skylab

n. a motorbike fitted with a horizontal board at back that can seat several passengers across. Subjects: English, Philippines, Automobiles & Transportation

Editorial Note: This video at YouTube shows a Filipino skylab in action. In Thailand, a SkyLab is a brand of large three-wheeled motorized transport known as the tuk-tuk or auto rickshaw. Etymological Note: Named after Skylab, the international space station that sported jutting solar panels. Filipinos are said to have been fixated on Skylab when it fell to Earth in July 1979.

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Citations: 1992 May Primera NATIVE-L (Aug. 11) “Philippines indigenous peoples threatened”: With my eyes closed, I could still feel the dust on my face as the “skylab” roared through the scabrous path and past the verdant groves. “Skylab” was the name the villagers had given the puny motorbike that could seat six people—one person in front of the driver, two behind him and two on each side of the horizontal slab of wood tied tightly to its rear like an outrigger. 1994 Robert H. Reid @ Salacafe, Philippines Associated Press (Oct. 2) “Life On The Margin: Village Life In The Philippines”: The sole means of public transport is a motorcycle service, which someone with a curious sense of humor dubbed “the Skylab.” Skylabs appear a few times a day. Up to five people, including women holding infants, cram aboard and pay 75 pesos—about three days’ wages for a farmhand—for a ride into town. 1998 Edilberto Alegre BusinessWorld (Philippines) (Nov. 4) “Pinoy na Pinoy Gift from the mountains” p. 23: Already in the gold rush mountain of Diwalwal (Monkayo, Davao del Norte) they use the same Honda motorcycle differently—no side car but it accommodates as many as eight passengers. They call it “skylab,” for it zooms up the mountain like an American Skylab. 2004 S. Venkateswaran @ Birla Institute of Technology & Science Improving Mobility for the Rural Poor (Pilani, Rajasthan, India) (Jan. 12) “Workshop Programme”: Skylab Motorbike that can seat 6 persons. One person in front of the driver, 2 behind him and two on either side of the horizontal slab of wood tied to its rear like an outrigger. 2004 World Organisation Against Torture Compilation of Urgent Appeals, Open Letters and Press Releases (Geneva, Switzerland) (May 3) p. 100: The four were on board a skylab motorcycle when two vehicles, reportedly a red and white Tamarraw FX, blocked them somewhere in Maco, *2005 Robert Gardner Bundok Philippines (Apr. 12) “Guides—Mount Apo —Davao del Sur and North Cotabato Provinces”: Arrive New Israel by foot, jeepney or skylab (extended motorcycle). 2007 [joeyperez] @ Davao, Philippines YouTube (Jan. 29) “Unbelievable Motorcycle Ride”: Only in the philippines…who said a normal motorcycle can sit only 2 people? they call this ride “skylab.” from the famous satellite SkyLab. 2007 GMANNews.TV (Quezon City, Philippines) (May 31) “4 Caucasians seized by armed men in Cotabato—military”: The victims’ hands, whose hands were reportedly tied up, were loaded onto a “Skylab” motorcycle, a local term for a motorcycle fitted with planks that extend beyond its sides for seating additional passengers.

Posted 31 May 07 | Permalink | Tell a Friend