filtering thru traffic would be a prick on something that wide.
Having been cut-up by one on a Parisian motorway - I can assure you that they have no problems!
filtering thru traffic would be a prick on something that wide.
the suspension will exert a non-zero force at each wheel even if the vehicle isn't strictly "stable" unless the front wheels are locked in relation to each other. to wit, some owners have dropped the thing at stoplights since they thought it was locked but then found out that unstable equilibria ultimately become unstable despite the suspension forces -- ie, the bike tipped over too slowly for them to realize because the suspension damped the movements.Sure, I totally buy that it's more stable at speed, but I'm thinking about sliding out / tipping over in slow-speed near-zero traction situations (read: the weather in Boston yesterday). The advantage of 4 wheeled thing is that you slide around but don't lose your balance and fall over. When two-wheeled things slide they fall over. I don't see how the MP3 is any better than 2-wheeled vehicle in this respect.
Having been cut-up by one on a Parisian motorway - I can assure you that they have no problems!
I'm imagining the cartoon where the wyle-e-coyote is very slowly teetering off the edge of a cliff and all he can do is make his eyes bug out of his head until he finally loses it off the edge.the suspension will exert a non-zero force at each wheel even if the vehicle isn't strictly "stable" unless the front wheels are locked in relation to each other. to wit, some owners have dropped the thing at stoplights since they thought it was locked but then found out that unstable equilibria ultimately become unstable despite the suspension forces -- ie, the bike tipped over too slowly for them to realize because the suspension damped the movements.
i visited Vespa Seattle today and found some answers:look what i just found. reminiscent of the BMW C1 (which was also featured in this thread near its inception):
the fabled plug-in hybrid version isn't out. 250, 400, and 500 cc gasoline versions are out and in abundance.Not out yet? I have been seeing those things allot, like once every week or 2 I see one rolling around
For sure. I also saw a greasle hybrid motorcycle a few weeks ago in front of safewaythe fabled plug-in hybrid version isn't out. 250, 400, and 500 cc gasoline versions are out and in abundance.
what about their use in rain? i've read that tall windscreens aren't the best in rain even though they'd keep you dry as they clearly lack windshield wipers. note that the BMW C1 had a wiper... smart bavarians. (i guess i could really be a goon and run not only the super-tall screen but a windshield wiper: http://motorcyclewindshieldwiper.com/products/wiperkit.asp )The windscreens just reduce the amount of wind buffeting on your upper body which is really only a problem on longer rides, and also to reduce (I guess) windchill which might be good in winter........ Highly recommend retro fitting heated grips!!!!!
Of those screens I'd go for the medium one..... the super tall one looks like head impact level.
*edit* maybe not head impact, but stupid and ugly.
Heh "zero emissions".... Except for the smoke coming off the tyres as it dissapears into the distance!The KillaCycle is powered by a series of more than 1,200 special batteries which are the same as those found in De Walt tools.
The batteries feed two motors which together churn out a whopping 500bhp and can propel the machine to a top speed of a staggering 168mph.
If you go fast enough you can find a little pocket where you don't have to look through the screen but the air redirects the rai over your helmet.Having been riding sans windscreen for over a year, wind is the biggest factor. Seeing how you won't be touring, I would think a well designed mid screen would be best for surface street commuting. Won't help with the rain, but the wind would get somewhat redirected.
Rain gear is key, anyway.
sorry for the photo of the random old white dude, but this photo really illustrates how ridiculously tall/swept back at the top the tall Piaggio MP3 screen is. i want. i could just lean forward at traffic lights to stay dryIf you go fast enough you can find a little pocket where you don't have to look through the screen but the air redirects the rai over your helmet.
sorry for the photo of the random old white dude
heh, unfortunately agreed. the regular scooter crowd has a stereotype as well...That guy is exactly the image that jumped to mind when I first saw the MP3, right down to the sandals and socks. The 500 is borderline cool (as is the tech) but they still remind me of the Rascal scooters favored by the morbidly obese.
i for one would hope a 50cc motorcycle wouldn't weigh 429 lbs! but that's just me. the specs are getting dangerously low to the point of some perceived overlap with the sundry chinese electric scoots...VX-2 is a smaller and more compact electric equivalent of a 50cc internal combustion engine (ICE) bike with a weight of 429 pounds, a wheelbase of 54.5 inches and seat height of 29.9 inches. It features a 40-50 mile range, 30-mph speed capability, a 48V/20A battery charger that plugs into a standard 110V/220V outlet and safe, near- silent operation.
I saw this down the street, not sure what it is but I want one!
Looks like a Mini Cooper, but I didn't get close enough to tell. I will check it out tomorrow for sure.
I've seen those, but they aren't street legal in most states (I know they aren't legal here because I wanted one) and this has an Oregon plate on it.Nah Not even close to a mini..... Think you'll find that it is a Japanese Daihatsu or Suzuki, they make flat deck versions of their micro vans.
like the Aptera the Green Vehicles TRIAC hasn't come to fruition. yet. if ever. it was supposed to be on sale this summer yet no customer vehicles have been delivered. thumbs down.[5/20/08 post about Green Vehicles Triac, in which it was stated that it was "commercially available"]
288 V of NiMH, 27.4 kWh worth per wikipedia. 50 kW. supposedly a 200 km range (126 mi). top speed of 79 mph. 6-8h to recharge. 0-60 mph around 18 seconds. one cool feature all RAV4 EVs have, besides factory engineering and support, is a timer that lets you select when the car will draw energy off the grid to recharge, thus allowing you to take advantage of off-peak rates.By November 2002 the 328 RAV4-EV’s Toyota had committed to were sold, yet demand was continuing to build. Toyota was caught off-guard by the extent of the demand because the vehicle's retail buyers had outsold the projections far faster than the vehicles could be supplied to market - despite very little advertising, and very little public awareness of the product.
[...]
As it turned out there were more RAV4-EV's sold than there were cars available. It is noteworthy that Toyota did, in fact, play fair and filled every last order despite the fact that the last few dozen vehicles had to be painstakingly assembled from spare parts due to a shortfall of production components. [...]
Once the last of the 328 EV’s was sold in November 2002, the website disappeared and the EV program was unceremoniously scrapped. No additional cars could be sold because Toyota didn’t have anything to sell. The RAV4-EV was based on the 1996-2000 gasoline powered RAV4, which had become obsolete.
i doubt they are smart enough to import the diesel version."According to Automotive News, Volkswagen has determined that Americans might like a Polo, so it's bringing the 80-hp subcompact Stateside in the not-too-distant future. Until now, the importation of the Polo was all conjecture, but now we have confirmation, straight from the horse's mouth. No specifics were given about the diminutive hatchback's U.S. debut, but Volkswagen Group of America CEO Stefan Jacoby confirmed they think the time is right. The automaker feels that Americans are more open to smaller, more fuel-efficient vehicles following the summer of high gas prices and the struggling economy.
The car, which would slot in between the Toyota Yaris and the larger Honda Fit in size, could be built at the company's plant in Puebla, Mexico. Although they've never sold anything smaller than the Rabbit/Golf in the States, VW thinks the Polo could help them reach their goal of tripling U.S. sales over the next ten years. The latest genereation of the Polo is set to debut at the Geneva Motor Show in March, but it's unclear if we will be getting that model or its predecessor. We just hope the Polo GTI version is in the cards. "