VOL. 51 ISSUE 43 OCTOBER 28, 2014 P61
T
hree is the number for Ya-
maha these days, with the
Japanese manufacturer
(with three tuning forks in its
logo) following up its launch of
the best-selling MT-09 triple and
sundry spinoffs with its first three-
wheeled scooter - the all-new
125cc Tricity (pronounced as in
(elec)tricity, rather than try-city).
Built in Thailand, a huge 4000
examples have been sold there
in just four months as a so-cool
must-have three-wheeled trans-
portation icon. It's just gone on
sale in Japan to similar acclaim,
as the first model in Yamaha's
freshly created New Mobility
product segment. Now it's the
turn of the rest of the world, start-
ing first with Europe.
Comparisons with three-wheel-
ers like the Piaggio MP3 are es-
sentially invidious, since this first
Japanese PTW (as in personal
three-wheeler!) is a very differ-
ent plate of sushi from the spa-
ghetti scooter specialist's own
such bikes (of which more than
150,000 have so far been sold in
Europe alone since its 2006 de-
but) originally based on the Italjet
Scooop (with three "o" as in three
wheels, get it?) that was intro-
duced at the 2001 Milan Show.
Conceived by Italjet owner Leo-
poldo Tartarini, the Scooop was
the first such device that allowed
the rider to lean into curves via twin
pivoting front wheels steered by a
handlebar, thus delivering added
stability and greater confidence
to the car-drivers-turned-novice
riders it was originally targeted at.
But after Italjet's 2002 demise,
the Scooop project was revived
by Piaggio and in due course de-
veloped the similar MP3 on sale
today.
But the MP3, like its subse-
quent Euro-rivals from Quadro
and now Peugeot, is a more
substantial as well as much
more costly vehicle than the new
Yamaha. While those are pow-
Touring Amsterdam
on Yamaha's new
Tricity 125 – a
project that's been
10 years in the
making.
