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SCOOTERS

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UNIDENTIFIED

I don't know who makes these. Something about this first one just says Daelim to me, but I'm not sure.

Why anyone likes Popeye's I will never know.

This resembles a Daelim City.

Same as the first one.

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KYMCO

 

Never heard of them before. This is the only one I've ever seen.

Oh, here we go.

They're Taiwanese, apparently.

 

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Venus

I can't find anything on them that's helpful. This is the best we've got apparently.

There is a site for the US distributor. They say they're not cheap Chinese Geely crap, but don't say where they DO come from. Very shady.

They look good, but it's hardly an original look.

Now this is an original look. Every time I see a Sachs anything, I have to stop and stare.

This is the awesomest scooter in the world. Wow.

 

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DAELIM

 

Daelim might not dominate in full-size cycles, but they own the Korean scooter market. And while they may have lost ground to cars in the last decade, scooters are still huge in Korea to a degree that Americans would never understand without seeing it.

Daelim is everywhere in Korea.

Without scooters, Korea would grind to a halt. It's how every market in the country operates. If it is small enough to be moved by scooter, it is moved by scooter. I've seen scooters loaded with trays of hundreds and hundreds of eggs.

Anyhow, these scooters here are more personal transport than work vehicles. You can tell by the lack of milk crates strapped to the back.

Yeah, seriously, nothing says badass like a silver scooter with a skull on it.

 

Now this is Korea.

And another work vehicle.

You know, those cargo racks can be dangerous in a crash. If the thing flips forward, it could hit you in the neck and paralyze you. Like my dad.

110cc. I believe the Honda Cub is 100. I'm not sure if there is any relationship here, but I do know that Daelim has some sort of technology-sharing arrangement with Honda.

I'm not enough of a bike guy to spot the similarities, though, so I'll leave it to the experts.

Now this....this I hate.

This bike probably came in a white box with black lettering on it that read "scooter, 1pc, part number #####"

Not sure if this is a delivery or commuting vehicle.

 

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HYOSUNG

Hyosung may get their asses kicked in the scooter game, but that doesn't mean they aren't playing.

 

 

 

 

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MOTORCYCLES

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DAELIM

Like scooters, bikes are used extensively as delivery vehicles in Korea.

Or is this a Mad Max fuel tank arrangement?

I'm not sure I get the sport-bike looks in what clearly aren't.

Daelim police bike.

Daelim makes a couple of single-cylinder cruisers. Actually, I'm don't think there's more than one or two twins made in Korea.

This is the Daelim Magma

Here's another one, different model.

I'm not sure what they call these styles. Here we've got what looks like a traveller.

A third cruiser, the Daelim VS

 

 

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HONDA

 

I'm not sure what this model is. I don't think it's current, but I can't find it.

I don't recall if I took this before or after the still pic.

Honda Ape.

Honda CBX

I recall seeing this bike in a Kochikame comic some years ago.

 

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HYOSUNG

 

What Hyosung lacks in clout in scooters, they make up for in bikes. Hyosung dominates full-size bikes in Korea.

This here is a Hyosung Mirage. It's a V-twin cruiser.

Obviously it's used for the business.

Cute helmet.

Yeah, he makes a pretense of this being a business bike. But I spoke with him, it was a toy. It was his baby.

Then he crashed it, and got a scooter.

That's his wife's food stand in Songtan to the right.

A dirt bikey looking thing from Hyosung.

The Hyosung Comet.

 

Oh dear god. (This was at Seoul Land)

Make it stop please.

Why. Why.

I'm pretty sure this is another Mirage, BTW.

 

Not sure what this is, but I think it might be related to the Comet.

The Hyosung Troy.

Another one, a little more road-weary.

 

 

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THREE OR MORE WHEELS

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Suzuki

Alright....now this thing is insane. What we're looking at here is, I believe, a 110cc scooter. Nothing unusual about that in Korea, right?

Wrong.

Look closer. See that under the side boxes? That dark horizontal bar running behind the license plate? Driveshafts.

Yep. This thing is three wheel drive. It probably weighs 600 pounds, too. Probably slower than walking.

But walking ain't half as cool.

 

I don't remember where I took this, but the background looks like one of the markets in Songtan. This probably belongs to a farmer. They drive some weird shit.

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DAELIM

These things are very common in Korea. They're built on just about any motorcycle, too. But the most common seems to be Daelim.

What have we here? This isn't some homebrewed hack like that Suzuki up above. That there is a shaft-driven rear diff.

Motorcycle pickup...I just can't not chuckle at these.

Here's the tranny and drive shaft. I don't know why they wouldn't set it up with something that doesn't have to run off-center like that.

I spoke with the owner of the silver one. I think it's a little different from this red one here.

Here he is. He's a fruit vendor in Songtan. He told me about the transmission on this thing. I think it's a little different from the red one. It's an interesting setup. One lever shifts between two speeds. Another level shifts between forward and reverse. No clutch. That's good, because this guy only has one leg.

If you're interested, here's the contact info for the company.

Hanguk Sohyeong Teuksu Jadongcha. Seoul, +82 02 681 9286

And here's another from the same company, also based on a Daelim.

You don't see quite as many of these. It really doesn't have any advantage over the two wheeled scooters. The three wheeled trucks, however, are all over the place, especially delivering agricultural products.

 

next: Foreign Cars