and stuck the baguette into the neck opening of his T-shirt.
Two blushing ladies
Two ladies who also buy bread thought it was funny. The baker added a little more - looking innocently. “If it is really hot, then he only comes with his swimsuit. And then you have to guess where he stops the baguette ”. It took a while for the two older girls to drop the coin. With wide eyes, they covered their mouths.
Small but brave
All in all, the (most Japanese) pocket bikes have never been used for much more serious work. They functioned as 'pits bikes' from very early on at the edges of racing. In the States they rode on the butt, or in the camper's own 'garage' of the huge Winnebago's.
They were not machines for motorcyclists. They were bikes for lazy people. In the meantime, they have cult, but also collector's value. And they are endearing and - at least sort of - practical. But actually the smallest Hondas, the 'Monkeys', were born from Soïchiro's very practical spirit.
To propagate his brand, he had devised very small motorcycles for use for the kids in Hama Tech, Honda's own amusement park. But the machines also turned out to be very suitable to tear through the narrowest alleys in Tokyo. The problem with the Monkey, however, was that only one person could be transported on it.
The market asked for a Monkey +, which was small and compact, but also smooth enough to keep up with the traffic and there had to be room for two people. To satisfy this, Honda signed the Dax with 50cc and 70cc respectively. The Monkeys and Daxen are now real collectors' pieces. At least the original copies. That in the meantime 123-170 cc Daxen is tearing around, that is not original and pure decadence. And dangerous too. The Honda CY50 was the successor to the Dax.
Chinaware and Bami blocks
First a warning. Because from China a whole series of Monkey, Dax and CY50 clones and parts are produced there. The quality of this is roughly between 'dramatically poor' and 'reasonable to good'. The finish of the bicycle parts is generally rather rude compared to the original and the quality of what is here called the "Bami blocks" is usually covered by the law on gambling. The better versions of the former Honda blocks are still made of lesser quality materials, they have wider tolerances and usually a lower compression than the originals.
The stuff is with the Honda-driving youth - Yes! It is still there! - popular because you have a completely new block for the price of a new, original, Honda piston and cylinder. A Bami block is often recognizable by the chrome valve caps and the slightly angular appearance. The uglier finish. Monkeys and Daxen were always scarce in the Netherlands. In their 49 cc version, it was for motorcycles moped in terms of technology.
But the lack of trappers and a white rear fender made them a kind of unsaleable to the general public here, and in Den Beginne there must have been a series of 50 Daxen that has been provided with official motor license plates by the RDW. But it did not stop there.
The last Daxen officially came to Europe in 1979 / 1980
The actual production stop for the Daxen was in 1999. Around the same time the patent on the small moped / motorcycle expired and Honda sold the rights to the Chinese company Jincheng. Honda had already done this with rights to the Monkey and the CF50 / 70 Chaly. And in China, with the characteristic contempt of any rights whatsoever, half engine-building China started running with The Original. There are still many original parts left, which are still being sold new as NOS, new old stock, new old stock.
Would that be possible with mn 1,96m?