subject: Spyder Owners: Are They Bikers Or Not
[print this page] So I confess, I am seriously considering shopping for a Can Am Spyder this summer or next. Our youngest child will be graduating from highschool in a couple of months and most likely headed for marriage soon thereafter, meaning my wife and I will be able to get by with one automobile. I was going to invest in a two wheel motor cycle once we got rid of one of the cars but I need to confess that I am more than a little intrigued by the Spyder. But I must ask the question will I be looked at less of a biker if I own a Spyder?
Certainly I will still have my cool riding glasses, my gloves, leather jacket and girl behind me but is that going to suffice? I only ask because there are a lot of "weekend warriors" who ride racing bikes and wear nylon jackets, and don't really know anything about the biker culture.
They are not considered "real bikers" by most of the hard-core Harley riders I know. I wouldn't like my acquire of a Spyder to make me a social leper in the biking community. If that happens I suppose I'll have to acquire a Lone Wolf patch just to make a spiteful statement about my independence.
Anyway, riding glasses and leather jackets aside, the thing that makes the Spyder so intriguing to me is its stability. It is so stable that there are currently 3 states (California, Delaware, and North Carolina) where you do not even need a special motor bike license to operate one of the public roads. This is one thing that I find quite impressive thinking of that in modern times safety is a bigger concern to me than how I look. Stability is very important because during my more youthful days of riding, I actually rolled my Honda 550-four a few times.
If I ride a Spyder I am still going to have the wind on my face and the sun on my back. But I'll be safer and some individuals would even say I was cooler. It might even end up with some of my older biker friends following my lead and buying their own Spyders. We'll see.
