70-Year-Old Guy Out-Rides Me In His Trike (Can Am) | GTAMotorcycle.com

70-Year-Old Guy Out-Rides Me In His Trike (Can Am)

Pegassus

Pegassus

Well-known member
Site Supporter
Last fall I went riding with a group of guys on trikes 3-wheelers (Spyder AM), just 2 of us were in motorcycles. The leader of the group was riding a trike. This guy took us for a brutal 13 hr ride.... we started in Toronto at 7:00am, stopped in Innisfil to wait for more riders, then went to Marmora,Ontario to pick-up 2 more then went to this place called Dorset to climb this metal tower, ate lunch and then the guy took us all over the map north of Huntsville and inside Muskoka provincial Park. At dark we returned to Toronto.

When I got home I felt as if someone had beaten the sh*t out of me with a baseball bat, my legs hurted as if a Thai kickboxer had done me 10 rounds of kicks on my muscles, my arms hurted, my wrists, I had blisters on my upper inside legs. The odometer showed 1,180 kilometers of riding, holy sh*t that's the equivalent of going from Toronto to the New Jersey shore in Atlantic city. The other guys were older than me, in their 50's and 60's. This particular guy looked in his 70's, all wrinkled with totally white hair & beard. On our way back to Toronto we stopped at Teston rd/400 South rest stop to fill up for fuel and the 70-year-old guy was even dancing with his headphones on while putting fuel on his trike. I couldn't believe it.

The only reason these guys out-lasted me must had been because of their trikes. Their sitting position is like sitting on a lounge chair with both your feet stretched out in front of you, they never set foot on the ground at dead stops, they never have to balance their bikes in the twisties, they also have a back rest. Their trikes also have this "trunk" at the front where they carried big lunch boxes and extra layers of clothing. I have fell in love with these trikes, they look awesome and are very comfortable, holy hell you can do a 1 non-stop trek to Washington DC no problem. This is going to be my next bike. I'm just worried about how much more do they cost in maintenance compared to a motorcycle?? Anyone here has one?
 
Last edited:
My buddy just bought one and came by a few days ago to let me ride it...I didn't like it at all. Maybe because I haven't ridden in a while, or the fact I'm not used to it, but it was twitchy as hell on the front, the brakes were really good but I kept grabbing with my right hand, turns out it's on the right foot instead.
Turning was super weird as there's no lean and the trike stayed flat the entire time.

Personally I wouldn't buy it, but he swears up and down by how comfortable it is (he's close to 60). Maybe one day I'll take it for an extended ride once the weather gets better and give it a real shot instead of 1km through the neighbourhood.
 
There's multiple things very, very wrong if you're beat up that bad from a 1100KM day, be it the type of bike you're riding, the way you're riding it, the type of gear you're wearing, or possibly all 3.

My first iron butt was just under 1900KM in 21 hours non stop except for fuel, piss and coffee refill breaks, and one 10 minutes stop for a dump and a sandwich from Timmies. I got home and could have got right back on and kept going had it not been nearly zero degrees out.

As for Spyders, are they comfortable? To some extent, sure...but don't kid yourself that they're the equivalent of just sitting there while the bike does all the work on cruise control, nor do they make the rider immune to almost all of the other things that can also bite you in the ass on a motorcycle.
 
Last edited:
It's a Spyder :| It's like driving a big fat high speed snowmobile, of course he is going to out comfort distance you!
The don't look any harder to work on then a Sea-doo
 
Trials said:
It's a Spyder :| It's like driving a big fat high speed snowmobile, of course he is going to out comfort distance you!
The don't look any harder to work on then a Sea-doo
Click to expand...

1586908310061.png
 
I don't know about owning one but would for sure like to try one.

The other benefit I would see is if you have some sort of disability or inability where getting on and sitting on a regular motorcycle would be hard or not possible.
This would be the alternative for the person that just can't give up the thrill. Although not exactly the same but the idea is there.
 
Trials said:
It's a Spyder :| It's like driving a big fat high speed snowmobile, of course he is going to out comfort distance you!
The don't look any harder to work on then a Sea-doo
Click to expand...

Have you ever ridden one?

I've ridden with my fair share of Spyder riders and have seen some of them get off crippled after a 500KM day, whereas others have done iron butts on them and get off they just went to the corner store and back. Rode to Wyoming in 2 days with a buddy on one last summer and it never bothered him one but, but he's a seasoned Iron Butt rider.

Proper gear for long distance riding (and temperatures/weather conditions) is hands down the BIGGEST thing many people don't do right on their first 1000+KM day. Simple things like a backrest (or not) can make a big difference as well, and a big part of the bigger picture also comes down to how much someome rides to begin with. A 5000KM/year rider doing a 1000KM/day is almost certainly going to probably be sore. A 25,000(++)km/year rider is going to be in far better shape at the end of it because it's probably not their first kick at the can at a super long ride and they know that the gear and choice of motorcycle and equipment makes the difference. They learned long ago, sometimes the hard way.
 
oioioi said:
The other benefit I would see is if you have some sort of disability or inability where getting on and sitting on a regular motorcycle would be hard or not possible.
Click to expand...

A LOT of former 2 wheel riders (including several former 2 wheel friends of mine) are now on Spyders for that exact reason. Not all by choice...but wind in your face is wind in your face even if you can't lean in the corners.

Those who make fun of them may be eating crow when they get old.
 
Trials said:
Yes the entire family tried them out and then we bought a pair of sea-doo's instead. I think we did well.
Click to expand...

I used to own 2 PWC's, one particularly high performance one.

That machine, when ridden hard in challenging (but friggin' FUN) wave conditions beat me up more than any motorcycle on the face of the planet could every possibly accomplish.
 
PrivatePilot said:
I used to own 2 PWC's, one particularly high performance one.

That machine, when ridden hard in challenging (but friggin' FUN) wave conditions beat me up more than any motorcycle on the face of the planet could every possibly accomplish.
Click to expand...

Sea-doo's are fun, I have been on a few.
But I feel like the novelty wears off pretty quick. Especially if you are on the lake alone.

As much as we say that we do not need a destination while riding a bike and may not know where we are exactly heading to, but there is still somewhere that we are going.

On a sea-doo you are bound by the shores of the body of water that you are on and that's it. There is not much exploring you can do on a sea-doo.
Unless you start going down the Trent-Severn Waterway, which not many people do.
 
I test rode a CanAm Spyder a few years ago and going around corners or taking ramps at speed was a bit unsettling, like being on a motorcycle that was mysteriously magnetically held down, almost as though you are sitting on a couch, remaining flat and taking a corner...no lean. I think that would be the hardest part of riding a trike. They are comfortable due to the seating and backrest and can easily see one putting on many more miles. I was told by a rider who used to own an 800GS and moved up to the 1250GS and now he can easily ride twice the daily distance because the bigger bike is so much more ergonomically comfortable.

It's really not that surprizing because you can just imagine taking a 300 cc bike across country, then moving up to a 650 cc, then moving to a 1000+cc. There are always exceptions but usually the bigger bike will be the one that can rack up high daily kilometres tirelessly and comfortably.
 
oioioi said:
Sea-doo's are fun, I have been on a few.
But I feel like the novelty wears off pretty quick. Especially if you are on the lake alone.
...
Click to expand...
What lake? I live in a region called the Land of Lakes There are a thousand lakes here in one thousand square miles.
... and only the very biggest ones have waves on them high enough to beat you up on a sea-doo, you just need to watch out for rocks near the surface, because that would be a lousy way to die :|
 
Pegassus said:
Last fall I went riding with a group of guys on trikes 3-wheelers (Spyder AM), just 2 of us were in motorcycles. The leader of the group was riding a trike. This guy took us for a brutal 13 hr ride.... we started in Toronto at 7:00am, stopped in Innisfil to wait for more riders, then went to Marmora,Ontario to pick-up 2 more then went to this place called Dorset to climb this metal tower, ate lunch and then the guy took us all over the map north of Huntsville and inside Muskoka provincial Park. At dark we returned to Toronto.

