The Bombardier Recreational Products (BRP) Spyder is a fine piece of mechanized eye-candy that could just as easily have arrived from the future as Quebec. To some of you, it might look like a giant backwards-flying tricycle. Or if you're like me, you see an open roadster's front workings surgically grafted onto the ass of an Italian sportbike, all wrapped up nice and pretty in snowmobile-esque bodywork. These disparate elements are forced by some excellent science to work together in the same system, as though the idea was pipelined straight down Jacob's Ladder from Dr. Frankenstein's frontal lobe. In other words, it's fuggin' cool.
Let's also consider the anti-establishment "tradition" of using three wheels in the first place, shall we? Historically, 3-wheelers have tended to surface in response to desperate shortages of fuel and metal (as in post-WW2 Europe). They've never been about giving gearheads a fresh new thrill. Truth is, three is a very odd number when it comes to cornering: sidecar rigs are nasty-handling beasts, and no one ever won a serious road race in one of those kooky vintage Morgans. Plus, we all know there are myriad light, small, fast cars and lighter, smaller and faster motorcycles. So in this way, "three" as a chassis concept will seem pointlessly weird to some of you, perhaps reminding you of that 3-titted barfly in the Governator's film, Total Recall. Interesting? No doubt. Provocative? You bet. But could you hit that without triggering your gag reflex?
The guys at Bombardier hope enough of you will grok the Spyder's performance and design merits that you'll order one before they lose their jobs. I'll start the thread by saying I was surprised at what a hoot it is to ride, er, I mean drive. Read on and then let us know how you feel about it at the end.
CE QUI EST IL (What it is)
"Because we're not in the motorcycle industry, and we don't want to be in the car industry, we feel we're better able to define the need for this new segment," says BRP President & CEO José Boisjoli. His company makes ATVs, snowmobiles and watercraft, so this wasn't all that big of a stretch for the designers, engineers or assembly lines. So if it's not a car nor a bike, what then? A Crike? A Tri-car? A Motortrikel? Whatever it is, they're sufficiently proud of their 2-front/1-rear configuration that they've named it the "Y-factor" (because of its layout when viewed from above, not because they want you to keep asking the "why" question like the annoying 5 year old you used to be). The 699 lb. Spyder's frame is purpose-built, but the idea of using welded square section steel as a backbone for strength and torsional rigidity is the same as on their Can-Am Outlander ATV. The front end is standard sports car: double A-arms and an anti-roll bar control the movement of the 165/65r14 automotive tires. Fuel capacity is a shade over 7 gallons, which ought to give you a range of 250 miles or so, no matter how hard you ring the neck of the water-cooled 1000cc 60° v-twin.
Conveniently, Bombardier also happens to own ROTAX, that nippy little engine company in Austria where the powerplants for Aprilia, KTM and the fantastic new Buell 1125r are manufactured. They don't like the term "de-tuned" to describe what is essentially an Aprilia Mille engine. To be fair, "re-tuned" is probably a more apt description. They knocked back the compression ratio to a still punchy 10.8:1, allowing cheapskates to burn regular unleaded. Narrower throttle bodies with revised ports and cam profiles combine to mete out 77 ft./lbs. of torque-the vast majority of which comes on early and stays there till red line. It's the kind of nice, long, flat plane of power you expect from a good twin, which of course means you don't have shift as much to maintain your chosen rate of hustle.
As to the challenge of building a physics-defying trike, Les Freres at BRP are a responsible lot, so they've put in a variety of caretaking systems to help us save our non-Canadian bacon. Ready for some science?
UN PEU D'ALGÈBRE (A Little Algebra)
This is not a machine that could have been built 10 years ago as it relies so heavily on the latest electronics. In addition to the ubiquitous ABS, they’ve mustered the efforts of sophisticated traction and stability control systems, which combine to create their overall Vehicle Stability System (VSS). Here’s the equation that undpins it all: ABS+TCS+SCS = VSS and you hope it’s not SOS. I think about the glitchy iPhone launch, or how many times my “state of the art” laptop computer freezes and crashes. All I can do as I pitch the thing into the hard fast corner is pray that ITS computers don’t crash, which would certainly cause me to follow suit. But I am getting ahead of myself here.
