No one in the community of motorcycle enthusiasts was clamoring for anything with three wheels. And I know what you’re thinking: I ain’t riding no fargin’ tricycle.
But Yamaha has a history of taking chances for no obvious reason, only to end up being completely right. “We wanted to make a motorcycle with more grip,” says Leon Oosterhof, Niken’s product planning manager. The company didn’t start out thinking they’d build a three-wheeled bike, but “once the solution was set, we decided we definitely needed an extra front wheel.” Most companies won’t turn a screw before conducting years of consumer-trend studies. Yamaha didn’t think twice.
Hence, the new Niken, the most fun you’ve had on three wheels since you were burning across the driveway on your Big Wheel.
The Niken doesn’t ride like a trike. It’s a whole new class of machine-an enhanced motorcycle for the sole purpose of pushing corners hard and having people stare at you in amazement. The front end feels heavy at first, and it should.
The 200 miles we covered that day were the best I’d ever ridden. You want to put an asterisk next to that because I had three wheels under me, go right ahead-Yamaha doesn’t care, and neither do I.
I didn’t think I was good enough for those roads, the same way I stay away from some of the curves back home. But on that day, on this bike, I was.