The Shadow is gone... and I rode a...
 

Can AM Spyder...


So shortly after giving us the Shadow, ONSSP's mom was talking about wanting a new rig... she said she was saving for the down payment... Well, that didn't make any fucking sense, so we gave her the Shadow back for her to trade in...

Last night she came and picked it up... Came back a few hours later on one of these:
http://www.motorcycle.com/gallery/ga...-limited-1.jpg


They actually look pretty neat in person... sound pretty good too... It has all the bells and whistles, fully loaded. Comes with luggage made specifically to fit in the compartments, GPS, and a full color display to complement the gauges with all sorts of other shit (electronic windscreen, push button suspension adjustments, etc, etc). Here's an older version of the gauges:
http://images.affinitygroup.com/ts-m...G.jpg?&cvt=jpg


She offered to let me ride it... so ONSSP and I got on it and went around the cul-de-sac. Very weird... turning like a car and not leaning... weird.

We got to about 30mph and ONSSP was over it - "I don't like it, I don't feel safe on it, I feel much safer on a bike"... I agreed.

We came back and her mom told me to take it out by myself and 'really try it out.' I took off down the road, burning through the first couple of gears and mid-way through the tach in 3rd - 76mph (in a 45)... Not bad, but the front end gets a bit squirrely during hard accelleration at speed... controls are TOUCHY - think grated road on two wheels at 25mph... just seems to be controlling itself.

Took it around a little neighborhood - speed limit speeds, trying not to slow down for any turns (love me a yield sign)... Strange... very strange... doesn't feel right. Just like anything with more than two wheels that doesn't lean - feels like you're about to get thrown the fuck off it in every corner. :tremble:

Came back down the road and parked it... Neat... I never want to ride it again, but neat.

Pros: :rockwoot:
Couch on wheels
Bells and whistles to control the bells and the whistles
Looks pretty cool... sorta.
Sounds nice
No slouch on power, but no drag race winner either

Cons: :td:
Unstable when pushed hard (suspension settings may help, but I didn't have a chance to fuck with them)
Drives like a car, handles like a truck
Lean... none of it - feels like it's going to toss you in the corners
Traction control BS won't allow for donuts

Cool write up.

I know there is about to be a barrage of hate toward all things not 2 wheels.

I like anything with an engine, so I'd rock one for a while but I can't get over the price of those things.

Do you have any idea what she paid? I think in touring trim those things are well into the $20's.

I was cool with em until you were able to take your motorcycle test on em.

Now I don't even acknowledge the riders when they're out. Might as well be in a car or on a snowmobile.

I never thought about the testing aspect.

You know the T-rex? Those are also considered a motorcycle.

I guess you could take your test on one of those too?

I was going to kick you in the nuts if you got a spyder. Trikes in any form are a good way to get yourself killed in the mountains. There is a good reason they banned 3 wheeled ATVs...

Perhaps? I don't know for certain, I just know a selling point for the Can-am was that you could do your bike test on it.

The seating position is different, side by side versus 2 in a row. Not sure if that would have any bearing on it.

The T-rex has got to be a more fun, serious machine.

A guy brought one out to the Texas Mile and wanted to run it. One of the car techs and I were going over it to try and figure out what was bike and what was car. From our standpoint it was more car than bike. It looks like it'd be fun to run around the block like you did, but then I'd be over it.

I'd be very slightly more interested if it leaned like a Piaggio MP3. If it's anything like a snowmobile, I'll pass. Any decent turn feels like the thing is attempting to throw you off in a violent and painful manner.

I smell a banning comming on for this :lol:

Its basically like a waverunner on wheels. Im pretty good on a waverunner, I grew up on a couple yamahas. (any waverunner people will laugh at that). The thing about waverunners is that to properly get them to turn performance wise you have to get them to bite. Basically you have to get the weight shifted to the back side that youre turning on . If anyone has tried turning one at high speed with just the handlebars, you know that it just turns on a horizontal plane, and it tries to yank you off in the other direction, hard. That is until the outer edge bites a wave and then you go over... :lol:. I can only imagine the Can Am feels like that around a corner because there is no way to shift the weight...

I know on snowmobiles, you hang off like a t-shirt wearing squid trying to drag knee.

On a wave runner, you can bite the water because the water isn't solid and get it to lean some. Can Am doesn't have the luxury of liquid asphalt. It's just a big pile of shit.

Yea... a waverunner basically is like a ski in snow. It cuts on an edge. But it must feel like your going to fly off at all times on the Can. You must really work your abs and obliques on the thing...

I know it was into the 20's, but not sure exactly... I'm thinkin' low 20's...

Agreed 100%.

Absolutely... That's ALL I could think of when I was riding it...

I had a Sea Doo and a myriad of Waverunners growing... it's sorta similar, BUT you cannot shift your weight enough AND it doesn't slide at all like a ski will...

Hell yea. That's a 3 wheeler that'd id absolutely love to have

That's a 3 wheeler done right...

My assessment too, it is made for the over 50 crowd who likes to ride long straight highways or long sweeping corners.


The back gives out way before the front does, and god help you if you hit a bump in the road sideways. Also don't wear pants that slide on the seat, anything harder than a slow gentle turn will kick you off the seat

Good write up - I've only sat on one... never had one actually moving. I was wondering if it'd be like I suspected... sounds like it is.

I hope she has bettery luck than my co-workers dad. he's about to lemon his, it's always in the shop for something. All those bells & whistles... yeah they never work right. Hopefully they fixed those issues.

cool write up. better half was wanting one for a little while then got over it and got another bike instead. seen one in the gas station the other day with a couple guys on it. didn't sound bad, not my thing thing though.

I rode one when they first came out. Had the Can-am test ride people come to local dealer. Rode it around for a few miles. Biggest complaint was the traction control that didn't allow for wicked donuts.

If they could give the motor some more pep, I'd roll around the country on one of those bitches with a trailered motard on the back. Cruise the interstates in comfort and then find some bitchin back country twisty road and unleash the tard.