Hello my mates from a beautiful country! After my terrfic New Zealand ride I got a chance to ride the disputed (a motorcycle, an tv or a car?), but unquestionably fun - Can Am Spyder on the east coast of Australia.
I just finished my trip a couple of days ago and here I am with all my photos and a brief ride review from a couple of my blogs.
The route doner: Tweed Heads - Tenterfield - Armidale - Uralla - Gloucester - Stroud - Bulladelah - Forster - Taree - Wauchope - Walcha - Armidale - Dorrigo - Grafton - Tweed Heads
First the pics (I dont remember but is there a picture size guideline here, sorry for that in advance if there is).
Quoting from my blogs:
And after 700 kays on the SPyder:Some pointers which first time Spyde owners should pay heed to:
* There is no counter steering, the wheels do not lean withe bike, unlike the Gilera Fuoco’s scissor like action.
* The Spyder features a semi automatic transmission, it downshifts automaticaly at low speed to avoid stalling, but it does not upshift by itself.
* Special care has to be taken at roundabouts, the machine often downshifts due to low speeds, and if you entered the roundabout at a higher gear you might be surprised by the power while exiting due to the auto low gear selection. Trust me, this is not something which you want.
The first 30 kms or so were very scary for me, my brain was telling me its a motorcycle, while the dynamics of the Sypder were totally opposite. It was a hybrid of a motorcycle, a car and a quad.
After 80 kms or so I was pretty confident with it, I started cornering at 70kmph on the twisties in rain. No once the rear lost its line, but it would have slid if I had used all the power the 990CC rotax 106 Bhp engine had to offer.
The traction derived from the Spyder is tremendous, mostly due to the three wheels, the ultra wide rear and the low tyre pressure (15 up front and 28 PSI rear).
I will be most probbaly writing a general review on the Spyder soon and will post here.I remarked on the first day that one had to forget what he has learnt about riding a motorcycle when first swinging his or her leg over a Spyder. While that is true, it was only a matter of time before I reached confidence levels on the Spyder which equaled my 250,000kms + riding experience on two wheelers since 2003. I began taking turns on the Spyder with elan, didnt get bothered when road trains used to come from the opposite direction on single lane undivided country roads at 100+ kmph, threatening to throw me off balance with their wind blankets. The only issue I could be a little worried about was a little tramlinining on uneven tarmac due to the wide and flat rear tyre, something which I experience with the Suzuki Boulevard’s 240 rear. Biut surprisingly the traction control and the two tyres upfront seem to do their jobs very well indeed.
By the third day I was falling in love with the Spyder. I am self proclaimed true two wheeler guy, who touches a car sparingly and likes to go everywhere and anywhere on a motorcycle. I never could think of riding and liking a Spyder, but of course that was until I didnt ride one.
Some motorcyclists might say it is not a motorcycle and that it is cheating that you have three wheels, plus there is no lean factor so how can you enjoy the twisties on offer? The answer to this question is best found after riding a Spyder, no matter how verbose I get, I will fail to explain the thrill experienced on the Spyder – you wear a helmet, you grab onto a handlebar, you have a meaty sounding punch engine underneath you, you can feel the vibes through the bars, you can feel the wind hit your face, neck and chest, you can get wet in the rain and you are just a little more safe than a motorcycle.
I feel that a fair amount of fitness is required if you are to ride the Spyder on a sinous road circuit, the fact that there is no counter steering and that you have to steer the Spyder yourself with your might makes you more involved in the whole thing, sometimes even more than a motorcycle! Trust me, try it yourself beofr throwing a brick at me. Of course you cannot touch your knee in the corners, but then the Spyder is for inter continental touring and not for fast Sunday rides where your only soul aim is to get a knee down at every darn corner. Get yourself a supersports for that!
Some more pictures from the ride:
More photos:
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Originally Posted by EJK
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