three wheeled scooter?

Special Interest Areas transportation
1

Hot on the heals of our 3 wheeled car discusion comes news that Piaggio has developed a 3 wheeled scooter. For those in the states, Piaggio is the company behind the iconic Vespa scooter.

What does everyone think? Does thing have a chance to breath new life into light urban transport outside of Milan?

Check the well done site at:

http://www.mp3.piaggio.com/

2

Safety - The Piaggio MP3 requires far less braking space than any scooter - the > three-disc braking system > and exceptional front end road holding > reduce braking space by 20 per cent > compared to the best scooters



Stability - The front assembly, with > two independent tilting wheels> , is far more stable than any scooter. The > Piaggio M> P3 grips the road even when tailing other vehicles, providing top performance in total safety.



Two front wheels
a REVOLUTIONARY CONCEPT

Piaggio has come up with another revolutionary product: the > Piaggio MP3> .

A totally innovative three-wheeler with two front wheels. > Power. Performance and ease of use make for a very entertaining ride.

BULLSHIT… Morgan never existed?

This is …

  1. A Vespa that doesn’t need a center stand.
  2. A Vespa for aging ‘Boomers’
  3. A purging of Piagg’o’s parts bins
  4. A blatant ‘cashing-in-on’ of the ‘MP3’ tradename
  5. A consumer’s maintenance nightmare

Other than an ‘entertaining ride’ I don’t see much merit here and
I find Piaggio’s claim ‘when tailing other vehicles, providing top performance in total safety’ to be negligent and misleading.

They’ll sell the crap out of them here in the States; we’re suckers for anything that burns gasoline, especially if it’s ‘cute’.

3

I was checking this out the other day also and I am left wondering what happens when the electro-hydraulic balance system fails. I’m sure the Tilting Three Wheeler group on Yahoo is having a ball with this one right now. Come to think of it, I’m a lurking member there… I’ll report back anything good.

:)ensen.


EDIT:

So I’ve found out that the balancing system is intended to be activated by the rider when decelerating to a stop. It checks a number of parameters to determine when to engage after the “on” button has been pushed. It automatically dis-engages when the machine hits a certain speed and certain other conditions have been met. IOW, it’s supposed to be smart, which doesn’t give me any confidence in it’s failure modes.

J.

4

A third wheel just adds weight, complexity, and reduces rider feedback…

5

I agree. I designed a trike while in school, but it was for children. Adults don’t look quite as cool or effecient on a 3-wheeler.

I can’t see these taking of in the states, but what do i know?