Test Ride - Can-Am Spyder

I was speaking to a friend of mine earlier this week and the conversation turned to motorcycles and the Can-Am Spyder he has placed a deposit for. He's waiting for the release of the semi-automatic version as he has problems with his legs and can't use a typical motorcycle shifter. He's looked at all manner of trikes and actually owned one that was being rebuilt for him - by someone with less than noble intentions it turned out, but that's another story.

This story is about how I came to try out the Can-Am Spyder for him and my impressions of it.


My friend obviously cannot test ride the current model and since I was going to be in the neighbourhood of the the dealer at Greater Vancouver Powersports in the Port Kells area of Surrey, across the Fraser river from my home in Pitt Meadows I said I'd give it a try. I had to pick up some computer parts from one of the dealers nearby. Since the day was nice and I wanted to use the Albion Ferry to bypass traffic I took my Honda GL 1800 Goldwing as I normally do. It gets me onto the ferry with no wait, and with today's gas prices I save quite a bit too - and of course since I use the 'Wing mostly for business, it makes it all tax deductible which is just fine with me :)

I picked up the parts and cruised to GVP. I'd seen the Spyders sitting outside their showroom several times as I'd passed by in recent months - and seen a couple of the original demo units on the road even before they were released. I'd been curious myself, but with my friend's need came the incentive to actually ride.

The sales guys were busy on the phone when I came in but made good eye contact - and I took a look at the machines they had on the floor while I waited. The two inside were a silver-grey - the "Full Moon" color according to the pamphlet I came away with. The two that were sitting outside, including the one I would end up testing, were the Millennium Yellow. I didn't see one of the red "Roadster Red" ones but I'm betting it would be my favourite colour as all my 'Wings have been red.

I explained that I wanted to test ride a Spyder for a friend.

I handed over my license for the salesman to copy and was asked to answer a computerized questionaire that asked about bikes and cars I owned and had had in the past, as well as the typical contact info for follow up. The quiz was fairly slick from a sales point of view - I've been a floor salesman and getting info is sometimes a pain. Making it a prerequisite  to getting a test drive does have its advantages. I expect that many/most people are now fairly comfortable with giving up their e-mail address and other information for something "free".

The one thing the computer did make me do was acknowledge that "the Spyder is NOT a motorcycle" and that there are control and steering differences that make this critical to understand. The major item is of course the fact that the Spyder does not "lean" so you have to steer it like the ATV brothers it shares heritage with.

I didn't think I'd have much of a problem with this despite never having driven an ATV - I'd driven a URAL (Russian copy of the BMW) motorcycle and side-car for much of the mid 1970's, first with it new in New Zealand where I'd purchased it, and then around the Lower Mainland and Vancouver area after I had it shipped up. You have to learn not to try to lean a side-hack rig - and I'd gotten that down pat after finding myself turning the wrong way for a few minutes in a parking lot as I learned how to drive it.

You see, when you turn a motorcycle, you actually turn the steering away from the direction you want to go in order to get the machine to lean over - then follow the turn around and turn slightly harder in the direction you're turning to get the bike to again come upright. It is this tendency to counter-steer that has to be overcome. The best way is to first try things in a big, wide-open space where if you make a wrong turn (literally) you won't run into anything. My first time was in a big open parking lot next to the dealership in Auckland, NZ - and it took me about 15 minutes to unlearn leaning.

Mike, the salesman, left to wash the demo machine while I filled in the quiz. He came back in a couple of minutes and we went outside to look the machine over. I'm not sure whether it was because I was leaving my 'Wing in their parking lot - a machine worth more than the approx $20,000 the Spyder is - or that they always are so accommodating, but the salesman made the point that despite the fact that the gas tank was mostly full, that "the gas filler cap is under here if you need to fill the tank" - and he didn't seem to expect me to bring the machine back any time soon.

We discussed taking a route up toward Abbotsford on the back road out of Fort Langley - a route I take fairly frequently when I'm going to one customer in particular as it includes 6 "twisty" roads up and down the escarpment along the Fraser River. That route would have taken me an hour or so to do comfortably on a new machine, including the trip back. I can do it a bit faster on the Wing as I know the road and the bike - but I wouldn't presume to try to push it on any machine I was unfamiliar with - and the Spyder is pretty strange with it's two wheels up front "reverse" trike layout.

As it turned out, I really didn't have the time to take all that long, so said I'd likely be back in something over 1/2 hour or so.

Mike, the salesman, gave me a fairly thorough run down on the major controls. No hand-brake for one thing, and a lever and "double-down" into reverse for another. A turn of the key one way to open the "trunk" storage ahead of the steering, and the other way to open up under the seat to get to the fuel filler. The one thing he didn't tell me that I found out later was that in fact the machine has power steering, and adjusts the rate of steer to the speed you're traveling. That explained a bit of a handling anomaly I found during the ride.

I headed out of the parking lot and turned left down the dead-end that the dealership is on, just to get a bit familiar with the machine before I ventured out into traffic. I also wanted to assure myself that I had not forgotten how to "steer" and I hadn't. Turning came naturally.

