Can-Am Spyder stability and road-hugging

Reminds me of a friend of mine who bought a Harley Tri Glide. After hitting a mailbox and running over his ankles. After that he was scared and never could master it and sold it. I guess riding a 3 or 4 wheeler is vastly different than a 2 wheeler.
 
I test rode one years ago. To me it felt like riding a 4 wheel drive ATV fast on the road. I felt like it was trying to throw me off. I never felt the desire to get on another one. I agree with the post above "get a convertible".
 
The issue with the Spyder is that there's no real way to lean into the turn. Where a motorcycle's handlebars are really only used to "steer" at low enough speeds that we can't lean, the backwards trikes steer with the handles only.

And that puts the rider on a different trajectory from the bike. Unless the rider folds to the side at the waist to counteract it, there's a centrifugal force felt by the rider pushing them to the outside of the turn.

@Skunkape nailed it. The riding dynamic is identical to an ATV. Honestly it's not that far different from driving a car with no seatbelt, except you can't fall off your car.
 
I have not ridden a Spyder in the past but have been on a quad in the past- it was fun, but it did make me feel like I would get tossed off in a harder turn (so I never wanted to own one). Riding on 2 wheels seems more intuitive (well, we’re all bikers here) and the bike becomes a natural extension of the body (or it should seem that way). My neighbor’s BIL last year bought a GW trike - nice and lower mileage that he bought for $15K- but he rides VERY slowly, and usually wants to ride with other retired firefighters he knows in group rides (and when he told me how long said group ride is, it would be the equivalent of me taking the ST for about a 30-40 mile ride, so not very far). I rode with him once in the past and had to keep looking back to see how far back he was (it was only 3 of us)- it’s hard to ride with someone that is either not comfortable on their ride or downright afraid of it. They can also be a traffic hazard if they don’t keep up with the traffic flow.
 
My wife has one and it’s a blast to ride.
She has the F3 Limited model and asked the salesman what that stood for.
He said it stood for Fun On 3 Wheels.
She has had it since 2016 and would disagree with your friend.
Tell him to take it out to an open parking and let him loose on it.
Once you remove the fear that it isn’t going to flip over with a slight turn, he will have more confidence.
I call it a girls bike and use my dark helmet shield when I take it out.
And yes, it will remind you of being on a quad, same principle.
 
IIRC there is also a specific rear tire that makes a big difference. I bet he could find that out with a post in a Spyder forum. I test rode a brand new one and wasn't impressed. However, these things take a lot of time to master.
 
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