With the news of El Chapo’s capture, we found ourselves talking about his mid-day escape from the maximum-security prison in which he was being held in Mexico.
The Honley HD3 125, a popular bike in Mexico, looks a lot like our culprit.
The Mexican drug lord arranged for a tunnel to be dug from a field outside of the prison to a shaft that led to El Chapo’s shower stall. The tunnel was about a mile long and actually quite well made, with ventilation shafts, wiring for lights, and rails that the funky custom motorcycle would run on to bring the fugitive to freedom.
Looking closely at the bike you can see that it’s a single cylinder, air cooled engine. The shocks on the back are pretty dinky so we’re thinking this bike can’t be any larger than 250cc’s. Also the skinny dual-sport looking tire, chain drive and what looks like a drum brake, indicate that it’s probably one of the infinitely popular 125cc Chinese, Mexican, or Japanese made universal motorcycles. A great example of this type of bike is the Honda CG125, an affordable and highly reliable bike used all over the world. We think it’s most likely a Mexican or Chinese motorcycle, like the Honley pictured here.
Whatever it was he rode, that was one crazy contraption and a truly incredible escape. We’re glad they caught him, and hope he doesn’t manage to escape again!