When I got home I felt as if someone had beaten the sh*t out of me with a baseball bat, my legs hurted as if a Thai kickboxer had done me 10 rounds of kicks on my muscles, my arms hurted, my wrists, I had blisters on my upper inside legs. The odometer showed 1,180 kilometers of riding, holy sh*t that's the equivalent of going from Toronto to the New Jersey shore in Atlantic city. The other guys were older than me, in their 50's and 60's. This particular guy looked in his 70's, all wrinkled with totally white hair & beard. On our way back to Toronto we stopped at Teston rd/400 South rest stop to fill up for fuel and the 70-year-old guy was even dancing with his headphones on while putting fuel on his trike. I couldn't believe it.

The only reason these guys out-lasted me must had been because of their trikes. Their sitting position is like sitting on a lounge chair with both your feet stretched out in front of you, they never set foot on the ground at dead stops, they never have to balance their bikes in the twisties, they also have a back rest. Their trikes also have this "trunk" at the front where they carried big lunch boxes and extra layers of clothing. I have fell in love with these trikes, they look awesome and are very comfortable, holy hell you can do a 1 non-stop trek to Washington DC no problem. This is going to be my next bike. I'm just worried about how much more do they cost in maintenance compared to a motorcycle?? Anyone here has one?
Click to expand...
Glad to have a new peggy story to bring some light into these times. The issue wasn't the trike. They used resilient axle stick grease to smooth out their ride. A few minutes of your time and a CBR will feel like a road glide.

Bike choice matters a lot in long distance riding. The best I did on a 450 honda was 1200 km in 14 hours (I needed to stop almost every hour for gas). On the Ape, the best day was 2300 km in 24 hours (gas ~every 4 hours). I like bikes where you can pop up onto the pillion seat. Having multiple seating positions really makes a huge difference as it changes the pressure on your butt and all of your leg and arm angles.
 
Trials said:
What lake? I live in a region called the Land of Lakes There are a thousand lakes here in one thousand square miles.
... and only the very biggest ones have waves on them high enough to beat you up on a sea-doo, you just need to watch out for rocks near the surface, because that would be a lousy way to die :|
Click to expand...

I meant being alone on a lake as the only sea-doo rider. "riding solo". Not going out with a buddy to create waves with yo.

Not you @Trials being on your lake alone.
 
oioioi said:
I meant being alone on a lake as the only sea-doo rider. "riding solo". Not going out with a buddy to create waves with yo.

Not you @Trials being on your lake alone.
Click to expand...
Oh you are one of those guys that goes around and around in tight little circles so you can hit your own boat wake :| no wonder you find sea-doo's boring.

I do agree that it is best to buy sea-doo's in pairs, although it does make for a very large trailer.
 
oioioi said:
Sea-doo's are fun, I have been on a few.
But I feel like the novelty wears off pretty quick. Especially if you are on the lake alone.

On a sea-doo you are bound by the shores of the body of water that you are on and that's it. There is not much exploring you can do on a sea-doo.
Unless you start going down the Trent-Severn Waterway, which not many people do.
Click to expand...

IMG_0575.jpg

This was my solution to "single location boredom" with Jetskis.

We took them everywhere that the 2 trailer combination was legal to tow, including the east coast and all over Ontario and Quebec. Anywhere we went camping with water nearby (and we camped a LOT at that point in our lives, Easter weekend to Labour day, and even a few times in the dead of winter at some of the provincial parks that stayed open all year round) the jetskis came with us.

We also did a lot of full day rides including running the Otonabee river from Rice to Peterborough fairly often and trying different lakes and locations all the time.

In the end the only reason we sold them is because we got back into MC's. There just wasn't enough time for both.
 
Demo'd one a long time ago.Couldn't wait to get off.You can't avoid potholes etc like you can on two wheels.They also have a really bad rep for service,recall (not always bad) breakdown.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top Bottom