Scooterlife News Piaggio Mp3 Now this changes everything! Scooterlife Team There is a new Piaggio on the block and it doesn't play by the rules. It looks like a scooter but has three wheels and it leans through corners – No trike can do that. In the last 80 or so years, there has been no production vehicle that so radically changes the standard formula for vehicle design.
There has been a few fleeting attempts at three wheeled production vehicles, eg. the Harley Davidson service car, the Morgan cyclecar, the Reliant Robin and the Bonn trike, but these are all just either a motorcycle with a fixed axle and an extra wheel, or a car missing a wheel. The MP3 does something different – it leans like a normal scooter.
With its dual front wheels, the MP3 has twice the grip at the front as a normal scooter,HUGE braking efficiency, and completely unrivaled stability. Uneven, rutted, slippery and gravel strewn roads can almost be ignored as the MP3 hardly notices them.
The dual front wheels give it amazing grip and stability. Our Melbourne based scooter riding friends can now laugh at those notorious tram tracks.
Riding the MP3 is initially unremarkable. It feels like any other maxi scooter, but that is the beauty of the design: No compromise – All advantages. It rides and leans so much like a normal scooter that you could almost forget that there is another wheel up front.
But the stability is the thing that grabs your attention - the MP3 is completely unfazed by anything the road can throw at it. The suspension absorbs and ignores the barely civilized black motocross track we laughingly call our local roads.
The brakes are amazing. With the front wheels’ double footprint, it has huge amounts of grip. They feel better than the current mega sportsbikes’ dual disks and quad piston calipers – These are seriously the BEST brakes on any scooter, no argument !!!
Make sure your visor is down if you do an aggressive stop with these brakes, as your eyes will pop right out of your head!
The technology that has gone into the MP3 is quite amazing. The lock on the front suspension allows you to come to a stop, flick the switch and sit feet up at the lights.
When you move off, the lock is automatically disengaged and you can lean through corners normally. You can even park the MP3 on a sloping road, lock the suspension vertically and not bother with the center stand - just don’t forget to use the handbrake.
The overall width of the scooter is only slightly more than its two wheeled cousinsand is not noticeable when you’re riding it.
The storage on the MP3 is also very generous with the combined underseat and rear boot storage areas. The seat and riding position is very comfortable for both rider and passenger, and the dash is well laid out and stylish with silver accents to the dials.
The MP3 is truly the most amazing new scooter to come onto the market. It is an engineering and design masterpiece that works beautifully, and the grip and stability of the dual font wheels will make your head spin.
MP3 250ie $10,990+ ORC
Available Now!!
MP3 400ie $11,990+ ORC
Available Now!! published 17/02/2008 |