With its off-se!ing
of the cylinders in
relation to the centre
of the crank to reduce
friction, the CP3 delivers
commendable fuel use
figures in bike form
POWER ENOUGH
nother advantage is the iken s near
immunity to road surface ha ards like
gravel stones, diesel s ills and wet atches.
f one of the front tyres suddenly loses its
urchase on the road, the other is still likely
to ossess enough gri to kee the amaha
tracking as desired through the corner.
he ikens sam led at the ew ealand
launch were fresh off the boat, with
some showing as little as km on their
odometers. his e aggerated the effect of
the added mass over the
- , although
the tri-trackers did liven u noticeably as
the kilometres clocked u . till, there s little
doubt that the single-track amaha
tri le will beat the tri-wheeled version in
any drag race between the two. he e tra
kg is uite a weight handica for the
iken to cart, yet such is the willingness and
accessible tor ue delivery of the
cc
ross- lane tri le amaha three-cylinder
engine, that effective and uick overtaking
erformance remains on the riding menu.
otable owertrain changes for three-
wheeled duty include forged istons, a
weightier crankshaft, the strengthening of
some transmission com onents of the si -
s eed gearbo , and the fitting of two e tra
teeth to the rear drive s rocket to enhance
thrust. ith its off-setting of the cylinders in
relation to the centre of the crank to reduce
friction, the
delivers commendable fuel
use figures in bike form. However, the tri
com uters of the ikens mostly showed
fuel use in the . - . litres
km range
on the launch. ut then, few ournalists in
attendance were riding with fuel economy
in mind e ce t -year-old ussie
legend, eter ear hoeming, who had
. litres
km registering on his iken .
till, the e tra litre er
km that a iken
will consume over an
- does highlight
one of the bigger trade-offs for that e tra
front-end gri
increased running costs. he
more com licated front sus ension re uires
ulling a art every ,
km so that the
bearings can be re- acked with grease, and
the clearances re-shimmed. here are now
four fork tube seals to regularly re lace
instead of two, and although amaha says
front tyres last longer due to less scrubbing
on the road surface, you ve now have to buy
two instead of one at re lacement time.
KIWI RIDER 49