Piaggio Patents Fixed MP3 Fairing

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In this patent illustration you can see how the current MP3’s fairing twists on the same plane as the leaning front end, while the new design keeps the fairing fixed. (Piaggio/)

Italian company Piaggio has been pioneering the idea of tilting trikes for the better part of two decades now. It launched the MP3 scooter in 2006 after years of development and has stuck with the project ever since, developing a range of variants and inspiring copies from several rival companies. A new patent application from the company shows it has now struck upon a surprisingly simple idea that solves a couple of key problems with such machines, as well as offering additional benefits at minimal extra cost.

The brain wave here is to redesign the front bodywork so the nose fairing remains parallel with the road even when the rest of the bike is leaning, as shown in the patent’s illustrations. It might look a little strange, but it’s a solution that tackles two issues that have previously been insurmountable.

Here you can see how the current MP3’s entire body leans together, which sets the headlights at an angle and isn’t as aerodynamically efficient.

The first is aerodynamics. A tilting trike like the MP3, which is what this patent is based around, inevitably has a wider nose than a two-wheeled bike, but the front bodywork normally has to sit extremely high as well. That’s because it has to be able to clear the inside front wheel during corners, as well as accommodating its suspension movement over bumps. On top of that, each of the two front wheels splits the oncoming air as the bike goes down the road, pushing a substantial amount into the gap between the wheels. This might be good when it comes to feeding cool air to the radiator behind the wheels, but it doesn’t make for good aerodynamic performance.

A side view of how the proposed fairing would mount on the linkage. (Piaggio/)

What Piaggio’s engineers have realized is that instead of bolting the fairing to the tilting frame of the bike, they can instead mount it on the parallelogram-style linkage above the front wheels that remains horizontal as the bike leans. Doing so eliminates the need to position it high above the wheels and means the nose can deflect a large amount of the air that would be trapped between the front wheels up and over the bike instead.

A closer look at the proposed front-fairing design. (Piaggio/)

Another potential advantage is a cosmetic one. Although the patent drawings here show a gawky-looking machine largely built from existing components that have been hacked up and repositioned, the tall front end of tilting trikes has proved to be a hurdle for designers. Yamaha’s Niken is a good example of the problem, with “wheel-arch” sections cut so high into the nose fairing that they’re nearly level with the top of the fuel tank. Allowing the nose to tilt with the bike would allow the profile to be much more conventional, requiring only enough space above the front wheels to accommodate suspension movement over bumps.

Here you can see how the Yamaha Niken’s wheel arches have to be placed so high to accommodate the wheels at full lean. (Gary Picman/Tim Keeton/)

On Piaggio’s patent, the system is shown on an MP3-style scooter with the usual step-through design and a tall windscreen that’s bolted to the tilting section of the bike so the rider doesn’t miss out on wind protection in corners. The new nose section is positioned ahead of that, and in this design Piaggio has used it to provide additional luggage space by adding a flip-up lid covering a “frunk” that the patent suggests would be big enough to hold a helmet.

As another benefit, by keeping the nose section parallel to the ground, the bike’s headlights are also kept horizontal while riding through corners. With a wide beam, that means the inside of corners can be illuminated far better than a conventional bike can manage without the need to resort to technology like cornering lamps or adaptive headlights.

Will a production version appear? That’s far from clear, but no doubt Piaggio has already put together test beds to trial the idea, and if it proves as effective in practice as it appears on paper, there’s little reason that it shouldn’t be easy to create a mass-made version.

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