UK Ryker owners - Is a Ryker Rally Suitable for UK's Potholed Roads?

[forkhandles]

Hi All,

First time posting and have been reading/researching the Can Am’s since being intrigued a week ago researching the Sea-Doo brand.

Having promised the folks I'd never get a motorbike, a Ryker/Spyder seems a happy alternative. I appreciate and am well aware they don’t mitigate risks, with CoachBob being a great wealth of info and advice.

Since I was a kid, I have only ridden on the back of a scrambler, and a short blast as a passenger on a cousin’s powerful road bike. I have many years cycling experience, noting cycling at 40mph is a totally different experience (squared rule) to a far heavier motorised and 2 front wheel unit.

As a newbie, common sense says a Ryker is the way to go, and having gone down the Rally rabbit hole, it seems to be the best option for some gravel such as beach/National Trust car parks.

Watching 1RLiz and her first outing, and my experience with cars and right foot braking, a Ryker seems ideal, with the Rally having the better adjustable shocks for 2 up (some time way in the future) while today I'd have storage on the back.

Watching canamgirluk on bumblebee it further convinced me… until I saw 1RLiz and canamgirluk both separately taking a Spyder out, with both commenting on how improved the ride was. Then seeing Stikflotes post about swapping to a Spyder, for the same reason of bad roads over here in the UK, then takes me down the Spyder rabbit hole, and being used to flappy paddle gearbox changes and right foot braking should be natural.

So I'm looking for UK owners to share their experience of the Ryker and tell me if it’s suitable for our rough UK roads (in places as rough as unpaved tracks!).

I realise I need to learn, and it’s going to take me time to pass 20mph, 40mph, 60mph, and first I need to get all the gear (I have a shopping list) before I even sit on one!

Thanks and looking forward to the journey!

 

[mecsw500]

I ride my late model Sea to Sky here in the US mountain west. Some roads like the freeways and urban surface streets are smooth enough. Up in the mountain canyons where I often ride the roads suffer from not being regularly maintained and suffering from freezing water and snow plow damage, it’s a different matter up there.

My Spyder copes admirably with the less than ideal road conditions.

Having been born in the UK and ridden motorcycles for all of my youth there, the one thing I would always recommend is a decent set of waterproofs. That’s waterproof gloves and boots designed for motorcycling. I always used waterproof outer wear. I really never trusted the supposedly waterproof textile riding jackets and trousers. In England you never really need Goretex breathable waterproofs. Just decent fully waterproof over-suits.

There is nothing worse than cold, wet hands, wet feet or worst of all, a cold wet crotch. Proper waterproof outer gear you put on over your regular gear that will withstand all day in the rain. When it’s sunny, just roll them up and stow them as they take up little room. It rarely rains here, but when it does, oh boy it does, torrential doesn’t begin to describe it. I just don’t trust the textile “waterproof” gear, especially the trousers part.

Here in the US, BRP (Can Am) offers rider training for trikes. Despite only needing a motorcycle license to ride them in my state, I took the course anyway. This was the best thing I could have done to come to terms with reverse trike riding. You can never get too much rider training in my book.

Frankly, with the UK’s changeable weather, the full fairing of a Spyder RT will perhaps make riding more enjoyable by keeping the worst of the weather off.