Canada has given the world such great inventions as the snowmobile, the paint roller, and the Wonderbra. Yet, its contributions to the world of modern motorcycling have been frankly odd. BRP’s Can-Am produces three-wheel vehicles that look and drive like they’re summer snowmobiles, but they’re so much more than that. The Can-Am Ryker is perhaps Canada’s greatest addition to today’s motorcycling and it’s frankly zany, but it’s also just really weird.
Last year, I got to test the Can-Am Spyder F3-T. A lot of people don’t seem to understand why trikes like these exist, but I spent three weeks with that Spyder and learned that they have so much awesome going for them. I rode that Spyder to Detroit and back to Chicago and it felt like a Cadillac without a roof. It was so smooth, so comfortable, and made riding hundreds of miles in one sitting so effortless. I’ve driven luxury cars that felt worse than the Can-Am Spyder. I could have sat on that saddle for days on end and the stereo made the trike into a rolling boombox. It even had enough onboard storage for a weekend away from home!
I loved nearly everything about that three-wheeler except for its price. If you want to buy a Can-Am Spyder F3, it’ll set you back at least $22,099. That’s a lot of dough for a toy and I found no shortage of people who were shocked by the price. Lots of people loved the Spyder but few of them liked the price. Admittedly, I am one of those people. If you gave me that kind of cash, I wouldn’t be taking it to my local Can-Am dealer.
All Of The Fun, Half The Money
That’s where the Spyder’s younger, far more rowdy sibling comes in. The Ryker starts at $9,599, or $11,299 minimum for one with the best engine available. The folks of BRP have loaned me the top-of-the-line 2024 Ryker Rally, which starts at $14,599 and is designed around playing in the dirt. I have it for the next few weeks and will be telling you all about it.
For half the price of a Spyder, you aren’t getting half the bike. The Spyder’s Rotax 1330cc ACE inline-triple engine is making 115 HP and 96 lb-ft of torque and moves a 948-pound mass of bike. Yet, the Ryker’s better engine, a Rotax 900cc ACE inline-triple engine, is making 82 HP and 58.3 lb-ft of torque but moves just 616 pounds. In addition to this, Can-Am has tuned the Ryker to be an absolute hooligan. The machine not just allows, but practically taunts you with its ability to drift and lay down epic burnouts. If the Spyder is a middle-aged adult with an office job, the Ryker is a college student throwing a rager this weekend.
People love these things, too. I live near both Chicago and Milwaukee and you’ll find biker clubs dedicated just to the riders of Rykers and Spyders. You’ll find them dripping with custom paint, big wheels, and even bigger sound systems. Their riders? Young people, including lots of women and people from various minority demographics. Can-Am has captured something special there.
Thus, Canada’s greatest contribution to motorcycling is a three-wheeler that drifts, jumps, and converts its rear tire into smoke. It’s a machine for generating more smiles in a mile than many cars are capable of doing. The Ryker likes getting on two wheels, doing donuts in the dirt, and just giving a big middle finger to sensibility. Sadly, it’s not perfect, as I wish Can-Am paired the engine to anything but a CVT. It’s also pretty thirsty, and could be more comfortable, but all of that will be stories for my review.
That review will come in time, but for now, I just want to highlight the weirdness of this thing. Canada could have just given us a wacky trike, but it went above and beyond to do what other motorcycle manufacturers don’t do.
The Can-Am Ryker Rally is the Ryker, but dolled up in off-road gear. It sports a brush guard up front, structural bark busters, an aluminum skid plate, turbine-style wheels, and all-terrain tires. The suspension is upgraded with KYB HPG shocks with remote reservoirs, adjustable damping, and longer travel than the Ryker’s other suspension options. Onboard, you’ll find a Rally mode which turns traction control mostly off, enabling wicked burnouts and drifts both on pavement and in the dirt. Weirdly, this is one of those times I’m okay with traction control merely being muted because it does come in just in time to save you from doing something really stupid. I’ll save my ride notes for the full review.
