Regular readers will know that we’re big fans of the tilting 3-wheeler platform here at Gizmag. Narrow track vehicles are evolving and sprouting up all over the place, but Yamaha’s brand new Tricity represents the first production effort by a major motorcycle company – and it seems to be focused in all the right areas to make it a huge success.Motoring giant Yamaha has thrown its considerable weight behind the tilting three-wheeler concept as a traffic-busting personal mobility solution with its launch of the 125 cc Tricity in Europe. Let’s take a look at where the market’s at for these kinds of vehicles and what makes them a good option.
Why a tilting three-wheeler?
If you think traffic is bad in your city right now, it’s going to get a lot worse. Populations are on the rise, and the trend in most countries is toward urbanization. The daily commute is already a nasty part of our day, and travel times are on the way up. Asia provides us with a bit of a petri dish as to what comes next. Cities like Shanghai and Bangkok are massively overcrowded and cars move like molasses – they’re just too big.
Motorcycles are vastly more practical in these types of cities, especially for solo travelers. And most car commuters ARE solo travelers – the average occupancy of a car on an Australian road, for example, hovers between 1.2 and 1.3 people.
Motorcycles are quick, fuel efficient, very easy to park and skinny enough to filter through gaps in traffic. This is great for the riders themselves, but just as helpful for other drivers. If a motorcycle sits in line with traffic, it acts almost identically to a car in terms of its impact on traffic congestion, but if it filters through traffic, it’s almost as if there was no vehicle on the road at all. So filtering bikes are a huge benefit to pretty much everybody on the road.
Motorcycles are quick, fuel efficient, very easy to park and skinny enough to filter through gaps in traffic. This is great for the riders themselves, but just as helpful for other drivers. If a motorcycle sits in line with traffic, it acts almost identically to a car in terms of its impact on traffic congestion, but if it filters through traffic, it’s almost as if there was no vehicle on the road at all. So filtering bikes are a huge benefit to pretty much everybody on the road.
Of course, bikes have their own issues, safety being one that’s at the forefront of the mind's of many potential motorcycle commuters, and weather exposure being another. You can get hurt on a bike, they tend to fall over every now and then, and you get wet when it rains.
And this is where the strength of the three-wheeler can show itself. A tilting three-wheeler need not be much wider than a motorcycle, and yet it’s got double the grip at the front end where you really need it, and the added stability of a triangular footprint on the road.
But it’s not sports riders these things are targeted at, it’s the commuting masses. And in terms of ease of use, a feeling of road security and the ability to cover over mistakes that could be catastrophic on a two-wheeler, the three-wheeler platform knocks it out of the park. I’d put my Nanna on one.
Narrow track tilting vehicles are going to be huge in the coming decades, and it’s very significant that a relative giant like Yamaha is throwing its hat into the ring at this early stage. Let’s take a look at some of the other significant examples on the scene to see where the Tricity fits.
Can-Am Spyder
I’ve included the Spyder simply to demonstrate how NOT to design a practical 3-wheeler. It’s as wide as a car and doesn’t tilt, therefore unifying the disadvantages of cars and bikes in one fell swoop. Of course, traffic busting is not Can-Am’s aim with this machine, it’s more of a sports tourer.
Honda’s Gyro Canopy
A massive success in Japan, the Gyro is a tilting three-wheeler with two wheels at the rear end, plus a giant windscreen and a roof. These extremely efficient 50 cc trikes have been around for more than 30 years, having debuted in 1982. Many have large storage boxes on the back, making them outstanding urban delivery and courier vehicles.
Piaggio’s MP3
No comments