IdentityCrisis.....
cont’d
You may remember Motorent from edition7, if not check it
out in the back issues section on our website (www.lifestyle.
tk). Motorent supplied us with a gs1200 BMW Adventure for
our article on Almeria and the Desmosedici Ducati. On my
return from that trip, Antonio and Marcos told me about the
much anticipated arrival of the Can-Am spyder trike to their
new showrooms in Alicante (behind Harley Davidson on the
332).
So I waited for the weather to change (a few months) and
then took a trip back to Alicante and took a look at the trike
to make my own mind up. I must admit I was a little biased
at fi rst. I mean I already loved the look of the machine and
just knew I would enjoy it.
So following the usual paperwork / insurance rituals etc, I
was shown the controls in great detail all of which are very
similar to a standard motorcycle.
A few minutes around the private car park (essential to gain
familiarity) and I was ready for the open road. My fi rst fi ve
minutes were taken up just getting used to the overall size
and “feeling” of the machine. Then it was on to main road
heading up to the mountains.
Horror of horrors! I hated it. The machine is fi tted witha mil-
lion and one safety features designed to stop the thing rolling
over, getting out of line, sliding, skidding or doing anything
other than going in a straight line or around corners in any-
thing but a sedate and sensible way. WHAT IS THE POINT
OF THIS? After 30minutes in the saddle I was frustrated to
say the least, I found myself physically exhausted having to
haul the trike around the corners, the abs and antiroll kicked
in every 2 seconds killing any sense of freedom that I dare
chase. The computer gizmos became the authority, the big
brother and I became citizen smith! This machine made me
feel like a young rebel in a straight laced town, I wanted to
spray paint the tank and smash the wing mirrors, I wanted to
be free to do what I wanted to do.
So I pulled over. I smoked a cigarette, I listened to some
rock n roll and deliberated the best way to break free from
the establishment. This called for some intelligent thinking, I
tried brut force and willpower but I was never going to beat
the computer aided safety controls.
I had a brainwave, CONFORM. It crossed my mind that the
guys at Can-Am BRP must have known what they were do-
ing. These guys are not stupid and the products they pro-
duce are pretty exciting. So I pulled on the crash helmet,
stamped out the cigarette turned off the rock n roll and tried
again.
My goal was a simple one, ride the bike as smoothly as pos-
sible and don’t let the computer aided gizmos kick in at all. I
started slowly and it worked, not a judder or antiroll stutter in
sight. I gradually increased the speed having to lean off the
International Lifestyle Magazine
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