VOL. 51 ISSUE 43 OCTOBER 28, 2014 P65
along the open road at 35 mph
that you really are riding some-
thing so different. After all, you
can't see either of the front wheels
thanks to the relatively wide and
thus protective footboard, with
its convenient luggage hook to
let you park a shopping bag or a
briefcase between your legs.
There's also a 5.2-gallon stor-
age space under the seat, so
enough to accommodate a full-
face helmet. But when I came
up behind one of the half-dozen
or so delivery trucks which Ya-
maha had cleverly organized to
be unloading in a narrow canal-
side street and thus blocking my
path, I had a great demonstration
of just how well the parallelogram
front end worked by effortlessly
mounting the curb on the Tricity to
ride along the sidewalk (common
practice, folks – no traffic ticket!)
and thus circumvent the obstruc-
tion. Then I was able to ride off the
curb again with equal composure,
as one front wheel dropped down
to the road level, followed later by
the other one while still preserving
a sense of equilibrium.
The same thing for going over
bad dips in the road surface –
the Tricity's dual-wheel setup
irons them out with aplomb. Only
trouble is, you risk breeding a
generation of scooter riders who
won't know anything different,
and risk getting flummoxed when
faced with the less compliant be-
havior of a conventional single-
track scooter's front suspension!
The more time I spent on the
Tricity, the more I came to ap-
preciate its qualities. Next to the
enhanced ride quality and added
confidence it delivers, the twin-
tire front end also provides an ex-
tra safety margin. I found this out
first-hand after rounding a corner
in, er, sporting mode, only to
find myself running over the tram
rails (a feature of Amsterdam city
streets) while still cranked over.
My angle of attack was such that
I felt the front end slide as both
tires presumably let go once
they hit the shiny metal surface
– only for at least one of them to
catch the tarmac (as opposed to
polished cobblestone – phew!)
again and grip, closely followed
by the other.
The 90/80-14 front tires are
specially made for Yamaha in
China by Maxxis, mounted on
good-looking lightweight cast
aluminum wheels with a trio of V-
shaped spokes. They also run a
much lower 1.7 bar pressure than
the more usual 2.0 bar you're told
to pump a conventional scooter's
front tire up to. This in turn pro-
vides an increased contact patch
for extra grip, as well as aiding
the fork to deliver that improved
ride quality, via greater cushion-
ing in the tire wall thanks to the
lower pressure.
Little things mean a lot, and
that's a lesson learned in MotoGP
that Nakano-san has brought to
the world of PTW scooter design.
Another is weight distribution,
and here the Tricity again has
an abnormal 50/50 split of its
335-pound curb weight – abnor-
mal that is by scooter standards,
where a 40/60 rearwards weight
bias is considered okay, usually
because the engine/transmission
unit helps comprise the swingarm.
On the Tricity, Takano and
his team have instead attained
the balanced weight distribution
that's the nirvana of GP design-
The Yamaha uses a parallelogram
front suspension link that delivers
stability and confidence.
