spyderenthusiast
08-12-2019, 10:37 PM
For those of you that are interested, or have been following, I’ve been documenting my spyder journey here from initial test ride up through licensure and beyond. My first ever exposure to the roadster platform was on a Ryker, my road skills test and three wheel instruction class was conducted on a Ryker, and up until today I was fairly certain that my three wheeled future lay with the Ryker. Something about the F3‘s always appear daunting to me, and I assumed that the splay would be too much for my legs owing to spasticity caused by cerebral palsy. However, as fate would have it, a semi local dealer had a used 2015 F3-S with the foot controls set to position 1 on the showroom floor. For no other reason then to satisfy my morbid curiosity, I decided to stop by and swing a leg over it to see how it fit. Much to my surprise, the seating position was actually quite comfortable, with no excessive stress required to sit on the bike comfortably, nor actuate the brake safely. Upon taking it for a brief test ride, I was shocked at just how comfortable this machine really was. While I missed the overall diminutive size of the Ryker, and it’s accompanying visceral responsiveness within turns, I was thoroughly impressed with the F3’s solid and planted nature at speed. It felt much less frenetic, and less inclined to dart from side to side, as was often the case on the Ryker at speed. Additionally, the increased control granted by the SE-6 was thoroughly appreciated, not to mention the biting power of the Brembos. There was something inherently rewarding about the burbling exhaust note on downshifts, And the instantaneous surge of acceleration brought about by a crisp up shift that has me taking a second glance at a full size Spyder. It seems counterintuitive, but I actually found the Spyder to be easier to ride than the Ryker, not to mention seemingly more comfortable in the straights. So now, the question becomes, do I scour the used market, or potentially throw down money on this 2015 (which for reference has 3700 miles, and would run me approximately what a new Ryker rally would out the door, by the time you figure in Freight and all the other extraneous fees), or, hold out and see what the Ryker market is doing within the next couple of months?