Cancellation

[Rickb]

I ass.u.me the SRK to be more fun and agile than a Smart for Two.  I need to ride the motorcycle and drive the car to validate.  The advantage of the SRK is motorcycle parking and 3 SRKs fit in a typical parking space in the US.......perhaps zero advantage in your home town.   I like the narrow 2 seater cabin. I'll be riding/driving the SRK solo 90% of the time, and I have all the nubility I can handle at home.

[paravil]

Even if three SRKs fit into one parking space, the charge for a parking ticket (at least over here) is for one vehicle on one space. If three trikes were parked, and only one had the ticket displayed, the other two would soon have a parking warden´s fine pasted to the windshield. The parking charge is for one vehicle, with the ticket displayed, parked within the marked white lines (the ticket machine only dispenses ONE ticket!).

On the other hand, a motorbike (or the three-wheeled Tremola) would be permitted to park anywhere on the pedestrian area, as long as it did not obstruct. In London, there are desgnated motorbike parking areas on the pavement.

The first Tremolas have now been delivered, but on the basis an individual licence. A general EU licence is still pending due to planned changes to battery operating regulations. There is a new, Engl. language web site.

Neither the latest Smart, nor the Solo (or the SRK) would be permitted to park facing the traffic flow, as they are all too long.

A three wheeler will ALWAYS be less safe than a four wheeled vehicle and, without leaning technology would be just as wide.

[Rickb]

The SRK looks to meet my needs as a FUNctional supplement to my primary vehicle, but doesn't check all the boxes for your situation.  Safety is an issue with any motorcycle, 2 or 3 wheels, however, a skilled motorcycle rider may be able to maneuver the more agile motorcycle around to avoid a potential accident. Both the SRK and SOLO are safer than your average motorbike, likely as safe as the Tremola, and as or safer than some crappy 4 wheel vehicles (cars).

The vehicle that would have checked all our boxes is the Lit Motors C-1!    We will both:  Drive what we like, Like what we drive.

I'd like to be one of the first 50 SRK Test Pilots.......no cancellation in my future.  

https://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=yout...XXLrAuzdFc

[paravil]

Maybe we were just lucky that Kim´s two wheeled wonder vehicle never made it to market. So many of these seemingly `revolutionary´ innovations that have all been intended to bring about major changes to urban transport have proved to be a disappointment. The Carver principle was technically flawed and I am certain that the Elio will never be a success. This has been a never ending attempt by small innovators to improve on the 1960s bubble cars. None of the major car or motorcycle manufacturers have come up with anything. Honda´s urban concept has died a silent death, just like all the other `prototypes´ and the Twizy certainly doesn´t `tick any of my boxes´.

[Rickb]

I agree. I was lucky/happy to get my C-1 reservation deposit refunded.

Even though you have personal issues with the SRK and SOLO they happen to be the only concepts coming to market that tick a majority of my boxes. I'm looking for a fun to drive three wheeler EV as a supplement to my primary vehicle. I think you are looking to replace your motorbikes with a primary vehicle that requires more ticked boxes based on your personal needs and urban driving environment.

[DanCooper]

"A three wheeler will ALWAYS be less safe than a four wheeled vehicle and, without leaning technology would be just as wide."

That is an oversimplification. First, let's not confuse stability with safety. Stability depends not only on how many wheels, but on a lot of other factors. For a trike, the main factors would be track width, CG height, and front/rear weight distribution. If a vehicle will slide rather than roll, it is stable enough and an increase in theoretical stability will not improve safety. And there is also the consideration, if it has a roll cage and it rolls and you are strapped in, the chance of injury is pretty low.

Leaning technology is unproven as yet. I will be very surprised if it turns out to be as stable as a low-CG trike like the SRK.

"None of the major car or motorcycle manufacturers have come up with anything."

That is ignoring the Can-Am Spyder and the Polaris Slingshot. A lot of them have been sold so far and I haven't been able to find out about any particular safety problems with them, even though the Can-Am does not have a roll cage. Also there are a lot of Harley-Davidson and Honda Goldwing delta trikes, which is less optimal than a tadpole configuration, but I haven't heard of particular safety problems with them either.

