Yamaha Tricity: $4299

Yamaha’s leaning three-wheeler – the first serious shot in the company’s ‘new mobility’ segment – has been launched in Australia, espousing a path of lightness, sportiness, agility and ease of use.

According to Yamaha, the Tricity marks a “completely different approach” to some other larger and heavier multi-wheel scooter style scooters – a veiled reference to the Piaggio Yourban MP3, we presume. And there’s a major point of departure as well – there’s no lockout function like the Tricity, so the rider still has to put their legs down when stationary.

And the Tricity is priced much cheaper at $4299.

How does the technology work? Hidden behind the front cowl, a parallelogram link gives the rider the ability to lean the Tricity in much the same way as a conventional two-wheel scooter.

The parallelogram link's component parts are connected to the forks and the frame's steering head, and when the Tricity rider enters a turn this system allows the twin front wheels to lean over in parallel. While leaning over, the track (distance between the twin front wheels) remains almost consistent.

Another key element is the use of special tandem-type cantilevered telescopic front forks that feature two separate tubes for each wheel. The rear fork tubes function as guides, while the front fork tubes handle the shock absorbing function. The suspension system on each front wheel operates completely independently.

The Tricity is equipped with 14-inch aluminium front wheels that are fitted with 90/80-14 tyres. The rear wheel is 12-inch with a 110/90-12 tyre.

The unified brake system incorporates twin 220m diameter front discs and a 230mm rear disc. When the left-hand brake lever is applied, the braking force is applied to the rear wheel and also to the front wheels; when the rider applies only the right hand lever, the front brakes are applied; and when the rider applies both the left and right levers at the same time the system distributes braking force to the front and back brakes.

The 125cc four-stroke fuel-injected engine has bore and stroke dimensions of 52.4 x 57.9mm, producing a modest 11hp (8.1kW) at 9000rpm and 10Nm at 5500rpm.

At this stage, Yamaha is just sticking with the 125cc capacity, but we wouldn’t be surprised to see the Tricity unveiled in a larger capacity down the track.

There's a CVT transmission, with the gear ratios ranging from 2.361 to 0.794. The seat height is 780mm. Colour options are red, grey, white or black.

Bikesales will have the full launch report next week.