No less than five separate Electronic Control Units have to cook along simultaneously for it all to work. It takes two of them to run the VSS, another handles engine management issues like ignition timing and EFI. The last two control but the DPS—Dynamic Power Steering and the security system. They’re connected by an automotive style CAN BUS to six key sensors that fire off reports 25 times per second. Impressively, that’s 9% more often than the average male thinks about sex, according to a recent study. For example, the yaw sensor tells the engine management system and the ABS how and when to keep all three wheels on the ground by “monitoring handling parameters.” Highly critical wheel speed sensors report the onset of wheel lift at the slightest variation (a front wheel losing traction and/or contact with the road surface will immediately begin slowing). The VSS then first reduces torque transmitted to the rear wheel via the EFI circuit, and immediately thereafter begins braking the outer front wheel. The wizard in the box is Bosch ROM version 08, which tech-oriented car guys will recognize as the same stuff as found in the new Audi A6 and Chevy Silverado, among other current vehicles with a rollover mitigation system.
There are a few elements of this machine that cue me to ask, "How dumb do they think we Yankees are?" Answer: "pretty goddamned dumb." The electronic nanny is "a guardian angel" according to the BRP liturgy, and just like you'd want your kid's nanny to lock up the cleaning products, the Spyder is all about saving you from yourself. Those of us who might want to use it as a way to explore the outer limits of a trike's inherent mechanical instability will be saddened to know that the VSS is not defeatable in any way. You're going to have to go to plan B for this month's suicide attempt.
You can also get away with dopey shit like rolling downhill into a curb to park it without having to beg for help from passersby to pull the third-of-a-ton machine back out. How'd they do this with a motorcycle engine and transmission? Good question, Holmes. They dumped 6th gear to make room for a true mechanical reverse: first pull in the clutch, then reach over and do the same with the cleverly marked "R" lever, and shift down past first. Feed out the clutch with a bit of throttle and Voila!. Oh, and unlike that beeper thing in your SUV, this one doesn't come with a sensor to keep you from backing over your neighbor's children, so you'll have to actually look over your shoulder.
SUR LA ROUTE (On The Road)
The guy from Bombardier made me sign a multi-page release form, wherein I promised not to get all huffy (not the actual language) if the Spyder up and bit me. He then reminded me that this was a "pre-production/late prototype" and "might still have a thing or two to work out prior to production." This didn't exactly steel my spine, so I took it easy the first 20 miles or so. Normally I'm not the conservative type, but the Spyder is its own kind of animal, and I wanted give it a while to reveal itself. I began by rolling along a grimy freeway in LA, and it occurred to me that the fat rear tire is tracking along perfectly in that slimy lane-center sludge I work so hard to avoid on motorcycles. This has to have an effect on traction, so be aware of that. I soon arrived at one of my favorite winding roads, where I began testing the limits.
The kinesthetic experience is far more power watercraft or snowmobile than car or motorcycle. Like those machines, the Spyder feels like it has a tendency to understeer as the body rolls outward in reaction to centrifugal force. The VSS won't let you break the rear end loose on the throttle and rotate as with a sports car. The trick for fast cornering is leaning way far
forward over the inside front wheel to re-position the CG and get that tire to bite, while simultaneously pushing the bar forward with your outside hand to control your steering angle. Line up a series of S-turns like this, and it's a pretty darned athletic pursuit. "It's magic when you find the threshold right before the VSS kicks in, says BRP's Mark LeCroix in his charming Quebequoise accent. "It takes a while to get used to where that point is, and keep riding it right there." He's right. I'd need a few hundred more miles on the thing to learn how to keep it boiling in the sweet zone. You can of course just sit up as though you were in a car, let the roll center chuck your head around, and count on the electronics to keep you from losing control. But where's the fun in that? As it was, I threw it into a couple of greasy tight turns too fast and felt the engine shut down as the ABS kicked in-it's pretty abrupt, but I'll happily accept that instead of the alternative.
