The MP3 has all the usual characteristics of a modern scooter including an eco friendly, liquid cooled, four-stroke single-cylinder engine with auto transmission. The engine is available in learner legal 125cc and a larger 250 capacity; a 400cc will also be available next summer. It also boasts a capacious under-seat storage area, with a separate ‘hatch back’ compartment, capable of storing a full face crash helmet. In all there’s a whopping 65 litres of storage space under the seat. Good weather protection is provided by the legshields and Piaggio even offers a large screen and heated lap cover as extras.MP3. When you see that file extension acronym in E-Gear Magazine, 99 percent of the time it is going to be associated with a portable music player or device making it easier for you to listen to your tunes. But Piaggio, the Italian scooter manufacturer has something else in mind. The clever marketing department figured they would tie-in with the famous MP3 moniker to persuade a younger, hipper audience to launch a unique vehicle.Radical three-wheeled scooter brings congestion-busting, fuel-frugal and wind-in-the-hair scootering with much enhanced confidence thanks to the stability of three wheels.
Yet this isn’t an ATV, or some kind of three-wheeled car. It leans, just as any scooter does.
What makes that possible is the Piaggio-designed parallelogram suspension. Imagine two single-sided Vespa-style suspensions linked by an alloy parallelogram and a central steering arm. The set-up lets both wheels tilt parallel to each other at up to 40 degrees.
It takes a fraction more body language to prompt that tilt - and parking manoeuvres take a little getting used to.
Stopping? You can lock the MP3 vertical and set the hand brake. That means unlike most large scooters - few of which have sidestands - you can park it on awkward slopes. Once you get used to it you can lock it upright as you roll to a halt, then pull away again by winding the throttle on - there’s no need to put your foot down at the lights.
The advantages that extra wheel brings are greater stability on bumpy or uncertain surfaces, better braking and greater stability at slow speeds.
There are other advantages - the under-seat boot can carry 65 litres of guff and that 250cc engine mated to a CVT auto transmission is grunty enough to manage even fairly demanding open roads, despite fairly uninspiring on-paper power figures.
What do you get when the world’s oldest manufacturer of two-wheeled vehicles crosses over a motorcycle and a mountain bike? The Sachs MaAss is definitely one badass moped - we’re not even sure if it even fits in the dinky category anymore. The German-designed bike is powered by a 100cc four stroke engine housed in a head-turning tubular space frame which also doubles as a fuel tank.