I was going to say that I’ve been on a weird, barely known microcar kick this week, but let’s be honest – that’s my natural state, isn’t it? It is. And that may be why I felt such a deep, visceral delight when I saw this wonderful and perhaps slightly alarming-looking little microcar, which seemed to be called a Honda Caren. A bit more research revealed that the story is a bit more complex; yes, in one sense, the car is a Honda Caren, but it’s not just a Honda Caren, it also seems to be something called a Cydes Car URI-II. It’s a three-wheeled microcar, but, as you may have noticed, the front wheel is not, as you’d usually expect, centered. There’s a reason for this, which, if you’ll just calm down a moment, I’ll explain.
The first key to this strange little car’s layout and name has to do with this, the true Honda Caren:
The Caren was one of Honda’s little 50cc mopeds – a charming little machine, friendly and practical. Like all mopeds, though, it’s just a motor and some wheels nestled in your crotch, so you’re completely at the mercy of the weather and wind and insects and birds and whatever else you may be driving through. It’s an open vehicle, not closed like a cozy car, and for many people, that’s a deal breaker. Most of us like to be indoors while we travel.
It seems there was a company that understood this desire, and somehow felt that there were enough people who simultaneously wanted moped price and performance and the enclosed quality of a car, so they took the little Honda Caren and turned it into this:
A little microcar! The company seems to have been called CydesCar, which is a play on “sidecar” which makes sense, because what they’ve really done, kind of, is added a sidecar to the Caren and then enclosed the entire thing in what is basically a little plastic shed. Here, look, this is how the wheels are arranged:
See what’s going on there? That’s why the lone front wheel is stuck way over on the right side, because the base of the Honda Caren is there on the right side, albeit highly modified and integrated into this new body. The handlebars have been moved to the center of the body, which would be to the side of the moped itself, along with the seat. The left side has the lone “sidecar” wheel, and the whole thing looks gleefully precarious.
In fact, on the green one up there with the huge speakers in the back (from Bruce Weiner’s former microcar collection) even has a little caster wheel, possibly a shopping cart wheel, on the left side, I guess to help keep it from tipping over? This thing had to feel all kinds of unsettling in turns.
Interestingly, this wasn’t the first time this sort of layout had been tried; in the early 1900s, some cheap “cyclecars” used a similar sidecar-style arrangement, like the infamous Scott Scociable:
Oh, one more thing about that brochure; I ran it through a translation app, and got some really funny and puzzling results for part of it:
Is that really what that says? “It has the appearance of a girl and a slightly chubby guy?” Is that how you sell microcars, by analogizing them to a pleasingly plump androgyne? Maybe!
The Caren, when converted to a microcar, seems to have been called the URI-II, and boasted some novel features, like a reverse gear of some kind, a little luggage rack, and a turning circle of under one meter!
The brochure here also shows it with the roof removed; I wonder if this was something you could actually do, or if they were just showing it this way to show the interior, which even had some luggage space available.
This is a very clever little thing, about as absolutely minimal a “car” as you could have. In many ways, this feels like a 1990 version of my Changli or similar absolutely minimal automotive solution. Basing the drivetrain on a popular moped like a Honda one is really clever. I can’t decide if this should be considered an add-on to the Honda Caren, or something entirely new, because so much of the original moped gets modified to make this work.
Either way, I’m pretty impressed. It’s not clear at all how many of these were actually made, but there are some pictures of these floating around the web, including that shot of one in the bed of a kei-class truck, just to give a sense of how tiny these things are.
I’d kind of like to try to drive one of these; the asymmetrical wheel layout has to be entertaining, at the very least, right? I mean, until you tip it over.
That Incredible Berkeley Microcar Roadster We Bought At Auction Is An Absolute Ridiculous Blast To Drive
The SARIT Is A Tiny Electric Microcar From Canada With A Strange Gasoline-Doomsday Sales Pitch
Let’s Consider The Italian Scooter-Maker’s Car That Was Built In France. And Tiny People: Cold Start
I bet you could easily make a modern version of this for the American market using any number of little mopeds on the market and a simple rotomolded plastic body. Using a 49 cc engine it would be legal for 14 year-olds without a license to drive, essentially becoming an American sans permis car. It’d be ridiculously slow though, so perhaps an e-bike-based version would be better?
Of course many parents would be mortified by the lack of safety, but even so, I imagine it would be so cheap to manufacture that there would be a large enough market to make it profitable.
Just make it super angular and silver with thin LED light strips and everyone will want one…
Tuk Tuk supremacy. These are a joke compared to the true three wheeled masters of commuting.
