Driving a 3-wheeled motorbike on car licence

patman99

My son has been looking at purchasing a scooter or 125cc motorbike to get him to college every day. On one leaflet for Piaggio, there was a range of motorbikes with twin front wheels, these grabbed my attention as a possible solution to my transport needs should I get offered a job I had an interview for.

My question is this. for the purposes of law, are they a motorbike, or are they a trike?. If they are the former, then my car license doesn't cover me to ride one, but if it is indeed a trike, then I can ride it as it would be covered by a car license (three wheeled cars and trikes are class A or B depending on whether or not they are manual or auto).

I have asked many people, but no-one seems to know.

Norman_Castle

The Piaggio MP3 is type-approved as a standard two wheeled motorcycle, thanks to an overall front-end width of only 420 mm.

Googled piaggio three wheeled scooter and found this on first site."London biker" I think.

Billy-no-Money

According to the ultimate source of the truth that is Wikipedia there's one variant of the Piaggio mp3 that can be driven on a car licence (the LT400) - all the others need a bike licence (or a CBT for the 125).

Personally I think it would be inadvisable to ride any of these without some bike training, even if it's just the CBT, as you're just as vulnerable as any motorcyclist (but with some added stability / grip).

Speaking as a motorcyclist - great though the mp3s are, it's much better to get a bike licence and do the job properly!

King_Nothing

Probabley just work out cheaper and easier to do a CBT and buy a 125 to potter about on, and either do your test, or resit the CBT 2 years down the line.

spiro

Or you could get a proper 3 wheeler, saw one outside my local Tescos the other day and it was awesome but it cost £14k. :eek:

boyse7en

The Piaggio comes in two versions.
The slightly wider-tracked front end one is the LT, and that can be driven on a standard driving licence. The narrower tracked versions require a motorcycle licence.

I agree with other posters, if you are getting one, get some basic training if you have no motorcycle experience.

I was given a standard width 250cc MP3 as a courtesy bike when my Ducati was being serviced, and they are great fun. the extra front-end grip means roundabouts are a real hoot

patman99

Yes, they do look very stable. As for getting a 'proper 3-wheeler', The Piaggio LT400 is no wider than a real motorbike, so you can carve-up the queue of traffic like a pro. One of the jobs I'm chasing is on an industrial estate in Colchester that is a real nightmare to get out of in the evenings unless you are a biker, in which case you can easily work your way to the front of the queue. Hence my OP.

Norman_Castle

The only 400cc scooter that can be ridden with your car license
The MP3 LT is the ideal solution for all those who have thought about purchasing a scooter for their urban transport needs, but are hindered by the fact that they do not hold a motorcycle license. Thanks to its larger front tyre track of 465mm, the Piaggio MP3 LT can be ridden by car license holders and with its larger engine size it offers far greater performance than a 50cc or 125cc models to which car licence holders were previously restricted.

Taken from the Piaggio website.
They cost £6649.:eek:

calder

the piaggio mp3 lt 400 is a bike with 2 wheels at the front and one at the back and is 400cc and can be rode on a full uk car licence

calder

it can be tricky to get insurance for but some insurers are euity red star and groupama and lexham insurance brokers

spiro

calder wrote: »

the piaggio mp3 lt 400 is a bike with 2 wheels at the front and one at the back and is 400cc and can be rode on a full uk car licence

We got that answer in August last year.