I don't know that I've ever been in love with any motorized vehicle but I can tell you when I knew I had to have the Spyder.
My wife, Debbie, had bought a fairly nice 150cc scooter. After owning it for a while, she convinced me that it would be better if she had at least a 400cc scooter for drivability / acceleration reasons. So last June, we went out scooter shopping at the local bike shop. While checking out various Honda, Suzuki and Yamaha scooters, I saw a poster of the Spyder. Because I wasn't really in the market for any type of bike, I just jokingly remarked that this (the Spyder) would be the bike I would choose for myself.
So we went home that day and did a little web surfing on the Spyder and got more interested in it. I found that the same dealer we were at was getting their Spyder demo right after the 4th of July. Still not really intending to buy one, I made a note that we would go check out the Spyder when it came to town.
Being that I didn't have my cycle endorsement and Debbie was still wanting a Bergman scooter, we didn't schedule a test ride. I just wanted to see the thing. So we went to the dealership that morning to get a look, ask some questions and maybe have Debbie give it a test ride and tell me how she thought it felt. Well they looked awesome in person. I was anxious to learn more about them but the salesmen knew even less about the Spyder than we did. They had potential customers coming up to us and asking questions as the salesmen were constantly going back inside the store to "check on that". That didn't instill great confidence in me for either the Spyder (was it a "here today, gone tomorrow" product?) or the dealership. At the end, Debbie test rode it but only up and down a side street next to the dealership as the BRP rep the salesman claimed was supposed to show up with the Spyder for the demo ride test wasn't going to be there that day. As we later discovered, the truth was probably that the dealership hadn't prepared for the riding test and it really seemed that they weren't too interested in selling someone a Spyder. When I asked Debbie how it was, she could only tell me it was different than riding her scooter and that she wasn't comfortable with the shifting, differences in braking and the steering feel. So, with her 5 minute test ride and our doubts about the dealership, we went home and basically forgot about the Spyder.
Later that month, we took her 150cc scooter to a different dealership (the one where she bought it) for some service. We hadn't shopped there for her upgrade scooter as they only sold the Chinese ones and we were pretty set on the Yamaha Bergman. I saw that same Spyder poster from the other dealership and commented on it to the service manager, Roger. He told me how great the Spyder was and that he was one of the first people to go to a special Spyder information and training session where they spent one week with the Spyder and BRP officials to learn all about the new machine. Roger talked with Debbie and I for over an hour about all kinds of technical stuff, safety features, handling, the drivetrain, etc. He was excited about it and he made me excited about it. We left the service area and walked right up to the sales desk to give our $1000 deposit to the owner, Mike. Mike told us that they also had their demo in July but they were going to be getting them back in August or September. That gave me enough time to go get my motorcycle riding test and endorsement completed.
During the time gap between the deposit and the test ride, I started having a touch of "buyers remorse". I knew the Spyder wasn't the reasonable thing to buy. It would force me to ride it in all types of weather as it would become my primary mode of transportation. I have always been a car or truck driver. Out of the elements, warm, cozy, dry, AC, decent sound system, etc. That Non-Refundable part of the pre-order certificate kept me from changing my mind though.
So, our scheduled test ride day came and we were alloted 1 hour of ride time. It started with the dealers Spyder training course in their parking lot which both Debbie and I handled well. Debbie was much more comfortable with the handling of a three wheeled motorcycle this time. Then we were told that we could go out together on their two demo units and the instructor / chaperon would ride his personal bike (a nice sales touch). He took us on a tour of the countryside and let us "open them up" a bit on one nice straightaway. I think it was during that test ride when Debbie and I both started thinking that she needed one of these instead of a scooter. We envisioned long rides together, the first of which we made happen by accepting the invitation to The Homecoming. That was when I knew that I knew that I made the right choice. There would be no more buyers remorse.
:spyder:
