HOW GOOD ARE THREE WHEELS ?

--> PIAGGIO MP3

There's been a rash of the new three-wheeled vehicles appearing of late, some promissing bilke-like thrills with extra safety. Now the question is "do high-tech three-wheelers have a future in superbiking? "

First, Piaggio's MP3 and Fuoco, now the Can-Am Spyder, and even Harley Davidson is rumored to work on some sort of three-wheeler. So, is this the future? Are three-wheelers going to sate the safetycrats who're out to kill off motorcycles once and for all, and prove a viable new route for bikers?
In terms of safety, there's no doubt a three-wheeler is more stable than a proper bike. You can even slide an MP3's twin front wheels without falling off, while the Spyder takes as much effort to crash as a car.

CAN-AM SPYDER -->


But it's not that simple.For a start, none of these are going to tempt bike riders in significant numbers. The scooters are too heavy and slow and the MP3 technology won't easily translate to higher performance bikes anyway, as is upsets the weight distribution and slows the steering too much. As for the Spyder, it's too wide, slow and car-like, for all it's funky looks, to make real inroads into the bike world. Already riders' groups the BMF and MAG have given it the cold-shoulder as its drivers' needs simply aren't the same as bike riders', so it wouldn't be possible for a campaign to inlcude it and bikers together. And it's not allowed in bike parking bays, bus lanes and the like.
The Spyder, as its number of wheeles suggests, is half way between a bike and a carl a step up for four-wheeler fans in terms of excitement while addressing some of their dafety concerns, but it's a step down for bike riders.

Why then are these three-wheelers making an appearance now? It's simply another facet of the oncreasing diversity in "leisure-related" vehicles which has been going on for the last decade. There are more models of bikes, in more categories, available now than ever. A dozen years ado, there were barely any big naked bikes around, yet now there are hordes of them. Car manufacturers are constantly looking for new niches too, so it was inevitable that more than one manufacturer would think about a different number of wheels.
The Piaggio-Gilera concept will catch on in the scooter sector because it offers more safety without compromising the basic scooter appeal os traffic manoeuvrability. But cars cause jams, not bust them, so a car-width three-wheeler offers nothing there, and less in other respects to bike riders, so it will only be a curiosity.