I headed out onto 96th Ave., the main drag through Port Kells, and headed East. I turned North on 192nd Street and headed for the Fraser. This took me down across the CN rail line to 98A Ave. where I again turned East, toward the new Golden Ears bridge project. I've been watching them build the highways leading up to the bridge for the past year or so - and have a route along and finally under the highway toward Fort Langley. I intended to retrace this route as I know it well, and figured it would be a good test of the Spyder on a good selection of roads and surfaces.

98A Ave is in the process of being upgraded, and it parallels the new link from the Golden Ears to what will become the South Fraser Perimeter Highway - crossing Highway 1 and joining Highway 15/176th St. The upgrade is not complete so there are spots where it has ruts and gravel - perfect for a bit of testing of handling on slippery ground. As I came across the tracks I gunned the engine a little and managed to get a bit of a sideways slide. More importantly, once I was straight, the engine almost felt like it had died shortly after I lost major traction - the traction control had kicked in and kept the wheel from doing too much slipping. When I left the gravel section a few feet farther, the engine picked up and the machine took off - quite an interesting feeling I must say.

I kept the speed fairly low while I got better used to the handling. 98A makes a dog-leg North to 101 Ave after a couple of blocks, and I've noted that there is usually some gravel on the second turn as there is an asphalt plant on the inside corner. I again got a bit of a slide out of the machine - very controlled and almost not noticeable - certainly less death-defying than doing a similar amount of slide on my 750+lb 'Wing IMHO

101 Ave. is only a couple of blocks long here and then again does a jog, this time with 90 degree corners, South to 100A Ave. which quickly passes under a major corner of the new highway to the bridge. Until recently this corner was all gravel - and pocked with potholes - a bit of a chore on the 'Wing. Now it is all nicely paved with the first coat of the final roadbed, and the corner onto 201 Street is wide and easy. 201 Street now runs directly under the new bridge approach and it too is now first-coat paved. There were lots of "TCPs" (Traffic Control Persons) around so I kept it to the 40K limit and didn't try anything. I got some interested stares from the workers though - too bad I didn't have time to stop and chat. I expect this machine will be a crowd puller for quite some time as it is very unique and stylish looking.

Two blocks North on 201, and the only way out is to turn East on 102B Ave. which leads past a couple of industrial sites, across a rail siding, and out into farm country. One of the industries is a limestone crusher, so there was more dust and gravel on the road - another chance to try some off-line steering and power. Nothing I did made the Spyder feel uncomfortable - although I admit I didn't push things too hard - still getting used to it.

After the tracks and past the driveways of the bridge marshaling yard where all of the steel is prepared, and 201B has only a couple of farm houses on it over the next couple of blocks. I opened it up a bit and the Spyder took off. Here I found the first time I missed the hand-brake lever. I have a habit of flashing my brake lights before I actually apply them, and I do this with the hand lever. This gets me thinking about stopping a bit ahead of time, and it gives people behind me a bit of warning that I'm slowing down. I "flashed" the brake lights but didn't find the lever - strange feeling. Fortunately I had lots of room to stop so the missing brake lever didn't throw me too much and my natural use of the foot brake had already started anyway, so doing the "panic" stop I had planned actually came off fairly well; I was even a bit panicked

The Can-Am stopped straight and true. In this case I didn't hammer hard enough to get the anti-lock to engage, but I was impressed with the stopping power and control none the less. I would have stopped well short of the stop sign at 208th St., so eased up on the brakes and drifted to a stop. Left/North onto 208th and again toward the Fraser River.

The road takes a bit of a hump over the river dike which here is about 1Km from the actual river. The hump has a bit of a dodge to the right at the top and zero sight lines until you crest it - even though it is only about 2-3 meters high. I kept things reasonable until I could see, then opened it up a bit.

At this point I'll digress and talk about the gearing and engine revs a bit. I've ridden all manner of "road" motorcycles - from my original 1971 BMW 500 "opposed twin" to an Arial Red Hunter 500 single "thumper" to my son's Ninja 650 and of course a couple of GL1500 Wings and my current GL1800. I've also ridden a couple of V-twins but never owned one. The Spyder is a V-twin 1000 (998cc) and red-lines at about 9,500 to 10,000 RPM. It has a fairly throaty growl which I'm told is better with the optional exhaust on it - but I'm not a connoisseur of growl or roar, I like my machines quiet enough that I can hear the road and the stereo.

On my Wing I tend to keep the revs up as I find I get better mileage and control, but "up" on a Wing is not the same as "up" on the Spyder. The Wing has max torque at around 3500 where the Spyder's is at 6250. I found keeping the revs up this high in "normal" driving to make the machine sound a bit like a banshee, so found myself shifting nearer 4500 much of the time unless I actually thought about it. I've ridden so much on the 'Wing that I tend to shift by the sound of the engine, and probably didn't get as much out of the Spyder as I could have because of this. I simply don't think about shifting much, it just happens.

So to the point where I turned onto 208th, I'd not thought much about the gears or revs. I had not pushed hard, even when doing minor slides or when getting the engine to exercise its traction control earlier - these had been fairly slow speed things done to feel the machine out.

