When I first coached Dylan Szoke, he was a young boxer with a love of motorcycles and a very particular bike on his wish list. Now 20, he has spent four years riding the Nippi his family gave him for his 16th birthday. We talked about the bike he grew up wanting, the places it has taken him, racing and the less glamorous reality of keeping it running.

Dylan was the first boxer I ever coached, back at Townend Boxing Academy. We worked together for over five years, including when I launched Kronik Warrior UK during the pandemic. As he got older, he began helping me coach and became a lovely mentor to the younger people coming through.

I still remember giving him a pair of Reyes boxing gloves from the WBC for his 13th birthday. It doesn’t seem five minutes ago. Now he’s 20, has finished college and is starting his career. We hadn’t seen each other for a good couple of years when we caught up recently, and I was absolutely delighted to see him.

And there, beside him, was the blue Nippi he’d talked about wanting when he was around 12.

He showed me how he gets into it with his wheelchair, and I was fascinated. The Nippi is a three-wheeled motorcycle designed so its rider can remain in their wheelchair, rather than transfer onto a conventional bike seat. I’d only ever seen one other, and even that was in a photograph. It made me wonder why something like this wasn’t much more familiar.

After I shared a video, thousands of people began asking about it too. Dylan very kindly agreed to tell me more about owning and riding one, which is where his story becomes particularly interesting.

It started with his dad

Dylan’s dream of riding began long before he knew the Nippi existed. He comes from a family of bikers, and watching his dad was what first made him want to ride.

“The dream started before I can even remember,” he tells me. “I come from a family of bikers and seeing my dad ride made me dream about one day being a biker myself. I just didn’t know the Nippi was out there.”

When he was 16, his family surprised him with one for his birthday. It was the bike he’d been dreaming about for years, although getting on it for the first time still came with a few nerves.

“The first time I rode the bike was quite scary as I’d never been that speed before.”

Four years on, he’s been able to explore further, meet other riders and enjoy motorcycling as part of his everyday life. He takes the Nippi to bike events and has ridden it on a circuit alongside other motorcyclists.

“My favourite thing about riding my Nippi is the independence it gives me and the places I’ve been able to go and the people I’ve met.”

Getting aboard, then getting moving

When Dylan showed me the Nippi, I was struck by how easily he appeared to get in and out. But his bike hasn’t simply been taken off a shelf and used exactly as it arrived. The family made adjustments, including adding handrails to the ramp and a connection point between his wheelchair and the Nippi.

As for the riding itself, he doesn’t pretend it handles quite like every other bike.

“The Nippi is interesting to ride to say the least,” he says. “With the drive wheel being in the right hand side it hates right hand corners and it pulls to the left when I accelerate in a straight line.”

That’s how Dylan describes the handling of his own Nippi. Watching the footage he sent me from the road gives a glimpse of the riding experience, but his explanation tells us much more about the characteristics he has learned to manage.

There’s another feature he would happily change: it doesn’t have a reverse gear. For someone using a vehicle regularly, manoeuvring and parking are part of the experience too.

Four years of ownership, and quite a few pistons

The stories about riding are only half the picture. Keeping an older and relatively unusual motorcycle running is another matter, and Dylan’s family has dealt with more than its fair share of mechanical work.

Over the four years he’s owned his Nippi, Dylan reports repeated piston and engine problems. His dad’s mechanical knowledge has made a considerable difference.

“Luckily my dad is a capable mechanic,” he says. Apart from those repairs, and remembering the two-stroke oil, Dylan considers much of the day-to-day upkeep fairly straightforward.

He’s candid about the less convenient aspects of ownership, but none of it seems to have dampened his enthusiasm for riding. When I asked what he would say to somebody considering a Nippi, his answer came with both encouragement and a practical warning.

“Be prepared for questions, save up for pistons and just enjoy it like you would any other bike.”

The questions never stop

Dylan already knew his Nippi would attract attention long before I shared a video of it. Whether he’s in town or at a bike event, people are curious about what he rides and how it works.

“Everywhere I go, in town and bike events I can hardly move away before a curious bystander asks about the bike.”

The response to our recent videos has been rather extraordinary. His thirty something second clip has racked up over a million views! There have been questions about getting aboard, requests to see him riding and plenty of people admitting they’d never heard of a Nippi before. Most lovely of all has been the kindness shown to Dylan, which I know has meant a great deal.

He has always been part of a community through boxing, and it’s been lovely to see people taking an interest in another side of his life. This time, he’s talking about the bike he wanted for years and has now spent four years enjoying.

The only other one I’ve seen had flames

The only other Nippi I know of belonged to my husband’s uncle. I never saw it in person, only in photographs, but I can still see why it was such a head-turner in his town.

His was painted dark with bright orange flames sweeping across the bodywork. Dylan’s is brilliant blue, with his own helmet and details. Both have rather more personality than the average vehicle you see parked outside the shops.

Seeing Dylan’s Nippi reminded me of that photograph, and of how rarely I’ve come across these motorcycles in all the years since.

Where have all the Nippis gone?

The numbers suggest they really are unusual. The Classic Valuer’s DVLA-derived registration tables list 55 Nippis licensed for road use at the end of June 2026, with another 193 recorded as off-road.

I’ve contacted Nippi to find out more about its history, whether new bikes can still be made and what support exists for people trying to keep older ones on the road. We haven’t had a response at the time of writing, but I’ll update this article if further information becomes available.

In the meantime, Dylan’s experience is a useful reminder of what can be missed when we talk about transport purely in terms of function. The Nippi gets him around, certainly, but it also connects him with the world of motorcycling he grew up around. He rides, meets people at events and takes it racing. The mechanical headaches are part of the story too.

Just enjoy it like any other bike

I’m still rather tempted to find a Nippi for myself, although after hearing about the repairs, I might have a word with Dylan’s dad about those pistons first! 😂

For all its quirks and the challenges of keeping it running, Dylan clearly loves riding his Nippi. And I think his advice to anyone considering one says it all.

“Just enjoy it like you would any other bike.”

As Dylan puts it: “Just enjoy it like you would any other bike.”

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Photographs of Dylan and his Nippi: Photos by Binns-Riley. Photograph of Martin’s uncle: family photograph supplied by Luiz Faye.

Read more about choosing a vehicle around individual needs in our look at electric and plug-in hybrid cars beyond Motability.