Kiwi enthusiasts enjoy first Can-Am Spyder Homecoming

More than 200 New Zealanders now own Can-Am Spyders with nearly 50 of these owners participating in the inaugural Spyder Owners’ Homecoming event in Taupo earlier in April.

The unique three-wheeled, Y-configuration touring machines are proving increasingly popular with Kiwis and the owners’ event proved so popular that the local Spyder distributor, BRP New Zealand, has been inundated with requests for a follow-up event.

BRP New Zealand manager Richard Shaw says the line-up of nearly 50 Spyders along a stretch of race circuit at the Taupo Motorsport Park was impressive to see.

“More than 80 people – riders and their pillion passengers – from north of Auckland to Greymouth, travelled to Taupo to participate in the Spyder Owners’ Homecoming event. It was simply magnificent to lead the group on a 175 km ride round around Lake Taupo,” says Shaw.

BRP also hosted the Spyder Experience demonstration rides in Taupo the same weekend. This involves a specially-built Spyder Experience hospitality truck and ten Spyder units being available for people to enjoy a one-and-a-half hour test ride. The Spyder Experience team visited Auckland, Taupo and Palmerston North during March and April, spending three days at each location with five rides per day.

Shaw says: “The Spyder Experience continues to prove a great way for people to try out a Spyder in a friendly, relaxed environment. Even if they have no motorbike riding experience, by participating in a brief training session then a guided ride on these great machines on the open road, we have shown many people just how much fun riding a Spyder can be.”

More than 100 of the current 200 Spyders registered in New Zealand have been sold in the past five months since the first Spyder Experience demo rides ran last November.

“Those involved in the final Spyder Experience ride of the day in Taupo got a fun surprise when they returned to the circuit – they witnessed the largest gathering of Spyders we’ve ever had in New Zealand, so that certainly made a positive impact for these participants!”

The Can-Am Spyder is designed and manufactured by Bombardier Recreational Products (BRP) in Canada. The powerful roadster looks like a three-wheeled, motorcycle with two wheels in the front and one in the rear, delivering a very different riding sensation to a regular motorcycle. A motorcycle licence is not needed and the Spyder is perfect for two-up riding.

“A Spyder is a fantastic machine for those who have always liked the idea of open road touring on a motorbike but, for whatever reason, don’t like the way bikes need to be leaned into corners,” says Shaw. “It has a more stable ride with its ATV-like chassis with the single rear driving wheel and two wheels in front for steering. With its 990cc V-Twin Rotax engine, ABS and power-steering, the Spyder is powerful and sophisticated to ride.”

Alongside the Can-Am Spyder, BRP is well-known for its competitive and functional ranges of Can-Am all-terrain vehicles (ATVs). BRP, a privately-held company, is a world leader in the design, development, manufacturing, distribution and marketing of motorised recreational vehicles. Its product portfolio also includes Sea Doo personal watercraft and sport boats, Evinrude outboard engines, Ski Doo snowmobiles direct injection technologies such as E TEC and Rotax engines and karts.

More information about the Can-Am Spyder and other BRP products can be found on the New Zealand/Australia pages of the website, www.brp.com.