Now however I was out in an area where I didn't expect to meet pedestrians or much, if any traffic. The road was good for the next couple of Klicks, and I wanted to see what I would see.

The Spyder is impressive - I ran out of road on 208th before I ran out of machine, and had to brake for the right-angle onto Allard Crescent  which parallels the Fraser on the left for the next couple of Klicks with cranberry fields on the right mostly. Four triples of "speed" bumps - only about 1 inch high each but annoying none the less - were the only thing that marred the road for the first Klick before a small farm's driveway and the entrance to Derby Reach park mandated careful driving. I hit 8500 RPM before shifting this time - and what a hoot! Power to spare, and good control. This is where I found the quirky handling that was explained by learning later of the power steering. As the speed increased the steering seemed to respond less - which is a good thing but was unexpected on what looked like a motorcycle from where I sat. No matter, but it again points up that this is NOT a motorcycle in the handling and controls department.

After the farm and park entrance the road deteriorates somewhat and I experienced the Spyder's suspension handling the bumps. There are a couple of mild right turns on the run to the original Fort Langley spot, and most of the way there the road is part rough "tar and gravel" and part asphalt - with much of it half and half down the length of the lane so one wheel was getting bumpy and the other smooth. I could feel the road, but at no time was there any control issue. The Spyder dealt with the different surfaces and changes with no hesitancy - and of course at times the rear wheel was on different surface from one or the other of the front ones which made it even stranger but no less stable.

After the old Fort Langley site the road does a couple of smooth but sharp corners rated at 30Kps. I always rate my riding based on how easily I can do in MPH what the sign says in KPH - and the Spyder did well on this dry day. I'd love to try it when it is wet. I'll bet it would do some satisfying 3-wheel drifts.

During my run up to the old Fort Langley site I'd made the decision that I would not go much farther, and would not take the Spyder on the freeway to get back to the dealership. You see I ride with an open-face helmet since the 'Wing has a very nice, high windshield. The Can-Am on the other hand had something that might have been a windshield if I was laid on the tank (they have a taller one but it is not much taller) - and I really should have had a full face helmet on. I had already taken a number of bugs in the face and was not looking forward to gravel and dust from trucks and cars at 110Kph. So I turned left at the end of Allard onto Mckinnon Crescent, past the golf club, and right onto 96th Ave to head back to the dealership, now about 4 1/2 miles (8 blocks to the mile) to the West.

Again, as I came back through Walnut Grove and into Port Kells, I got quite a few stares from people as I drove.

At 201 St. I took a right to go back down to 100A Ave and retrace my steps back along the lesser traveled roads. I must have been feeling fairly confident about the Spyder since this was the one and only time I got a wheel off the ground; I must have because the engine lost power for a split second as I did the quick 90. This safety feature and its immediacy and controlled effect made me appreciate how much effort Can-Am has put into what could easily have been a very difficult and dangerous machine architecture.

My whole ride I had not felt in any way out of control or in any danger. To be sure, I had never pushed the limits, or even gotten close, with the exception of this one wheel lift at under 10Kps. No matter, I have to relate that the one and only time I've been injured on a motorcycle was in New Zealand in exactly the same fashion on my Ural and side-chair rig. I did a right-turn onto a residential street from the main drag at just a bit too high a speed. The chair came up, and I turned left to get it to come back down (instead of killing the speed with the brake or rolling off the throttle as I should have done) and as I turned I ran directly into a parked car. I went over the windscreen, puncturing my left leg on one of the supports just missing the "family jewels," and sat on the pavement watching a passer-by race after my still running and getting away side-hack as it idled down the street.

I could easily have been traumatized over turns in general and right turns in particular when "driving" what amounted to an exotic motorcycle-and-side-chair-feeling vehicle but such was not the case.

I got a bit over confident, lifted the wheel, and Can-Am came to my rescue and did what needed to be done. I didn't even think about the parallel with my accident 34 years earlier until several days later. Mostly I was simply impressed that I'd gotten the wheel off the ground at all since all the other corners I'd driven I'd noted a bit of a slide instead, but they could easily have had dust and gravel on them as most of them were in the construction area. Only this one 90 degree corner with a bit of a down-slope after had been clean - and the Spyder had forgiven me.

Overall I was very impressed. About the only things that I didn't like were the vibration of the V-twin and the growl. I expect I'd get used to both - and have to wear gloves all the time to deal with the vibration, which I should do anyway but the Wing is so vibration free that in Summer for short trips I usually go bare-hands.

The after-ride questionaire got high marks from me on most counts - and I said "Yes" I would highly recommend the Spyder to people I knew. In fact, I've mentioned it to another friend already as he was talking to me about maybe getting a trike. He's one of life's heavier people, and looking at the web page of the Spyder after I'd mentioned it said he'd like to give it a try.

As for my friend who is the reason I went for the test ride in the first place - this blog entry is for him - and the bottom line is I think he'll have a great time on his machine when he gets it. Happy riding!

richard