Can-Am Spyder
‘What’s it like?’ That’s the question most asked about the Can-Am Spyder.
It would be Big Dave style to insert an analogy right here: ‘The Spyder is a lot like a…’, but, I…cant. The Syder is a lot like…a Spyder. Unique.
One of the lads pointed out that the 2 up front, one aft, configuration has been done before on a Goggomobile and a Morgan, but this is the first true high performance incarnation we’ve encountered.
The best I can do analogy-wise is take a Snowmobile and replace the belt and skis with wheels. Or A Ski-doo and add wheels.
Not surprisingly the manufacturer has a history of making exactly these products.
Add some pretty impressive traction and stability functions - plus fabulous suspension and you are almost there, but the Spyder has utility value as a bona fide road going vehicle.
It isn’t a motorcycle, but you can use it like one. It’s not a car either, but you can use it like a motorcycle.
At the heart of the machine is a 998cc EFI, DOHC V-twin Rotax engine with a bore and stroke of 97mm x 68mm. The engine puts out 106hp @ 8,500r[m and 77ft lbs of torque at 6250rpm. When you consider these numbers against a dry weight of 316kg you appreciate the machine has some real chutzpah.
For comparison’s sake the recently tested - and most impressive - Suzuki C109R tips the scales at 357kg.
The demo unit is fitted with a race pipe and is one of the sweetest sounding vehicles ever. Honey.
Power is delivered to the real wheel via a slick 5 a speed gearbox that also incorporates a ‘genuine’ reverse gear.
Pull the lever on the handlebar and kick down twice and the warning lights flash and it all goes backwards smoother than a Maxwell Smart comedy clip.
Final drive is by clean and tidy belt.
The motor is slung low in a steel spine frame that utilises ‘sports car’ Double ‘A Arm’ suspension up front while the ‘motorcycle’ rear features a mono shock adjustable for pre-load and damping.
I thought the suspension was simply brilliant. It soaked up everything I hit and didn’t deviate at all. Watching it all work from the rider’s perch is a treat too.
To keep the power and torque under control in this stumpy triangulation, the Spyder uses 4 ECUs or as their promo materials call them, ‘Brains’.
One Brain controls The Vehicle Stability System - VSS.
The VSS is comprised of a Stability Control System, Traction Control System and the ABS.
The Stability control ‘constantly analyses motion and forces as they relate to the vehicle and will intervene to help maintain control in an emergency situation’.
Same with the ABS.
The traction control system also helps keep the vehicle on its intended trajectory.
I didn’t find any of the systems obtrusive or notice any impact on the ride other than the traction control making the engine stutter once or twice – and I rode it through some diabolical ‘weather bomb’ conditions. No doubt it was keeping me on line, and it was reassuring to know it was all working on my behalf as I ploughed through the storm debris over Woodcocks Hill.
The next Brain controls the Dynamic Power Steering. Variable boost is optimized for current speed, torque and load. The steering is precise and direct. Amazingly, grin enticingly, direct. Every corner is an adventure.
Brain 3 controls the EFI and Number 4 does security duty.
The whole thing works marvelously.
Marvelously.
There will be motorcyclist who scrounge a test ride on the Spyder and wonder what the hell Big Dave was talking about. ‘Marvelously’. Was he in some sort of ‘Richie Benaud’ delirium?
The guys at BRP warned me – as a motorcyclist, DO NOT judge this machine in the first half an hour.
Actually I spent the first tank of gas fighting the machine. It took me 180km to find the mojo. (180 was typical range. It varied depending on how hard I pushed the machine)
People who are exclusively car drivers won’t have the same sort of adjustment issues to the ‘Y’ as a full time motorcycle rider.
For the first little while it’s a motorcyclist brain-fart.
Subsequently the paperwork, indemnities and acknowledgements that had to be signed before I could ride away were quite extensive.
This is not a motorcycle – 2 tick boxes. This vehicle is wider than a motorcycle – 2 tick boxes. Etc etc.
This is not an easy vehicle to get the hang of. Even after all that tick boxing I had a few ‘Oooh – hang on here’ moments.
It works much more like an open wheel sports car than a motorcycle.
When you get your head around that, and start hanging the opposite knee out and push down on the ‘wrong’ peg, my goodness, open road motoring becomes intoxicatingly exhilarating.
I enjoyed the challenge of it from the start, but seriously – when the penny drops this is a huge, huge, buzz.
The inertias and G forces it generates had the Co-pilot cracking up.
It’s a roller coaster, merry-go-round and the dodgem cars (with 106 ponies) all at once. Hey! There’s the analogy I was looking for!
Stopping the Spyder is taken care of by a foot actuated, 3-wheel braking system. The front has four pots on each wheel and the rear is a single pot controlled by an Electronic Distribution System. It also has a foot operated parking brake.
I didn’t mind the foot brake system. The sort of angles and body positions that spirited riding produces make it a better option than a hand lever. Ride it far enough and you’ll see what I mean.
I encountered really heavy rain, winds, and storms over the test period.
Once I was attuned to the riding style I covered Woodcocks, Twilight Road and Monument Hill more comfortably and at the same (if not better) speeds than I would have done on my motorcycle.
Not that I was reckless with a vehicle that costs $29,990+ at all, but with twice the tyre footprint up front, one that cant fall over, or slip out from under you, or tuck – these are wonderful confidence boosters.
In fact it turned miserable conditions into a real blast and when I did get it out in good conditions it was even better.
The traction control doesn’t stop you rarking up the back wheel up on exits in the wet either. It only comes into play when there is a risk of ‘tippage’.
I found the comforts and ergonomics very Big Man friendly. Co-pilot also rated comfort as outstanding.
The instruments are excellent, the lights are numerous and very bright, the mirrors are good.
Around town it’s an absolute hoot too. Lining up in traffic like a car is a bit of a pain, but the celebrity the vehicle generates suited the shy and retiring BD psyche perfectly.
It drew a crowd everywhere I stopped…actually, even as I rode past. I was photographed by drivers, passengers, and pedestrians - on every run.
One guy in a Merc was hanging his iPhone out of the Sun-roof snapping shots as he tagged me along Fanshaw street. Then he mouthed ‘WTH is that?’
I pointed at the Kiwi Rider Sticker and replies: ‘$10.’
What it is…is a Spyder.
It’s not a motorcycle, but it fits in hallowed pages of Kiwi Rider Magazine because you do indeed ride it. It’s category lies somewhere in the space between a car and a bike.
Interestingly, when we picked up the demo unit it required a full bike licence to operate. In time it was in KR possession the approval came through to operate it on a car licence.
It’s a viable vehicle for city use, town crossing and the 44 litre boot has utility value.
The technology to make it all work as well as it does is simply stunning.
It’s a great looking ‘celebrity’ wow vehicle that brings a smile to the dial of most people who encounter it.
Open road and recreational motoring is indeed exhilarating, immersive, unique and an enormous amount of fun.
That, apart from the roller coaster and dodgem car thing, is exactly what it’s like...sort of.
First Published in KIWIRIDER 2008
