[itgirl]

okay, so i took the ride yesterday. i must say the spyder is, to date, the strangest contraption i have ever had between my legs! it has the nose of a 4 wheeler and the ass of a snowmobile. the wheels up front are very wide, so much that i had to be conscious of the yellow line during the entire demo ride. it handled like a 4 wheeler. the front wheels caught every ripple in the road and made for an unstable feeling ride. i felt like it had a mind of it's own and i was just hanging on for dear life. the front end was just all over the place. it was quite an upper body workout, i would imagine you could be sore after a day of riding that thing. it had power steering, but i felt as though i was trying to fight it to keep it under control.

having no front brake took getting used to as well. it is all in the right rear pedal, and it is ABS. stopping power was rather good though. i thought it had decent bite. i had to remind myself there was no need to lean through corners, even though i am sure i did anyways. and i kept having the urge to want to whip the tail around in the bends. i didn't think having 2 wheels up front would cause such a difference in handling, but it really does. i also got this very uncomfortable side to side rocking in corners. felt like the bike was trying to toss me off the side of it. like i was riding a bull that didn't want to be ridden.

clutch pull was incredibly easy. so much so that i kept over-revving the engine trying to ease it out. i am actually coming to prefer the heavy, quick biting clutch of my harley. on my bike, it launches if i just think about letting it out!

oh yeah, and the thing has reverse. but i didn't get to use that feature.

all in all, the spyder was by far the most unstable feeling machine i have ever been on. will i ever own one...no. but i am glad to have had the experience and will probably go do it again when they introduce the semi-automatic transmission this july. what can i say...i just love playing with other people's toys.