Suzuki Designs Tilting Trike

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Suzuki has filed patents for a tilting trike that the rider sits in rather than on. (Suzuki Patents/)

A new patent filing in Japan shows plans for a scooter-powered Suzuki three-wheeler that can lean through corners, but it’s unlike rivals from Piaggio and Yamaha. It uses a go-kart-style riding position rather than mimicking a conventional two-wheeler’s posture.

Combining a low-slung, carlike seat with motorcycle-style bars, it’s neither fish nor fowl, instead cutting a figure more like a Polaris Slingshot when seen from the side. But where the Slingshot definitely falls more on the car side of the equation, with side-by-side seating and car-style controls, the Suzuki design is strictly monoposto, with room for just one, centrally positioned occupant. What’s more, with a handlebar instead of a steering wheel and—unlike the Slingshot—the ability to lean into corners like a motorcycle, this is going to feel more like a bike.

Suzuki’s trike is steered via a handlebar rather than a wheel. (Suzuki Patents/)

Although the appearance might suggest a high-performance machine, that’s misleading as the Suzuki design is intended to be cheap transport rather than a weekend toy. As a result, power comes not from a GSX-R1000 engine (a shame) but from Suzuki’s scooter range. Like most twist-and-go, step-through scooters, the engine is in one piece with the swingarm, with the whole powertrain pivoting to provide suspension movement. The patent doesn’t specify details of its capacity, but the drawing shows a unit that looks a lot like Suzuki’s current 125cc single-cylinder scooter engine.

Patent drawings show a power unit similar to Suzuki’s current 125cc scooter engine. (Suzuki Patents/)

It’s paired to a continuously variable transmission to make riding as straightforward as possible, and the pictures show a rear drum brake that further emphasizes the low performance aspirations of the design. Like most cheap scooters, there’s a simple coilover rear suspension system with no rising-rate linkage.

But that’s the point. Suzuki’s patent document describes this as a machine “with a simple and inexpensive configuration” and the target is clearly the same people who are wary of two-wheeled bikes but might be tempted by a three-wheeler like Piaggio’s MP3 or Yamaha’s Tricity. In fact, the sort of customers who find even those machines a bit too bikelike might be tempted by the perceived added safety of the lower-slung Suzuki. The patent application points out that Suzuki’s design has a far lower center of gravity and more stability than taller, narrower tilting trikes.

Drawings suggest a compact trike with room for one. (Suzuki Patents/)

The same low center of gravity also means the tilting front suspension of the design, which allows the whole machine to lean into corners like a motorcycle, doesn’t need any sort of electric assistance to bring the trike back upright, reducing the number of components and the cost. With a relatively simple, tubular steel chassis, the cost penalty compared to a scooter shouldn’t be too great.

Whether riders of this machine will get a sense of safety from the safety cage and the three-wheeled stability remains to be seen. Sitting directly on top of the fuel tank, at eye level with the lug nuts of most four-wheeled traffic and well below the sightline of truck drivers, sounds like a nerve-racking prospect at best, particularly when coupled with relatively gutless performance.

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