Ridley Ride

Saturday dawned clear and beautiful and even a bit warm, so we did go up to Bellingham to visit the Ridley dealer.

They have a pretty black trike there. We both rode it. It's an automatic transmission and 750cc. It felt rock solid on the road, not a vibration at all. Like all trikes, it finds every bump in the road, but the ride was pretty smooth anyway. Less bumpy than Wrex.

It sounds like a "real" motorcycle. When I first hit the starter button and it roared BRRRUUUMMMMMMM, I nearly jumped out of the seat. It's way louder than Wrex, but then the engine is way bigger. Louder than I'd like, I will surely be wearing my ear-plugs.

For this shortie, the footboards were placed just about right, but the left is impinged on by a transmission cover. It will be doable like that, just a matter of getting used to, I think. Or possibly differently shaped or larger footboards. I can't even reach the road pegs.

The handlebars, however, are waaay up there and the ends seemed pretty far apart. I have to lean forward to grab them and a turn is a full-out big stretch. When I lean forward, that forces the tailbone into the back of the seat. That did not feel so good, as I have that tailbone pain thingy going on.

It's a hard turner, takes more muscle than the Wrex. I did expect that, but it feels alot heavier overall. I guess it is. It doesn't have alot of pickup, but it does have alot of power. At 50 mph, there was plenty of power left.

I could blip the throttle and go brumm, brumm just like a big ol' cruiser. I did like that. It did not slow down while going up small hills. The brakes seemed to me like they could be just a little stronger, it takes a while to stop. Definitely does not stop on a dime like Wrex. Maybe 30 cents.

Storage wise, the Wrex has the Ridley beat wheels down. Ridley has a trunk, but it's smaller than you'd think for all the real estate that seems to be trunk. I think it's big enough to carry all that I now carry in the glovebox, underseat and trunk. Maybe even some room left over for the saddlebag stuff. And it has a nice luggage rack, so lots of things are possible there. No room for saddlebags, as the tupperware is all of a piece in back.

It's a one seater and that seat is none too comfortable for long rides, I think. For the 15 minutes I was on it, it was fine, but I can see that it's a bit hard and a bit narrow in the rump area.

I didn't care much for the "dashboard" readouts. They seemed both minimal and extraneous...it had a large tach, why I don't know, as it's CVT and you can't do much about the tach. The speed was digital red numbers. I can read them without glasses and that's good. But there's no clock and no continual mileage readout and apparently no gas gauge.

It's got two gas tanks, I'm not quite sure why but there are two tanks with a crossover. There's a reserve switch but I'm not sure where the reserve is located. Wrex doesn't have that. There's a parking brake, but it's in a wierd spot under the seat area that will take alot of getting used to. And probably some burned fingers.

It has an electric reverse engine that has one speed---fast. I can see wiping out an entire parking lot in no time flat with that reverse. I can tip toe the bike, but if there's any kind of an obstruction or incline, I can't push it while seated.

I can't tell you what kind of mileage it gets, but I bet it's nowhere near the mileage Wrex gets.

All in all, we both liked the bike. It seemed quite solid and well-built. It would need a reshaped or rehabbed seat, pull-backs or maybe a new bar. The windshield needed to be trimmed about 1.5 inches. Maybe new footboards. I can't see where a backrest would fit. The bike fit Ray really well, which tells you how it fit me.

The dealer likes it even more than we do. Since it's an '08, they have knocked down the price by 4 grand. With taxes and licensing the bottom line is nearly $27,500. This is a price I choke on, but less than the '09 price, which is $33,000.

So now, I'm more up in the air than ever. It's hard to justify spending that much money. It's hard to think about giving up riding. I still don't know what to do.

I've been corresponding with a local (well, ok, Enumclaw) place that does conversions and side cars. The think they can convert Wrex to a legal trike, but have to see it before they can say for sure. And, they are closed on Weekends, so I don't know how it gets down there and back.

And then there's the side car option. Those seem just plain wrong to me but it might be the cheapest 3-wheel option.