Modern Vespa

Yesterday I was sitting at a red light in downtown D.C. when a pair of Can-Am Spyders came through the intersection. Quite a sight! It seems from the website http://spyder.brp.com/ that the company is just getting its dealer network together in the U.S.

Petes Cycle in Severna is now carrying them.
The wife cried when I spent 5000 on the Vespa, how would I explain 16,000.
I have to get the Semi Automatic....
Anyone want to buy a 2007 LX150 for $15,000 ?

Edited:

From what I hear they are very nice except you can't lean into a corner.

They've been popping up around here since at least June (a number of sightings in the general NYC area on our forum over the summer).

A guy on our board actually got a cell-phone pic of a guy on one in East New York at the end of June.

Haven't seen any personally, but it wouldn't surprise me if there are a few cruising around the 5 boroughs...

A guy has one in Charleston WV.

I was sitting at an outdoor restaraunt in the downtown area of my suburb and 4 guys pulled up on them and backed them into biker parking spots ....

annoyingly ... as they are nearly the width of a small car.

Park them in the parking lot like any other vehicle with more than 2 wheels, please. Around back.

Including MP3s?

While i'm admittedly no fan of the MP3 ( the answer to the question nobody asked ), they are not much bigger than your average maxi-scooter ..burgman, whathaveyou... or any of the other motorcycle behemoths that park 4-6 side by side in a single car parking space. As such, they can stay.

I've seen 5 or 6 of them on the roads here in San Diego. I think I'm 60- 40 against them.

I've been riding a red semi-auto quite a lot recently. I like it a lot more than the manual one, and may revise my review from a couple of months ago.

The LV pipe may be part of it I thought about the width as I split the last 17 miles home at 5PM yesterday. It isn't that big of a deal because in the other 49 states you can't legally split. I've hear there's a huge number of them in Nevada because if it has more than two wheels you can go helmet free.

After riding it around and talking to people - motorcyclists dislike it, while non-bikers are hugely interested.

Which makes a lot of sense to me. It's like a crotch rocket with training wheels.

Here is the shot I mentioned from our forum...
... seeing it with a person on it in a real world setting makes me realize how huge they are.

I agree with Eric, those things are not sized for "motorcycle" parking, and should park in a spot with vehicles closer to their size.

Seeing that picture leads me to believe that there is actually second person inside driving it.

The man on top is simply riding along. This is evidenced by the fact that he is not holding on to anything.

Whoa! That is gigantimous!

Yup, it sure aint small...
(and has to beat the Hummer as most useless city vehicle possible)

And it has about as much style as the guy pictured riding on it.

I was just about to type "it's the Yellow Hummer of the motorcycle world" ...but then i went scouring youtube for the clip from family guy about the "what kind of a jerk drives a hummer?" and cut to the clip of the guy driving one, merging without looking, watching madagascar on his LCD player and yelling "RUMSFELD!" while cars blow up in his wake.

amazing. Anyways... that's what i think of when i see this thing.

One of the motorcycle mags did a test of one recently. They didn't like it much. It bump steers a lot so you are constantly correcting. It wants to lift the inside wheel in turns so the traction control cuts power to prevent this. While it looks like it would corner fast it is actually slow. They didn't think motorcyclists would like it. Other than being different it doesn't have much going for it.

We have them in Sacramento. One of my co-worker rides or drives one to work and parks in the motorcycle parking area that is getting more crowded. One day he parked in a auto parking space and was told by a supervisor that he couldn't park there.

One interesting note you arn't requirred to have a motorcycle license to drive them here in California.

I would much rather have a VW GX3...

If you're going to buy these 3 wheeled weirdo things, why not just pony up for the extra wheel and get an Ariel Atom I'd love to drive one

"It's so quick it can destroy your entire face"

If you want a car, get a car. If you want a bike, get a bike.

What's the matter? You don't like the high-tops and jorts look?
I'm convinced between Family Guy and the Simpson's there is a quote/clip to satisfy every real world situation.

