Piaggio MP3 500ie: MD Ride Review . . .The Italians Trike Back

Piaggio's MP3 scooter has been around in various forms for a while now, but not many people have seen one. That's probably why the guy driving an old Camaro was ogling the machine obsessively as I made my way along the 91 freeway in L.A. First he'd pull alongside, then he'd jet ahead to check out the MP3's front wheels in his mirror, then he'd drop back to take in the rear three-quarter view. Eventually he brought out his cell-phone camera and took a picture.

You can just see the guy showing his friends the image and saying things like: "The scooter had, like, three wheels, man. There were two mounted close together on the front, and the bike could still lean! It was weird."

And it is a little weird. But thanks to the fascinating quadrilateral linkage that allows the dual suspension and steering systems on the front wheels to articulate independently, it's an ingenious way to put more rubber on the road at the front of the machine, thereby providing more grip for cornering and braking. There's a photograph in Piaggio's training materials that shows the bike cornering across tramlines with one tire squarely on the slippery steel rail and the other firmly in touch with the asphalt. It speaks volumes.

Another cool aspect of the leaning tandem front wheels is the electro-hydraulic locking mechanism that can be activated via a right-side button at near-stationary speeds (with the throttle shut) to keep the bike upright. There's no need to use the center stand on the MP3 so long as you lock the front bogie and apply the parking brake. (Since the bike is equipped with a continuously variable transmission, or CVT, it'll run downhill when the engine's switched off.)

Although the MP3 family includes 125, 250, 400 and 500 models, we were keen to try out the biggest engine, assuming it would better bridge the differences between scooters (even so-called maxi-scooters like this one) and motorcycles, whose all-around versatility is well understood. We were particularly interested in the fuel consumption of the 500, because economy is one of the reasons people choose scooters.

We quickly learned that the liquid-cooled, fuel-injected 493cc, 40-horsepower, single-cylinder engine is quite capable of maintaining freeway speeds of 80 mph. Since its top speed is said to be 89 mph, there isn't much acceleration left when cruising at that speed, but at least you aren't being tailgated by impatient SUV drivers.

That output is certainly enough to leave the cars for dead when the lights change, even with an initial launch that feels a tad soft in the way many CVT-equipped scooters seem to be. But after a few yards of relatively lazy thrust, the engine reaches an rpm-range with good torque and just locks onto those revs as road speed increases. (Peak torque is 27 pound-feet at 5,000 rpm, with maximum power produced at 7200 rpm, which you seldom see on the tach.)

CVTs are always deceptive, because the engine speed stays relatively constant as real speed picks up, and you need to keep an eye on the speedometer for a better idea of your velocity. Since there is no clutch, as such, the left-hand lever controls the rear brake, while the right-hand lever activates the surprisingly powerful twin-disc front brakes. Even veteran motorcycle riders soon become accustomed to this setup.

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