Harley Tri Glide vs. Can-Am F3-S Spyder for Fit

[Capt.Bob]

I had posted this in the Can-Am section but thought it would be of interest to Harley Tri Glide owners and those that are concerned about a lack of IRS for the Harley. It has been an interesting journey owning both a 2015 Can-Am Spyder F3-S and a 2016 Harley Tri Glide Ultra. There is about a $14k difference in price but I swear, I had to spend a bunch to fit myself to the Spyder in comparison to the Tri Glide. I have a deteriorating left hip from injuries that made fitting the F3-S more difficult than my TGU.

First off, the Spyder did not come with a windshield like the Harley and so I had to experiment with two different shields to find one that worked well. Secondly, I had to mess with the seats on both machines with driver backrests for each and added a complete BRP Cannonball seat to the Spyder for comfort. On the Harley, I just added a $200 Air Hawk. Thirdly, the Harley needed floor board extenders to get the boards out a bit where the Can-Am required me to replace the footpegs for BRP floorboards to get comfortable.

Suspension wise, I added a DK Custom Lift kit on the Harley to make the ride better and added a two-up rear shock and Baja Ron Ronbar antisway bar on the Can-Am to make it corner flatter.

Grips needed to be changed on both trikes to add comfort.



It seems to me that it was a bit of a longer journey parts wise to get the Can-Am dialed into my personal physiology but I am happy to report that both rides now are pretty darn comfortable.



The performance of the two trikes is so different that it makes riding each of them on different days a real hoot! The Can-Am has 115 horsepower and a very linear 3 cylinder Rotax engine that makes the 800 pound machine a real screamer. OTOH, the Harley is significantly down on horsepower and much heavier but has plenty of torque and just has an addictive rumble and feel as I ride down the road that brings gobs of smiles. I feel very fortunate to own both of them and now that the Can-Am is dialed in, the pleasure factor for both bikes is high and yet quite different in terms of how they get you down the road.

[Fearless]

This a good read well done thank you answered a lot of questions for me.

ride safely fearless.

I had posted this in the Can-Am section but thought it would be of interest to Harley Tri Glide owners and those that are concerned about a lack of IRS for the Harley. It has been an interesting journey owning both a 2015 Can-Am Spyder F3-S and a 2016 Harley Tri Glide Ultra. There is about a $14k difference in price but I swear, I had to spend a bunch to fit myself to the Spyder in comparison to the Tri Glide. I have a deteriorating left hip from injuries that made fitting the F3-S more difficult than my TGU.

First off, the Spyder did not come with a windshield like the Harley and so I had to experiment with two different shields to find one that worked well. Secondly, I had to mess with the seats on both machines with driver backrests for each and added a complete BRP Cannonball seat to the Spyder for comfort. On the Harley, I just added a $200 Air Hawk. Thirdly, the Harley needed floor board extenders to get the boards out a bit where the Can-Am required me to replace the footpegs for BRP floorboards to get comfortable.

Suspension wise, I added a DK Custom Lift kit on the Harley to make the ride better and added a two-up rear shock and Baja Ron Ronbar antisway bar on the Can-Am to make it corner flatter.

Grips needed to be changed on both trikes to add comfort.



It seems to me that it was a bit of a longer journey parts wise to get the Can-Am dialed into my personal physiology but I am happy to report that both rides now are pretty darn comfortable.



The performance of the two trikes is so different that it makes riding each of them on different days a real hoot! The Can-Am has 115 horsepower and a very linear 3 cylinder Rotax engine that makes the 800 pound machine a real screamer. OTOH, the Harley is significantly down on horsepower and much heavier but has plenty of torque and just has an addictive rumble and feel as I ride down the road that brings gobs of smiles. I feel very fortunate to own both of them and now that the Can-Am is dialed in, the pleasure factor for both bikes is high and yet quite different in terms of how they get you down the road.

[rhino 2]

Comparing A Spyder to a Tri-Glide is like the preverbal Apples to Orange thing..And i don't mean that in a bad way...I had a Spyder' And now a Tri. Two different rides for two different personalities... Kinda like the difference riding styles between my EX Bussa, And my EX VTX 1800..

