my sunny roadrunner 300 and her big brother By justincrediblem (Read 2,718 times)

[new2scootn]

I'm right there with ya about the Piaggio's looks-does nothin' for me. The 500 is a little better but for the price I'd want drop dead gorgeous! If you've never seen one, check out the Quadro 4D--kinda like the Piaggio but better lookin'(to me anyway ;D).

[justincrediblem]

Hey claritysailing, I've never owned a motorcycle before. It's hard to describe the steering characteristics for these trikes. It's kinda like a atv but kinda like a motorcycle too i guess. I have heard veteran motorcycle riders have had to learn new things when riding these trikes. My trike does 63mph at full speed and I have gotten up to 76mph with a strong wind behind me helping.
The more miles I get on my trike, the better she seems to ride. I have made a couple of abrupt maneuvers with no issues. Avoided a dog and a board laying in the road. The only small complaint I have is the quality of how the trike is put together. MY biggest complaint is about the importer of these trikes. Sunny powersports, aka scooter depot, aka sunny motor, is the absolute worse company I have ever dealt with. They are rude, unprofessional, and don't send correct parts. My dealer (extreme-scooters.com) Dave Bergman is a pretty bad experience as well.

[rgmarsing]

Ditto everything you said about Sunny (aka Scooter Depot). I have had no real problems with the scoot I bought from them but thier customer service and overall attitude is the worst. I will never do business with them again, even for parts. Just glad I didn't go for any of thier extended warranties because that would have been a complete waste.

[new2scootn]

Almost forgot, welcome to the forum claritysailing!!! ;D I've been ridin' motorcycles for over 25 years and yes this trike does countersteer like a motorcycle... but it does NOT handle the same. I mean if you just jumped on the thing with no previous experience(riding a tilting RT) other than ridin' motorcycles you could ride it but here's the note of caution: on a motorcycle the only thing limiting your lean in a turn is your nerve, your footpegs, or your knee. This thing has a limit of 40 degrees or something like that and when it arrives at this mechanical limit, if you're in the middle of a high speed tight turn... well let's just say there could be trouble. The first time you experience this limit in a turn it's very unnerving... especially if where you're turning has opposing traffic. Picture this('cause I lived it!)... you're cruising along a let's say 45 mph and you begin to negotiate a fairly sharp right turn. So you instinctively begin the turn by countersteering to the left and the trike starts leanin' over. Hey, this turn IS kinda tight so you instinctively countersteer more aggressively to tighten up your turn and... wth?... you hit that lean limit but you need more lean to make this turn. So guess what you now instinctively do? Turn harder to the RIGHT 'cause your brain says we're turnin' right and we need more turn action. This of course is the WORST(and scariest) thing you can do midway in a turn because the effect is to pick the trike up out of the lean, INCREASE your turning radius(remember the oncoming traffic?), and if you're not carefull throw your lean(and you) in the opposite direction. NOT fun. But just like my cruiser bike has it's limits leaning,(the scrapes on the chrome footpegs will attest to that!) once you learn these limits from practice you quickly realize what your maximum safe speed will be in any particular turn. So yes, it does handle a lot like a motorcycle(which is why it appeals to me more than something like a Can-Am that doesn't tilt) but it's unique enough that you really need to practice a bit on back roads or a parking lot to get comfortable and safe before joining the cagers. Oh yeah, low speed hard turns are kinda different too. You need to lean your body into the turn a bit more to get the trike to start to lean over('cause countersteering at real slow speeds just makes you turn the other way) then you're good to go. At high speeds this thing just gets more stable and I've tried steering back and forth right and left while doing 65+ mph just to check her out and she felt real good. I've had mine up to 82 mph(slight downgrade and no wind) and she'll do 60+ all day on level. As for build quality... fair at best. And I would recommend that you do your own PDI to avoid a lot of potential problems and familiarize yourself with where things are and how they work. Bottom line--if you're looking for a trouble free ride this probably ain't it. But if you're mechanically inclined and like tinkerin' there's no other tilting RT close to this price range.

[new2scootn]

One additional note: bought mine from Hotrodpocketbikes and Carl has been great and he has an A rating in the Better Business Bureau. Whoever you buy it from though has to go through Sunny Powersports to order the trike and for any subsequent issues. Although I haven't had any issue with Sunny, just about everything I've read about their customer service is bad. Hope this was helpful!

[justincrediblem]

Quick ride clip riding my sunny 300cc reverse trike using my extreme i-Kam sports glasses.



wind noise is bad. You can hear my radio in the beginning of the clip.