There were test rides on the Spyders today in big ol' Macedon New York. The boys from BRP said they started around 7:30 AM and the last ride went off in the neighborhood of 5:30 PM. I rode one of the semi-automatics (not by choice but by availability). Wasn't that bad but it leaves you bored at stops cause you can't rev the engine because there is no clutch and it is in gear.
Overall it was a fun ride. It took a mile or 3 to get used to the stearing - leaning really gets you nowhere
You have to turn into the turn, not lean. My wife rode with me and she noticed she got thrown around much more than on a motorcycle. Since there is no lean, it generates more side to side motion on turns. It took a while for both of us to get accustomed to it. Basically a good ride and you don't have to worry about the bike tipping over, and you don't have to put your feet down. On the down side, I really feel like I have had better control in corners on 2 wheels than I did on the Spyder. This is probably in part due to the fact that this was a new experience and we only rode around 21 miles so there really wasn't a whole lot of time to get used to it. It was fun and if I were in a situation where I already had my Valk and just wanted something different to buzz around on then yes, I'd consider one. But being that I need to work on getting a Valk or this, there is no real choice - Valkyrie all the way.
Just my .02 on the Spyder.