[Phu Cat]

Wow Cap, you really have a tough choice to make, if you haven't already. I remember reading this thread quite a few months ago and am guessing you went with the bike that enables to ride the longest distance with the most comfort maybe? I hope you'll let us know which choice you made as I've always felt Can Am would be a great choice for those that had certain disabilities. Whatever choice you made I hope I meet you possibly at the Ocala get together next spring.

Phu Cat

[Capt.Bob]

Comparing A Spyder to a Tri-Glide is like the preverbal Apples to Orange thing..And i don't mean that in a bad way...I had a Spyder' And now a Tri. Two different rides for two different personalities... Kinda like the difference riding styles between my EX Bussa, And my EX VTX 1800..

Rhino, I agree that they are different animals. My F3-S is like a sports trike and the Tri Glide is like a cruiser. However, they are both trikes and both allow the rider to not have to put their feet down. I have the SM6 clutch/shifter model but many of my cohorts prefer the semi-auto paddle shifters that are a $1500 option on the Spyder. For some folks that may be more physically challenged and would have a hard time dealing with manual shifting, the Can-Am clearly allows more degrees of freedom in gear changes.

My purpose in getting the two different trikes was partly due to curiosity but also an interest in two different kinds of trike riding. What is pretty interesting is that the differences between the two trikes in terms of actual handling in the twisty stuff is not as dramatic as some are led to believe. I can really hustle the Tri Glide around tight curves and was out West taking sweepers at 70-80 mph on posted 80 mph roads and was amazed at how planted the Tri Glide was. The steering efforts are significantly different because the Can-Am has the speed-controlled power assist feature that the Tri Glide does not have.

OTOH, when I installed the DK Customs Lift Kit to the Tri Glide, my steering efforts were significantly reduced.



I sometimes wonder whether I even needed the Spyder given how responsive the Tri Glide is? Mike from Texas has been complaining about the lack of IRS in the Tri Glide but I have a street/race car that has a straight axle and a panhard rod like the Harley and I can assure him that I can hustle around very tight corners exceptionally fast. The ride is likely a bit harsher but I am not sure that IRS would allow for more or less hustle around the tight stuff?

[Capt.Bob]

Wow Cap, you really have a tough choice to make, if you haven't already. I remember reading this thread quite a few months ago and am guessing you went with the bike that enables to ride the longest distance with the most comfort maybe? I hope you'll let us know which choice you made as I've always felt Can Am would be a great choice for those that had certain disabilities. Whatever choice you made I hope I meet you possibly at the Ocala get together next spring.

Phu Cat

Phu Cat, Like Rhino 2 was stating, the two trikes are kind of apples and oranges in terms of long rides. I did a 6K mile ride on the Tri Glide this past June and loved it but would never think about using the F3-S Spyder for long jaunts like that. However, I live about 6-8 hours from the Georgia/Tennessee/SC mountains where I can see distinct advantages for single day rides stitched together on the Spyder as opposed to the Tri Glide where I am comfortable being in the saddle for up to 10 hours throughout the day, day in and day out. My wife will ride on the Tri whereas she is not interested in the Spyder. For the time being, I am having so much fun with both of them now that I will wait a year to see how things shake out. The F3-S is keeping me from migrating to the 2017 HD Tri Glide which would entail a fairly substantial hit in depreciation.

[Capt.Bob]

What a couple of beautiful days in North Florida. Cool mornings and warm afternoons. High today was 79 degrees and I decided to take the 2017 TGU to the Gulf of Mexico and over to Apalachicola which is a quaint fishing village on the Gulf. Yesterday, I rode the 2015 Spyder down tree-lined secondary roads all the way to Live Oak, Florida. Both rides were about 200 miles in length.

There were so many impressions made by the two rides. The Can-Am has tons of torque/power and the power assist steering makes for relatively effortless steering in the twisties. The Can-Am is both powerful yet pretty quiet unless you make the 115 ponies bark with the loud handle. The ride on the Tri Glide was louder, more viby and even a bit more comfortable. I was struck by how mechanical sounding even this new M8-engined Harley is compared to the Can-Am. The Can-Am is also smoother over unlevel surfaces due to the independent suspension and reverse trike wheel position.

