Added Zing

It's a three wheeler. It's a three wheeler from China. It's a three wheeler from China with a roof. Hello, is that the niche police?

It's very hard to sum up a bright yellow tilting three-wheeler with a roof, especially one that costs little more than half as much as its nearest rival. but that, in essence is, is the Zing Vogue, a made-in-China trike that you can buy here for £2199 on the road. In some ways it's typically Chinese, but the inspiration comes from Japan and its roots are in Surbiton. Yes, you read that right.

First, some history (and if you don't like history, please skip the next few paragraphs). The idea of a tilting trike isn't new, and patents were filed as early as 1897 on just such a device, but it wasn't until the late 1960s that anyone seems to have actually built one that worked. George Wallis ran a small design company in Surbiton, and was searching for a way to make the average delivery bicycle safer. After rejecting those early patents, he and his team came up with geometry that worked, and built a 75cc prototype that was apparently very stable.

They attracted the attention of the then-mighty BSA, which wanted to build a moped that offered something different, and bought the marketing rights to George Wallis's basic layout. The result, in 1970, was the infamous Ariel 3, which turned out to be one of the biggest flops in scooter history. Small Heath spent £2 million developing it, and was so convinced of its success that they toold up to make 2000 a week. Unfortunately, the public didn't agree, and only a few hundred were sold, while the BSA empire collapsed soon after.

But that wasn't the end of the tilting trike. Honda came along, bought up Mr Wallis's prototypes and patents, and launched the three-wheel Stream in 1981. Typically, they got it right, and by 2002 had built over 130,000 of the things - you could still buy a Honda tilting trick in 2008, though you'd have to nip over to Japan to do so. Or you could go for Piaggio's MP3, with its twin wheels at the front, which by all accounts works very well indeed. The ultimate tilting trike is Dutch-designed, German-built Carver, which uses clever electronics and hydraulics to do the tilting. Very nice, but more of a tilting car than a motorcycle.

Anyway, what's made in Japan inevitably ends up being made (whether under licence or not) in China, and the Xingyue company have been making this bright yellow (or blue, silver or black) variant on the theme for about four years. The principle hasn't changed since George Wallis's first prototype wobbled onto the streets of Surbiton all those years ago. The rear pair of wheels, carrying the engine and transmission, remain upright to the tarmac, leaving the rest of the scooter to tilt and steer just like a conventional two-wheeler. This should offer better stability than a two-wheeler, with the added bonus of all-over weather protection. And being classes as s trike, the Vogue can be ridden on a car licence without even having to take a CBT.

Not that the importers would recommend anyone to do that. They like every prospective buyer to have a decent test ride and some acclimatisation time first, which sounds like a good idea, whether you've come from a two - or four-wheel background. In theory, our car driver could also leap aboard the vogue without a helmet, but the importers do recommend that you wear a lid as well. With that all-over roof, this Chinese scooter might look like it has the build-in crash protection of a BMW C1, but it doesn't - the roof will protect you from nothing more deadly than rain.

Still, enough of this long and convoluted introduction - what's the Vogue like to ride? It has to be locked upright when parked, otherwise it would flop over, so the first thing you do is push down a big lever on the dash, which makes it free to tilt. Unlike the Piaggio MP3, there's no sophisticated system that automatically unlocks as you get going, so the Vogue has to be ridden like any other two-wheeler, with a foot down when you stop. The same is true of cornering, with rider input in just the same way as you lean through a bend.

But it doesn't feel like a two-wheeler, more as if you're towing a small trailer. The twin rear wheels do slither over wet manhole covers but they showed no sign of sliding on greasy Tarmac, and nor did the front. I wouldn't say the Vogue is confidence inspiring, because it feels a bit odd - the test bike also had a nasty bar wobble at 30-35pmy - but after an hour or so I was getting the hang of it. The importer does fit a nice Ohlins rear shock in place of the original Chinese item, and is promising to experiment with thicker fork oil.

Peering through the tall narrow windscreen brings the C1 to mind, and you do have to watch out for blind spots caused by the screen pillars, but otherwise visibility is the same as on any other scooter. The Vogue also has antilock brakes, but a far simpler system than modern electronics we're used to. I couldn't get them to lock up, but the small disc and drum feel rather wooden - adequate rather than powerful.

Talking of power, modern fuel-injected 125s can happily cruise at 60mph and top seventy. The Vogue isn't one of those, and its fan cooled four-stroke 150cc motor puts out a claimed 7.5bhp, or exactly half that of a state-of-the-art 125. Add a claimed dry weight of 160kg (about the same as a 250cc scoot) and it all adds up to lukewarm performance. Actually, the Vogue will keep up with town traffic up to 40mph or so, but it's a different story out on the open road, where it struggles to break an indicated fifty. At that speed, the Vogue is a hectic place to be, as engine roar reverberates off the roof (again, just like the C1) and it gets upset by patched tarmac. Think of it as an urban-only commuter, and it'll be happier all round.

In fact, it's round town that the Vogue's strong points come out. Once you've got used to the feel of the thing, it is quite easy to ride, so long as you've got some two-wheel experience - it doesn't feel top-heavy like the C1 (the upside of not having crash protection). It's also got loads of space for shopping, with a lockable boot, big enough to swallow a full-face lid as well as groceries. There's plenty of space for a pillion too, all under the roof, though adding all that weight will give the poor little motor even more work to do. And while it didn't rain when I rode the Vogue, weather protection is clearly better than anything with two wheels.

Finally (though you might no see this as a strength) the Vogue is highly visible and attracts a lot of interest - any driver who claims "I didn't see you" is obviously lying! - Though some bystanders do mistake it for an invalid trike. The Vogue comes with a big, clear speedo and fuel gauge, though someone at the factory must have a fixation about the health of the battery, as there's also a voltmeter and a three-pin socket to recharge the battery if it happens to flatten! Quality-wise, it's all about on par with a £1400 Chinese 125, which means cheap-feeling switchgear and locks, plus untidy detailing. On the other hand, the Zing Vogue does have a low price to match, and if you can live with the dynamics, offers something quite unique.