“Like all mopeds… you’re completely at the mercy of the weather and wind and insects and birds and whatever else you may be driving through. It’s an open vehicle…”
Not all mopeds. As the owner of a 1981 American Microcar Tri-Ped, I must point out that these came with a removable windshield, top, and doors. For the moped purists, yes, they have pedals, too, even though they aren’t visible in this photo:
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-ZNiH6Qft8pM/T4GwoRlpMUI/AAAAAAABPvo/Yq4p4ukiq1M/s800/1980%2520American%2520Microcar%2520Tri-Ped.jpg
That looks pretty cool, not gonna lie. You have the best vehicles.
Thanks! The problem with removable items, however, is that they are removable. Mine no longer had its windshield, top, or doors when I got it and so far I haven’t found anyone with spares:
https://live.staticflickr.com/8650/15974049153_8a66ff5ca5_c.jpg
Oh, yeah, I can imagine sourcing spares may be a nightmare. Maybe fabricating new parts from scratch is the only way to go here? The removable bits seem like fairly simple pieces of plexiglass or something similar. This one even has a soft plastic cover that I don’t hate (seems more practical to pull off a soft cover and fold away than removing 3-4 individual plexiglass panels).
Never heard of those and now I want one. If they made a 49cc version, it would be – well, really slow, but also legal for 14 year-olds to drive without a license, basically an American sans permis car! That could be nice for a kid to drive themselves to school in and whatnot.
The only engine offered was a 49cc Minarelli so as to keep them licensable as mopeds.
That’s awesome. I wonder if a modern e-bike version would sell today?
Someone is trying to do exactly that:
https://americanmicrocar.com/
It needs titanium rub strips for night use.
I want to see the Caren, in the bed of a kei truck, in the bed of a super duty, on a flatbed tow truck.
and a turning circle of under one meter!
Umm it says “2.6 M” did you think that was feet?
Actually it might be 2.5M, I cant tell because the pictures won’t expand when clicked!!
I was expecting a one make oval track racing series, because who needs the left tire when you’re only making left turns?
Reminds me of a Road & Track Cyclops!
This raises the question.
What’s the sketchiest sorta-honda without the human hands stipulation
I’m going to agree with everyone else. That thing looks like it would be terrifying to drive. I wonder if it’s more or less stable than a Reliant Robin?
Also, I hate to be that guy, but the Honda Caren isn’t a “moped” as it doesn’t have pedals. It’s just a scooter.
“…until you tip it over.” I wonder if Clarkson is available and interested.
That’s what I call recycling.
Nope. Still not the sketchiest Honda out there. That crown is won by the myriad 90s civics that have exhausts bigger than their cylinders and have been unsafe since their 8th owner somewhere around 2005.
> It has the appearance of a girl and a slightly chubby guy
Like the average manager-pestering Karen?
If this thing didn’t get banned by the government like the Honda ATC then its not the sketchiest Honda.
No, it says its length is 1.57m, about the height of a girl. Its weight is about the same as a fat guy at 70kg. It is gaining popularity because it is as easy to ride as a bicycle.
Your translation app is sketchy as hell, how did it “translate” 1.57m to 1.573m?
70kg is considered fat? Ouch.
Yeah, I’m in trouble apparently. Time to go on a diet. I hear the Santa Clarita diet is pretty good.
I understood this reference. Giving myself a gold star!
Take two, they’re small.
Ooh shiny!
That’s XL-sized in Japan.
More like a Honda Careen…
I found a video of a CydesCar being driven – it looks gloriously terrifying. Jump to 11:52 to see it in action: https://youtu.be/xl4fw-LKl6U?si=2saSnR7FguMrJfK3&t=712
Wow, it seems to have decent acceleration!
When I first laid my eyes upon this… this thing, I was baffled. The more I read, the more my concern grew. It’s barely a meter and a half long, one of it’s wheels are that of a shopping carts… When does this madness end?
With that being said I need a roofless one now.
It looks more like something you put a kid in so they can pretend they’re driving while you push them around than an actual car.
this is totally it, the Little Tykes Cozy Coupe (and it’s an actual coupe!) when one of the front wheel axle/posts gets stripped out of the plastic carriage
Karens have had asymmetrical bobs for years, it appears (insert that woman from TLC years ago with all the kids . Jpeg)
I apparently started my unique love of vehicles early. At 16 purchasedca Smiley-Demm moped. Very rare and a hoot to drive. Not transferable to a plastic fun car.
It’s a Honda Minion. I shall call it Bob.
The basic idea of encasing a motorbike and side car in a single enclosure seems sound enough, but I question what was really gained by moving the driving position to the center
It added smallness!
They created a drivable side car