Friday, May 08, 2015

Polaris Slingshot: Motorcycle or Car?

Ian, from St. Paul's Highland Village,  had been riding motorcycles for many years, but a few years ago he had a bad accident that made riding painful.  So….on May 2nd he bought this Polaris because the design of the seats was more comfortable for his previously injured back.

"In development for three years, the Minnesota designed Slingshot, the 1,666-lb. trike, is more akin to a three-wheeled car with front wheels situated way out in front of the driver. You don’t straddle the rear-drive Slingshot; you sit way back in it, side by side with your passenger in waterproof bucket seats, and your posteriors are only 11.9 inches off the pavement. With its short windscreen and low-sided open-air cockpit, the Slingshot has the visceral appeal of a sportbike, but it drives more like a lightweight sports car, albeit one with three wheels." Credit-CycleWorld: Click here for a review)


11 comments:

  1. Not sure which class it would belong in, but it looks like a ton of fun!

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  2. how cool is that?! glad he found a way to continue his love of bikes!

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  3. I'm seeing more of these on the road and they sure make you look twice.

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  4. Well, Kate, I'm flabbergasted to find this here today. You've solved a mystery for me, honey. And I'm so excited about it! I saw one of these yesterday afternoon while sitting out in the sunshine on the corner near my building. I couldn't believe what I saw since so many Portland vehicles are blandly colored and designed, other than the occasional vintage vehicle which I much appreciate. Anyway, now I know I was not seeing a movie prop, maybe from the Transformers, but this beauty! Yea! Thanks so much!

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  5. I know several guys that would like that. Me, not so much.

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  6. It's different than the Spyder three wheel motorbike I've seen around here from time to time... I'm not sure which camp it would properly go into!

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  7. That is one very sporty vehicle.

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  8. So it's open air? It looks like a nice ride but I suspect it's not very cozy in winter!

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    1. Heh - true. It is open air, so if it rains, I get wet. But that's what rain gear is for. :) In the cooler days, I wear an electric jacket liner and electric gloves. On the days even colder than that, I might wear electric over-pants. It can feel like I'm inside a toaster! (The clothing has electric heating elements in the fabric; the outfit plugs into the vehicle's battery.) Definitely NOT a winter vehicle though. No windshield wiper blades to brush away snow; rear-wheel drive (and ONE wheel drive at that) with all the vehicle's weight in the front; and even with electric clothing, by the time you've got 60+ MPH wind on you, you're going to get a bit of a chill on properly cold days. While I probably could ride it a little longer this year (I type this note on November 14), it's pretty much tucked away for the season at this point - any riding I do now would be "gravy" and unexpected at this point.

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  9. Well how about that Kate, I saw one of these just yesterday in Perth.. They do look a little odd on the road :)

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  10. Greetings Kate! Sorry it took so long to find this picture. I'm the guy in the pictures. :) I did look for it shortly after you took the picture, but you hadn't had a chance to put it up yet, and then the card you gave me was lost in my wallet until just now.
    For your readers - the Slingshot is legally considered a motorcycle by the state of MN and in nearly every other state. (It's not a "car" in any state because it doesn't have airbags, hasn't undergone crash tests, etc.) There are still (I think) a couple of states in which it can't be registered/titled as either a car or motorcycle. And there's rumor that in one of the New England states, a new vehicle classification called "auto cycle" has come into being for this vehicle as well as a couple others. But in Minnesota, it's a motorcycle so you have to/get to follow the same rules as other motorcyclists: required by law to wear a helmet if you're under 18 or only have a learner's permit (and required by common sense to do it anyway), headlights have to be on all the time, can use the HOV lanes, have to have a motorcycle license to operate, the insurance you buy for it is motorcycle insurance not car insurance, etc.
    It operates a lot more like a car than a standard motorcycle - steering wheel instead of handlebars, foot clutch/hand shift instead of hand clutch/foot shift, no leaning in curves, etc. And it's the only motorcycle I've ever owned that has a back-up camera that comes into use when the thing is in reverse gear. :)
    And ... it definitely gets a lot of attention on the road! Everywhere I go, I have to assume that I'll spend an extra 5 - 10 minutes in the parking lot answering questions about it. But that's perfectly fine with me - I like spreading the "coolness" factor. :) I'd say 98% of the folks who stop and look have a smile on their face (that's the best feeling - when you can leave folks smiling) or at least walk away impressed/enthused. I did have one person throw their hands in the air and blurt out "why, why would you do this? why not just get a convertible or get a 'real' motorcycle" (he just "didn't get it") and I had another person tell me she didn't like it because she thought it looked like the devil. (hm ... that's a new one.)

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