The Times They Are A-Changing

"To be honest, at the beginning we were saying we should attract younger people. But lately we're saying, why?"
"Retired people have disposable income. They have time."
John Boisjoli, chief executive, BRP Inc.(Bombardier Recreational Products)

"Most motorcyclists wave to each other. I've noticed with Can-Ams, that doesn't really happen. It's not that they don't wave, but they don't get a wave back."
"It [three-wheelers] took all the things you get from riding a motorcycle -- the freedom, the handling, the ability to lean into a corner -- and sucked the fun out of it."
Jeff Maguire, account director, ad agency for power sport products

"In the old days, a lot of senior riders would get a sidecar to balance their vehicle -- and put their dog in."
"I have seen a lot of students with disabilities, guys who have artificial limbs ... Their intentions are often to go and get a three-wheeled machine. I think it's great, it's fantastic."
"'As a real man, you ride two wheels, you don't ride three'. I think those stigmas are dropping today, I really do, because the technology is so fun to play with."
"Back in the old days, you would never, ever see a group of Harley riders riding with sport bike riders. Now you see it everywhere. Everyone's riding together."
Ryan Blake, motorcycle instructor, Learning Curves, Toronto

Move over you big burly, unshaven, tattooed musclemen on your Harleys with their patented roar, the old guys and gals are moving in.  "So  I put on my snowmobile helmet and popped on behind him and went for a little ride. I was hooked", explained Pam Fraser of Orangeville, Ontario, whose retiree husband, once a firefighter, had: "The next thing you know he's buying a Can-Am Spyder. Boys and their toys", she commented wryly, resistant initially to the very thought of travelling on a motorcycle irrespective of its three wheels.

The couple in their sixties have over 250,000 kilometres to their credit now, attained over a decade of owning seven Spyders. "I wouldn't say it's a hobby: it's more of a lifestyle", she stated. "It gives you a sense of freedom that you don't have in a car." The woman who had no interest whatever in travelling on a motorcycle alongside her husband now is the moderator of the 770-member Ontario Spyder Ryders Facebook page. Quite a transition, one the couple is so committed to, they racked up 1,000 kilometres a day to reach Deadwood, South Dakota last summer.

Boomers are finding life on the open road, seated confidently on a stable near-kin to the traditional motorcycle much to their taste. And with that knowledge the manufacturers of those vehicles are anxious to meet the new and growing demand for those products. From a minor industry side-product this still-emerging new attraction of the retired and footloose to three-wheeler motorcycles is fast becoming an industry staple.

In the province of Quebec alone the number of these vehicles being registered has risen 60 percent to 15,147 in the period 2014 to 2017, according to the Transport Ministry, while motorcycle registration saw a rise of 17 percent to 185,416 during the same period. Quebec is ahead of other provinces, but all indications are it will not be alone for long in notching up those numbers. And the Canadian recreational vehicle producers are now looking abroad to venues less dependent on seasonal weather opportunities.

BRP Inc., Harley-Davidson Inc., Campagna Motors and Minnesota's Polaris Industries are all planning to expand into the U.S., Australia, Japan and Europe. Visions of tripling global sales of three-wheelers over a five-year period to over $1-billion in sales dazzle the mind of BRP's chief executive to represent close to a quarter of total company revenues to be driven in large part by the newly-released Ryker roadster which decreases the earlier Spyder's sale price start of $17,000 to a more affordable $8,500.

For the time being there is an observable hostility emanating from traditional motorcyclists toward the upstart three-wheelers, with the former taking to ridiculing the latter. They're certainly non-conforming...! Age confers a certain amount of armour against ridicule, however and the older crowd appears to be more than happy with the more stable three-wheeler, not the least bit inclined to trade it in for a conventional model.

Then there is licensing and regulations where some states like California permit anyone with a driver's license to drive off the lot with a three-wheeler. Car drivers in Quebec, on the other hand, require completion of a special seven-hour course to drive a BRP roadster. The company itself has obligingly set up 17 driving schools in the province to ensure that the requisite course is readily attainable, in the interests of ongoing sales.

On the other hand, many states and a few provinces and territories require that riders enroll in a graduated motorcycle licensing system that might seem to represent a barrier to entry. There is the indisputable reality that the automatic transmission and stable handling of three-wheelers result in confidence for older people for whom motorcycling is an exciting new sport. A fact that will impel them toward overcoming all obstacles....

Can-Am Spyder