Another major factor in safety is crashworthiness. The SRK with its roll cage, front and rear crumple zones, and 4 point harnesses should be pretty good. I would guess it is as good as most cars, although it might not do quite as well on tests designed specifically for cars.

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Another stability factor is dynamic stability. On a 2-wheeler especially, it depends on a lot of factors. Once a friend of mine fixed up an old Harley-Davidson. He let me drive it. At about 50 mph the steering started to shimmy. I told him about it and said he ought to do something about it, but it wasn't obvious what to do. The next week he crashed it because of the shimmy and was in the hospital for a while.

[Rickb]

I'm hoping for leaning technology on a low-CG trike like the SRK or better yet the SRK i-Lean 2.0.  Tilting Motorworks indicated interest in engineering from the ground up a tilting retrofit for the SRK.  TMW's Harley leaning retrofits have years of proven road tested miles.  

Video link:  
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=3alGM0n1ACA

[DanCooper]

I would like to know what is the advantage of tilting. I looked at the TMW system, it is a passive tilt like the Piaggio MP3. My feeling is that if it hits a bump it might be better or it might be worse than a 2-wheeler. If one wheel hits a hole it might pull the steering hard over, which wouldn't happen on a 2-wheeler. If it skidded on ice it wouldn't go all the way down, but it would go to 45 degrees tilt which would still be unpleasant and dangerous. The only advantage I can see is that you don't have to put your feet down to stop, but is this really an issue? I have one leg and it is still easy to stop, with or without a prosthesis.

Maybe some people think tilting is what makes a motorcycle feel like a motorcycle. To me it is almost irrelevant. The light weight of the vehicle and the open-air experience are what count to me.

A few years ago I accelerated a bit too fast out of a turn and dumped it, scraped it up a bit (and a small scrape on my prosthesis, honorable battle scar). OK, my response is don't accelerate quite so hard. The TMW system would go down to its stops, although you wouldn't scrape it up. Unless it flipped, which would be a lot worse than dumping a bike, which tends to slide out from under you. In an SRK this would simply be a recoverable skid.

[Rickb]

I thought Bob's explanation of why he designed and engineered his product was compelling...........likes the feel of the lean...........

It's amazing what one can do on one good leg.  I have two and neither function well enough to ride a traditional 2 wheel MC.

[paravil]

1. I agree that ""A three wheeler will ALWAYS be less safe than a four wheeled vehicle " is a simplification. Like the statement that a three legged stool will ALWAYS be more likely to have ALL its legs on the ground than one with four legs.

2. Trikes and quads are are considered to be `high risk´ over here. Insurers and regulatory authorities warn against their use and assert that this is statistically proven (although I have not yet taken the trouble to look into the data). My experiences with the Messerschmitt (single, powered rear wheel) AND the Bond Bug (single powered front wheel) were, to say the least - exciting. Neither could be considered safe in extreme conditions or came anywhere near being as safe as the lightweight Landrover that I later purchased from the military.

The least safe was the rear wheel powered Messerchmitt. ANY application of power on a slippery surface resulted in a ground loop. And I believe this can be seen when comparing videos of Solo and SRK test drives. Drivers take more care when going into a curve with the Solo.

3. The great advantage of a leaning (tilting) technology is that it enables the vehicle to be designed to be as narrow as a motorcycle but, at the same time, to be as safe (or safer) than a four wheeled vehicle like a non-tilting quad. As Dan pointed out above: " Stability depends not only on how many wheels, but on a lot of other factors. For a trike, the main factors would be track width, CG height, and front/rear weight distribution."

Without tilting,a vehicle must necessarily be wider, lower and with a heavy, low down CG.

I want to sit as high up as possible, to see above the SUVs and delivery vans. I want a NARROW vehicle that I can park anywhere. That automatrcally makes it a tilter.

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What´s stopping Harley from adding a cab? And will it ever happen before I fall off my perch? It´s all there. And within easy reach. This is truly exasperating!