First of all, Jes, thanks for that awesome review.
Secondly just wanna throw my 2 cents in on some the debates raised in this thread.
Sure, a lot of purists will poo-poo this one, but the purists are in my mind a dying breed. It really seems that the days of the manual two-stroke (or even four-stroke) are coming to an end. Maybe we'll see something new come out of India... but right now it looks like CV four strokes are all that will be available new in most of the world soon. As those vintage geared bikes get longer and longer in the tooth, a lot of them will be ridden less and less, like classic cars they will trotted out for rallies and such. I don't relish this fact, and feel fortunate that our household's geared bikes have really low mileage and have years of daily use ahead.
I'm definitely not a purist. I just love scoots. I plan on riding my P into the ground. Driving a car to me is like a chore. I'm not a purist, but I am a scooterist. I only drive a cage when there is no other safe option. I think there are others out there like me, who might see in the MP3, that other safe option. I can't afford one now, but can see adding one of these to my stable in future, before any other scoot regardless of how much prettier or stylish it might be.
And when you throw in the possibility of a 400 or the Gilera... man!
I definitely understand the qualms about viewing this as a starter scooter. But I think the real potential market here is the daily rider, and I do think that market is growing. Plus Piaggio really seems to be throwing some weight behind this design, as seen with the Gilera and licensing the EV rights to Vectrix. Plus, the US is not the scooter world. I'm curious what the reaction to this is gonna be in Japan...
On another note, the three wheel design is going to face some legal snags. Here in Washington State, our laws are about the opposite of California, you need a trike/sidecar endorsement in addition to your MC for a three-wheeler, and the manager at Vespa Olympia believes that will apply to the MP3. I don't see how it wouldn't, unless Piaggio brought a lot of force to bear to educate legislators here on the facts of it's different handling. Doubt that will happen. I don't know if there are any other states where this will be a problem.
All that being said .... I think this baby is SCHWEEET!
