Our trusty Piaggio Ape Auto DX is a beast, and even with a meager 9 HP it can handle a payload of 600kg and the abuse of Cambodian roads.
👨🔧 A Little Overdue
It takes about 450 kg before the rear shocks sag enough for the camber to level out. For this reason it's a bit bowlegged when not heavily loaded, and this leads to uneven tire wear. For several weeks I've been procrastinating a tire rotation, so I ran up to the shack and knocked this job out before hitting the road.
Unfortunately the rims aren't reversible, so the only solution to this problem is to break the beads, flip all the tires and put them back on the rims. I already did this at 10,000km, and now at 20,000km the only two tires with outer edge rubber left are going on the rear end, and hopefully I can get a few thousand more kilometers before tire reliability becomes an issue.
The process doesn't take long, think it was 15 minutes and the job was done, and the wife and I were ready to hit the road and pick up Monkey-B from school. It's been raining almost non-stop for three weeks, and on this day I didn't want to get wet once again on the moto, so we decided it was time for a tuk-tuk drive.
National Highway 💩 Believe It Or Not
Well, it sat too long and the battery died, so we had to wheel it out onto the highway and do a downhill roll start. All the villagers watched in confusion as we rolled by in ninja silence before dropping the clutch in 4th gear and bringing the obnoxiously loud diesel engine to life.
Of course on the one day that we choose to take the tuk-tuk and avoid the swim drive on the SuperCub, the weather actually held out and the rain was briefly replaced by fog and clouds. This road was completely paved and decent one year ago by a Chinese firm, and now it's already being torn apart to be redone again.
With the millions of tourists visiting Cambodia each year and the rapidly growing economy, it's visually clear that there is more money in circulation per capita here than back in the USA, or at least Indiana, where I come from in the USA. The money gets wasted on contracts like this road because Cambodia isn't educated enough to oversee the Chinese projects here and maintain quality control.
👩👧 Precious Cargo
I also was listening to a documentary the other day and heard that the top 10% of the population here control nearly 50% of the economy, and the top 1% controls nearly 20% of the economy. Those numbers are bonkers, but totally explains why there are lots of Lamborghinis here and also lots of crushing poverty.
All we can do is hope the Thai border crossing will open some day and the economic boom will cause the government here to take this road more seriously. Until it becomes an economic lifeline it's likely to be a Mad Max adventure road despite being disguised as a National Highway. At least the poor road quality prevents everyone from trying to drive at Mach 1 speeds like in neighboring Thailand.
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Return from 🛺 Ape DX Gets A Tire Rotation 🔧& The Rain Stops For A Few Minutes 🌥️ to Justin Parke's Web3 Blog