A Transformer
One of the greatest parts about all versions of the Ryker is apparent the moment you swing a leg over the seat. See the handlebars? It sits on a track. Flip the middle tab up to move the bars on the fly. You can adjust your riding position from upright like a standard bike to leaned over like a sportbike in literally seconds.
Typical motorcycles do offer a range of adjustment, but they usually require a tool to permit handlebar adjustment. This is a little change, but it’s so fun. Being able to change the bar position on the fly has allowed me to change how I ride the Ryker while waiting for a red light to turn green.
The footpegs are like this, too. The pegs ride on their own track and you can adjust them by flipping the pegs up and moving them forward or back. Once again, you can achieve a foot-forward position for a comfortable highway ride or bring them back for a more sporty ride. If you want things to be super goofy, you could have both the bars and the pegs forward and ride the thing like you’re in a sci-fi movie.
There’s another benefit. If you’re someone who has a leg that’s much shorter than the other leg, you can adjust the pegs individually to fit your legs perfectly. Once again, traditional motorcycles offer customization for the pegs, too, but Canada takes it just one step further. You can adjust the bars and pegs of a Can-Am Ryker in seconds and without any tools on you. I know motorcyclists already do carry tools on them, but this is easier.
I would say that I wish regular two-wheel motorcycle brands did this, but I could see an argument for why they do not. If you take a look at Can-Am’s track system, it is a bulky piece that sticks out. That’s going to look pretty unsightly on your typical motorcycle. I’m also not entirely sure how you’d implement it on a setup that uses clip-on bars.
The track works on the Can-Am because this is already a bulky, weird machine. The handlebar track is probably the last thing you’ll notice.
It’s a similar story with the pegs. I could see this implemented on a regular two-wheel motorcycle, but I’m not sure it’ll look good. Again, Can-Am gets away with it because the Ryker is just flat-out weird to start. Perhaps all of this isn’t even that necessary because while traditional bikes usually require tools for adjustments, it still takes only seconds of time.
Sock It To Me
The weirdness doesn’t end there. Technically, it starts before you even start up the Ryker. A lot of motorcycles use physical keys or fobs. BRP products are all alternative. You get a plastic socket for a key. BRP calls this the D.E.S.S key, and says it’s a vibration-resistant, dealer-programmable alternative to a metal key. That socket slips onto a ball on the side of the machine. That tells the Ryker that it’s okay to start up and run.
Other oddities come from the lighting. All of the lights on the Ryker are LED, including the taillights and an off-road-style light bar. The exception to this is the headlights, which are basic halogen bulbs.
Then there are the off-road bits. One of the problems with the original Ryker that I tested in 2021 was the fact that it was super easy to rip the trike’s face off. I’m sad to say that things are only sort of better. BRP has added a thick-ish aluminum skid plate to the underbody of the Ryker.
The company also added a brush guard. However, things get disappointing when you look closer. The face of the Ryker is still plastic, and that includes most of the brush guard. The front fascia skid plate is plastic and only a portion of the brush guard has metal.
The rest is plastic that will not stand up to any real abuse. So, the Ryker can go off-road, but don’t get heavy with it. At the very least, bottoming it out won’t be an immediate disaster
Likewise, the bark busters are pretty useless. I’m sure they would protect your hands fine, but there’s a lot of three-wheeler underneath them. If you manage to get these to touch some brush I’m afraid your day is already going very badly.
The brakes are also noteworthy. The Ryker stops only with the foot-actuated pedal under your right foot. When you punch the brakes hard, the pads and rotors on all three wheels get into a big fight over which can stop the fastest, which results in you getting pulled to a stop in three directions at once. The brakes work really well, so it’s not dangerous, but it’s a fun experience. It feeds well into the Ryker’s character of being more than a bit daft.
To date, the Can-Am Ryker remains one of the weirdest new vehicles I’ve ever gotten to play with. Riding one is entirely unlike riding a motorcycle, but also entirely unlike commanding a car. Rykers sit in their own little world where mischief rules and fun is the only thing that matters. I’m going to get into this in the future, but for now, this is the perfect example of what the Canadians are doing for modern motorcycling. Sure, Can-Am has electric motorcycles in development, but the wacky trikes still stand out in the crowded world of summertime fun rides.
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