It's a scooter, it's a trike... it's the weirdest thing you've never ridden. Spend five minutes rolling around town on one of these, and you'll be gawked and pointed at endlessly, as though you were riding around with your pants around your ankles. Stop at a light, and be ready to field one of three questions: "What the F*#k is that?", "Where did you get it?", and "Why does it have three wheels?" My stock answers soon became (respectively), "it's a scooter, sort of," "the future," and "long story."...
2008 Chevrolet Chevy C2 - 1.6 liters of pure fire breathing dyno-juice burning fury! 1998 Kawasaki ER-5 - Oldie but goodie! 2005 Yamaha XT660R - The beast, and Euro-3 at that!
As with all Ulterior Motive articles before it, these get posted in the Car Lounge. It's Motive's official forum, so all Motive features come here, regardless of the vehicle involved.
Edit: But you are right, we should post this stuff in the motorcycle forum as well.
As someone who's in love with the idea of a bike, but stays away for fear of certain death, it's not the "tippiness" of a bike that keeps me away.
It's the whole "guts splattered all over the road if someone changes lanes into you" thing.
...which the MP3 doesn't really help with.
Yep, it won't help.
The two wheels may help to avoid lowsides, like for example, if you panic and grab a handfull of brake, locking up the front wheel, however, an ABS would have also saved you from a lowside.
Meh, too expensive and too heavy. It turns a scooter into what a scooter shouldn't be. Scooters are about being light, agile and small, and that thing is neither. It's not good for highways, too heavy and wide for city riding, too much of what a scooter does not need.
2008 Chevrolet Chevy C2 - 1.6 liters of pure fire breathing dyno-juice burning fury! 1998 Kawasaki ER-5 - Oldie but goodie! 2005 Yamaha XT660R - The beast, and Euro-3 at that!
Forgive my ignorance, but is this the same Piaggio that makes this:
Quote, originally posted by The New York Times »
Drifting, which tends to attract poorer, more marginal men, has also been an unlikely nexus between homosexuality, crime and jihadism since it emerged 30 years ago. Homoerotic desire is a constant theme in songs and poems about drifting, and accomplished drifters are said to have their pick of the prettiest boys among the spectators.
Drifting, which tends to attract poorer, more marginal men, has also been an unlikely nexus between homosexuality, crime and jihadism since it emerged 30 years ago. Homoerotic desire is a constant theme in songs and poems about drifting, and accomplished drifters are said to have their pick of the prettiest boys among the spectators.
Cool, but I wonder how come Motive doesn't feature motorcycle articles very often?
There are a few motorcycle heads in the office here and we're looking into doing more motorcycle coverage. Our idea is that car guys have other toys in the garage in addition to cars and the Ulterior Motive section celebrates that a bit.
I've been riding around on one of these since July so here's my take. For stability, having two wheels up front does not make it much more stable in low speed manuevres. It handles a lot like a medium sized motorcycle (which it basically is). It offers no real balance advantage and the relatively high seat height of I think 31" means that people in the 5'6 range and below would have a difficult time with it. I do have to say it has very nice handling and takes to the twisties like white on rice.
Some people love constantly shifting in and out of gears in town fun, others don't. The CVT transmission means you can worry about other things while riding around in town. I personally wouldn't mind a manual version.
Depending on how hard you ride it and how broken in the engine is, mileage can vary from 41 mpg up to 60 mpg. The engine's weight is unsprung and so at high rpms it will vibrate, but it's part of the fun. It just makes it feel like you're moving a lot faster than you are. It has a top speed of 100 mph indicated (96mph by GPS) and does just fine on the highway.
At 538 lbs dry it doesn't feel at all heavy (unless you are more used to lighter fair) and anyone used to a big cruiser would find it light as a feather. It has all the agility you need to ride around in town or on the highway, though I and a few others were a little disappointed Piaggio hasn't made an 850cc version for a little more flickability on the highway. It still out accelerates virtually any car you come upon.
The ability to lock the suspension when under 10 mph means you can roll to a stop with out ever putting your feet down, but it that requires a little technique. The suspension lock also make it an absolute breeze to manuevre out of a parking spot.
As storage goes, I have a large full face Arai helmet and it fits perfectly under the seat. You just have to know how to set it in. Still has enough room for a rain suit and gloves. The 250cc and 400cc models have even more storage. The extra wheel does add more traction and more stopping power, but that doesn't mean it can't hydroplane or tank slap. In short, it's a very cool toy, get's a lot of attention, easy to park and I've yet to feel invisible to any cars on the road which is a concern to anyone on a motorcycle.
Of course, I could have taken my MSRP $8899 and bought a more powerful motorcycle, but then, I could have just saved up some more and bought a Ducati 1098S. That would've been sweet. Maybe when I et this paid off.
For advertising information Click Here
