mattgordon wrote:
I just re-read Bryces reviews in Scooter World Magazine, and I have some questions about the scooter, er...Transportational Device we'll refer to as: the MP3.
Jess covered the bases pretty, well, but since you asked me I'll throw in my 2 cents.
mattgordon wrote:
1) Is the suspension lock feature useful for anything but at the stoplight to avoid putting your italian loafers onto the pavement?
If you practice with it, you could use it often when coming to a stop. For a short person, this would be pretty useful. That said, you could enjoy the MP3 for years without ever trying the suspension lock while moving.
mattgordon wrote:
2) Bryce mentions scraped center stands aplenty on the test fleet. The propensity for this to happen seems a bit dodgy, is the center stand really a necessity on this machine? Does the susp. lock do the same thing with parking brake? Could the stand be removed without ill effect?
I've scraped the stand on several of the scooters I've ridden. On some it's much easier to do because of the placement of the stand and the ease of leaning. Others are much harder. It's not something I try to do because I don't really want to damage any of the bikes. We want to keep working relationships with all manufacturers so we can continue to bring our readers reviews of their products. Crashing bikes wouldn't help us much.
The center stand does seem to be a bit redundant considering the suspension lock and the parking brake. However, there might be a few cases where that redundancy would be useful. If I had one in my garage, I certainly would give some thought to unbolting the center stand.
mattgordon wrote:
3) In one of the photos in the article, the lean angle looks steep enough that the rider appears to be over the CG. Could that unit still go over given the right set of circmstances? Or does the extra weight of the MP3 offset that?
It absolutely could go over under the right circumstances. It can even fall at a stop. However, it is less likely to fall when in motion than a two wheeler. That is how I could scrape the center stand at parking lot speeds. I was able induce significant lean angles at ridiculously low speeds.
At high speeds when leaning deeply I realized I was going into a turn a bit too fast. I ended up going wide, but I had plenty of room so it wasn't a serious issue. It was strange though, because on 2 wheels I would have felt like a low side crash was awaiting me if I did anything wrong at all. On the MP3, it was more like a car. Had I done anything
really wrong I feel like I would have understeered and slid off the edge of the road long before the bike fell over.
That's the interesting thing about the MP3, I think the design does a lot to reduce the risk of a low side incident. I would guess it probably has a lowered risk of high siding as well, but I don't have a gauge on that. I didn't encounter any situation where I felt like that was even a remote possibility. From my own experience, I think a tip over accident would probably be caused by something "tripping" the vehicle, which is how the majority of automotive roll overs occur.
mattgordon wrote:
4) Will my local shop be offering test rides? DR?
That all depends on their test ride practices. If they allow test rides, I imagine they will on the 3 wheeler according to their current policy on test rides. The 3 wheeler is not any harder to ride than a conventional two wheeler of similar displacement. In fact, it would be easier to ride than a two wheeler of similar bulk.