Compared to a motorcycle, there's a lot of traction/drag from the Spyder's fat front tire contact patches, so they dial in a lot of steering assist at slow speeds. But to keep you from OVER-steering it in a dangerously ham-fisted way, they reduce that to almost nil at higher speeds. It wants to go straight, and you need to be strong enough to enforce your will. So either build up your triceps and PUSH, or slow the hell down if you don't want to be sucking Armco as you exit stage right. What I mean here is that the various electronic nannies will keep you from flipping, but they won't keep you from being an idiot and steering yourself off the road. That's up to you.
Marc LeCroix was quick to say that although it'll easily run triple digit speeds, it's not for the "diehard sportbike guy who corners hard with his knee on the ground." And though even speed junkies like yours truly felt the Spyder is "fast enough" (that was me quoting myself from an interview I did with myself shortly after my first ride), it's probably going to leave drag racers, stunters and the like a bit nonplussed. But don't despair. They did leave in one-way for you to be a punk-ass goofball... up to a point. A point that is in fact very specific: 35 miles an hour. Prior to that, so long as the handlebars are pointed straight ahead, you can grab a handful of throttle, dump the clutch in first gear and enjoy a lurid, smoking burnout all the way to your tire dealer or EPA field office, whichever comes first.
Rotax makes rev-happy v-twin motors and this one is no exception, so there's not the kind of engine braking available that you'd find on an American V-Twin. Downshifting before a corner is more about being in the best gear for your exit, and you'll need the brakes on the way in. Which brings me to the first of my gripes: Given that the entire rider control interface is 100% motorcycle, I really missed not having a brake lever where it "should" be. Their argument is that they want to make this easier for "car" people (and you know who you are) to opt in by requiring them to "simply" press the right-side pedal (which actuates the Spyder's brakes in an 80% front/20% rear ratio given normal conditions). I had trouble modulating accurate brake pressure on fast corner entrances as I was simultaneously weighting the pegs with my shifting body position. Besides, isn't the "hardest" part of learning to operate a motorcycle the clutch/throttle/footshift procedure? It might have been a better idea to leave the brake lever on the handlebar and offer a semi-automatic transmission. Plus, they could easily have linked the brake lever and pedal like the system on a Honda Gold Wing or VFR800.
Ergonomically, the static seat to bar distance is comfortable, although the width of the bars makes it a bit of a stretch for shorter-armed riders to hang onto the outer grip when leaning into in a full lock turn (i.e. the right grip in a left hand turn). Also, the foot pegs/controls seemed unnecessarily high relative to the seat (folding the rider's knees). You need high pegs on a bike because it leans when it corners, and low foot placement limits lean angle, which limits cornering speeds. Since this thing doesn't lean when it corners, why leave them there? They say, "The Spyder is designed to match the ergonomics of sport-touring motorcycles in this class like the BMW K1200GT, Yamaha FJR1300 and Honda ST1300." I say, "It's not a motorcycle. Lower the damn pegs."
OK, PLEURNICHERIE SUFFISANTE (Ok, Enough Whining)
Truth is, I really had a great time chucking the Spyder around. And if you think about it, where else are you gonna find something this wonderfully weird that gives such a uniquely pleasurable performance experience for fifteen grand? Plus, you can get into it instantly without one iota of motorcycle skill. It also doesn't matter how short or weak your legs are, or how much your fat girlfriend screws up the center of gravity, you won't tip over at stoplights.
Because of these attributes, they are actively courting new consumers to street riding, first targeting their ATV, SkiDoo, and SeaDoo customers. They see these buyers as 35-55 year old men who want an "in the wind" experience with peace of mind. For a lot of these guys, this is the machine they can "sell" to their wives based on all the safety features. Which makes it weird that they don't offer an airbag (like the optional system on Honda's GoldWing), but there I go whining again.
Depending on how these motate out of showrooms, more models are planned on the platform. They're officially closed-mouthed about this because they don't want you to wait, but don't be surprised to eventually see a full touring version with luggage, and maybe even a dualsport/rally-style version for bashing along rutted gravel roads. Hey BRP: how about this: jack it up with triple the suspension travel and modify the VSS, then go out and win your own category in the Baja 1000. I even have a name for that model: the Spyder TARANTULA. Send the check to Steve Natt, c/o Motive Magazine...
