Blog- Rode out to meet the gang from Spyders in the Smokies

[Lamonster]

Had a great little ride yesterday and got to meet some really nice folks too.

I talked my buddy BajaRon into riding down to Alcoa Good Times with me and we took off here around 9 am. This would be the first time Ron had rode with me while I was on the RT. He's put thousands of miles behind me on the RS and this was a good chance for him to see how well the RT handled and if it was lacking in power.

I will say I was on a mission to show off a bit so I did hammer it and I was surprised how far back he was most of the time. Ron is a great rider and rides about the same as I do as far as riding aggressively. We run pretty hard and this day was no exception. Here's a quote from his view of the RT.

I understand why everyone is thinking the current Rotax engine is too small. Afterall, the market that BRP is going after must include the Goldwing Trike.

But I rode about 75 miles with Lamont today, twisties to Interstate and I must say he had no problems staying ahead of me with the new ride.

While the new offering may not have way more power than it needs like the Goldwing, it certainly would compare well to the Harley tirkes and probably falls somewhere closer to the Goldwing than the Harley in this respect.

I have not ridden Lamonts loaner because he is faithfully sticking to his agreement with BRP, which I completely agree with.

I've run several thousand miles with him on his SM5 and I can say that the RT hasn't slowed him down at all. As a matter of fact, I'd say he's a bit faster in the twisties with the RT than on his SM5.

Whatever BRP did to the motor is working well.

Not a scientific conclusion but my 2 cents.

I've been in contact with a couple ( Moreen and Allen ) that have been reading SpyderLovers and were really looking to see the RT in person and I got a chance to meet them at Alcoa Good Times Tuesday. They were so nice and appreciative of the info we have here on SpyderLovers.com and they thanked me I don't know how many times for answering their questions. A few hours later they placed their order for a New RT-S. You can see the joy on their faces. I told them they looked 20 years younger and I think Allen had started growing some hair again already. :2thumbs:

Here's a little video I took when I first got there.
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TN5J2TdC69k"]YouTube- Broadcast Yourself.[/ame]

The group pulling into Alco Good Times
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPStceimXF0"]YouTube- Broadcast Yourself.[/ame]

Charlie and Jill from Alcoa Good times really put on a nice feast for all of us at their place. The food was incredible and Jill did much of the cooking herself. It was one of the best free lunches I've ever had. They also setup right there to hookup the BUDS and check out members Spyders. There were a few with issues that they were able to take care of. It was a great time to talk with some of the folks on the boards and for them to talk to some of the BRP reps. I got to say that these were some of the nicest folks you ever want to meet.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QTE46tOLJTU"]YouTube- Broadcast Yourself.[/ame]

Just before we were getting ready to ride back to Gatlinburg we heard a terrible crash in the back parking lot. I had no idea what it was but it didn't sound good at all. When we came around the corner there was a guy on a SE that somehow ran the Spyder right into the side of a big trailer. I guess he was turning around in the parking lot and freaked out and gave it gas as he was turning and just smashed the whole front of the Spyder.

The bad part is this was one of Charlies demo units that he had loaned to another guy, for some reason that guy let this guy ride it who I guess was a newspaper reporter. He wasn't hurt at all and was just shaken up a bit but the other guy was feeling pretty bad about his loaner getting all smashed up. This was a good visual illustration of why I can't let anyone ride the RT as I agreed to when BRP loaded me the RT. They took it back to the shop and swapped some parts and got it back in shape.

Right after that we saddled up and headed back to Gatlinburg with Doc leading the pack. Just before that he introduced me to a father a daughter from Romania and ask if I would give the daughter a ride on the RT. I haven't done much two-up riding and was glad too. The fathers name was Constantine and her name was Danyelle (hope I spelled that right). Any way they were really nice folks and she was a good passenger, I really couldn't even tell she was back there. The RT handled pretty much the same two-up as it would solo.


Here's a little video going to Gatlinburg from Alcoa Good Times
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MqlUCntriaM"]YouTube- Broadcast Yourself.[/ame]

Here's are high mileage Spyder, Doc with over 51K on this Spyder :congrats:
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cb3KWwvbeCw"]YouTube- Broadcast Yourself.[/ame]

When we got to the meeting place it was pretty much non stop meet and greet. I got to talk to a lot of folks from SpyderLovers and most of them plan on being at our BBQ. Did a lot of parking lot demo's on the RT and I think the hook has been set with a lot of folks who finally got to see it in person, I just wish I could let them right it but now I see how even that could go horribly wrong without even leaving the parking lot. The good news is they should be able to demo one at their dealers in Nov. and drive their own in Dec. if they order now.

Here's a happy future RT owner (maybe) hyea:

 

[Questions]

Great post, keep them coming as they are enjoyable to read along with watching the videos.

Wish I had something to ride so I could come down to the BBQ and meet some folks. Sold the Wing last fall after a little spill...was on some back road twisties and came to a hard curve where someone had dropped a few bags of deer corn...you know what happened next. Wife said no more.

That's why I am in the market for a trike. Was all set to buy a Goldwing trike a few weeks ago when I saw the announcement of the RT. Looks like a great ride!

 

[bjt]

Great post, keep them coming as they are enjoyable to read along with watching the videos.

Wish I had something to ride so I could come down to the BBQ and meet some folks. Sold the Wing last fall after a little spill...was on some back road twisties and came to a hard curve where someone had dropped a few bags of deer corn...you know what happened next. Wife said no more.

That's why I am in the market for a trike. Was all set to buy a Goldwing trike a few weeks ago when I saw the announcement of the RT. Looks like a great ride!

Jump in the car and come on down. I don't think Lamonster would ban you for not being on a Spyder. :thumbup:

 

[BajaRon]

The guy that crashed the loaner Spyder was something else. I saw him take off and he was going really slow. Then, all of a sudden he turned like he was going to make a U-Turn and I knew right away there was no way he was going to make it because he started too way too late.

It was a no-brainer any way you looked at it. Don't know what he was thinking.

He was headed right for a big, flat bed trailer about 15 feet away. At first I thought he'd just pull up a little, back up and then finish the turn.

Instead he just turned the bars to lock and nailed it! He was still driving hard when he hit the trailer. Not sure if the Spyder died or if he shut it off.

It was totally unreal! I was surprised there wasn't more damage as he hit dead on into the heavy steel frame.

I didn't find out till after the accident that he was from the local newspaper and it was a loaner Spyder from Alcoa Good Times. He had a big camera slung around his neck. I'm glad he wasn't hurt but it makes me a bit more hesitant to offer my Spyder for test drives.

The Food at Alcoa Good Times was AWESOME! The Sweet Potato (whatever it was) was delicious! It was all good!

The people at Alcoa are great, treated us like royalty! When the sky opened up just as Lamont and I pulled in they whipped out a tent and covered the RT!

Everyone that sat on the RT was impressed and I heard that at least 1 person put money down for the Pre-Buy.

Thanks to everyone involved! 1st Rate event and a LOT of fun!