And no, you'll never catch me on one of those Can-Am things. I could probably come up with 14,000 better ways to spend the $14,000 it costs...

If you are going three wheels go all the way, the T-Rex. 8)

Super car performance.

A guy near me bought one. I used to joke that it looked like a snowmobile on wheels, then I saw him ride it. You truly ride it like a snowmobile, positioning your body w a y into the turn to prevent that wheel from lifting.

They're even showing up on Craigslist
http://washingtondc.craigslist.org/nva/mcy/862691409.html

Forget all the above and hold out for an Ace Cycle-car, heir apparent to the venerable "Mog." Coming soon to a lottery winner near you!

There are 3 here in Redding.

A coworker has a yellow one and parks it in the regular parking lot'

You gotta problem with 3-wheeled scoots?

I test drove a yellow spyder at a dealership here in Nashville. It was very uncomfortable. It sits very low. I hated it and couldnt wait to get back on my scoot Ahhhhhhhhhhh....

That's a Messerschmitt, right?

The story is that they were originally designed using the cockpits of unbuilt aircraft following WW2, which is why the lid of thing is such a weird shape and resembles a greenhouse. I remember seeing them running around when I was stationed in Germany in the 70's.

The machinist we sub-contract all our bore jobs to bought one because he has some slight disability problems.

His verdict is that it handles nothing like a motorcycle and it takes quite a lot of muscling to get it round a corner.

Andrea

Words fail me.

An expensive "vehicle" with all the disadvantages and none of the advantages of both cars and bikes.

Small, narrow, easy parking, great gas mileage? Afraid not. The pleasure and control of leaning into turns? Negative. Reasonable cost? Well, no.

Weather protection, cargo and passenger capacity, comfort? Nope, nope, nope and nope.

I'm trying to imagine the logical progression which would lead to this monstrosity's purchase. The only thing I came up with is misfiring synapses and a distaste for your own money.

P.

Looks like a snowmobile, rides like a snowmobile, and - what do ya know - its made by a snowmobile manufacturer.

In fairness, those of you that have ridden sidecar motorcycles know that three wheel gadgets that don't lean much all require weight shifting and muscling the handlebars in the turns. If you do manage to over balance one, it aint pretty.

Hey whats up, I'm originally from ripley wv not to far from charleston. When I was there a couple years ago it seemed like I had the only scooter in the state. So are times changing?

I saw one in the west phoenix area. The guy looked like he was having fun but is wheels kept popping up with every merge he attempted. Didn't look to fancy to me.

Granted it's engine is about 3 times more powerful. But hey! I am trying to save money while still enjoying the ride.

Seeing how that guy handled his canam I am giving it a thumbs down.

If I had 16,000 dollars ... I would buy a BMW R1200 GS Adventure!!!! The hell with those Can-Am thingies.

Worst thing of those Can-Am Spyders: the stupid break pedal. They tossed the brake lever (like all other motorcycles) and went with a pedal instead. Morons. Not only does it throw the rest of us off: they could have easily capitalized on the population of disabled former bikers that may have leg injuries by keeping the brake lever - they'd be able to ride again as the spyder will stay upright at a stop.

I'd go with the F800GS with a few bucks to spare

Perhaps one or two of you didn't know this, but two wheel motorcycles, ones with gears, that you have to shift? Yeah, those; They have a brake pedal.

On the right.

For your foot (the whole pedal thing - ped=foot)

For the rear brake.


The Spyder does not have independent control of how much front and rear brake is applied, it is like the brakes on a car; you don't have control there either.

There are many companies that do modifications for the disabled, and they'll tell you there is not a one-size-fits all solution, each is custom modified to the abilities and range of motion of the rider.

The Spyder isn't for everyone, especially those internet experts on high horses called Vespas. Which of course are flawless, well designed, and perfect for everyone.

So this is better?

Tow-Pac Mini-Trike Kit on My MP3 250

The Spyder was engineered for three wheels. The Goldwing was not - none of the safety features are there.

A Goldwing Trike is $27k




PS - she's selling her five wheeled MP3 for a Spyder.

Damn right again!