After the ride yesterday, I was wondering if I really needed two trikes. After today's ride, the answer remains, hell yes! They are both so different but so interesting in their own ways. They are complimentary rather than competitors in my eyes. I realized that for now, I would hate to sell the Can-Am. I don't think the Harley is even in my thoughts about such things although the constant loudness of the stock pipes got me to thinking about how agricultural Harleys still are in 2017. Anyway, riding both on successive days back to back was well worth the gas expended. The scenery was beautiful both inland and at the coast. Today, I did happen to see a couple of hawks, a couple of big pelicans and some other water birds on both rides. What fun!

[GARYD]

One of the main reasons I would never own a Can-Am is because of the view. I want to FEEL like I'm riding a motorcycle, not some oversized ATV. Only Harley provides that.

I also like the better dealership availability of Harley - they're everywhere. Not sure how Can-Am stacks up in the parts dept. either.

I have plenty of power on my '14 TG and it's completely stock. I do ride solo though.
I like being able to stretch my legs out on highway pegs on long rides.
And I like the vib/rumble/shake of the Harley vs the quiet/smooth ride of the Can-Am. I think I would fall a sleep on a Can-Am.

I suppose if the Can-Am was the "only" motorcycle in the market, I would have one. I consider the CanAm and TG as a motorcycle, but a lot of riders don't. I'm in my 70's now and hope to continue for at least another 10 years.

Every year on my way back from Rolling Thunder, I ride the Skyline Drive/BRP/Cherohala Skyway and last year I did the Dragon. On each one I rode along with some rice rockets. I stayed with them the whole time. On the straights they would pull ahead of me a little, but on the corners I was way faster. So when people say a TG can't handle, I laugh at them. I would challenge them to a race, but I wouldn't want to embarrass them.

I have also done a Saddlesore 1000 ride last year on my way back from doing my dealers complete Route 66 trip.

Bottom line, I hope they don't follow Victory. We need all the "motorcycle" owners we can get to help fight anti bike laws and regulations. We're all in this together.

Ride safe and "save the wave"

[Capt.Bob]

Gary, I have to agree with you soundly that the view of two wheels out front is really, really different than riding my Tri Glide. When I look at a Can-Am Spyder F3 going down the road in front of me, they look like spiders more than motorcycles, so, hence the name Spyder. Kind of weird looking. That being said, I just responded on another site to questions about the differences between handling of the two machines from my personal experiences and why I think the Harley is a bit more "agricultural". However, on long trips like going across the country which I plan to do in April, the Tri Glide is my goto trike, both for the comfort, storage capacity and availability of dealerships practically anywhere in the country.

"The F3's steering is significantly lighter due to the power assist steering. It also makes the Can-Am just a tad "twichier" than the Harley going down the road. The Spyder's front wheels allow for more precise cornering but I also find that I have to make more slight adjustments on the Spyder vs. the Tri Glide. One characteristic I don't like about the Spyder is that there is a tendency to get significant bump steer when you hit certain uneven levels of road and at times, I found it a bit unpredictable which direction the Spyder wants to travel after unloading its suspension on the off-level bumps. Long Acre Racing defines bump steer as "Bump Steer is when your wheels steer themselves without input from the steering wheel. The undesirable steering is caused by bumps in the track interacting with improper length or angle of your suspension and steering linkages. Most car builders design their cars so that the effects of bump steer are minimal." The Spyder is somewhat less "giggly" on the road over uneven surfaces than the Tri Glide. The torque/power of the Spyder is much "gruntier" than the Harley.

The Harley makes a lot of noise and clatter for the relatively limited amount of horsepower/torque that it makes. The transmissions are like night and day. The Can-Am is smooth, effortless and not noisy whereas the Harley clunks in all the gears except first on the newest model and is at times difficult to find neutral. I used to be in General Aviation many years ago and almost would compare the engines of the two machines as the Rotax being a modern GA aircraft powerplant and the Harley being somewhere nearer to a Radial engine of yesteryear. The Rotax incorporates a fully functional water coolant system whereas the Harley uses a Hybrid water jacket system for the upper cylinder heads to reduce felt heat to the rider but is not nearly as effective in cooling down the engine. My predecessor 2016 Harley Tri Glide likely suffered from excessive heat and there have been anecdotal stories of cylinders loosing their roundness due to excess heat and failing leak-down tests on relatively low-mileage engines. The Can-Am Rotax 1330 is relatively maintenance free over a 50k operational cycle than the Harley which requires significantly more attention to maintenance items. That is why I opined that the Harley is more "agricultural". It works but gets you there with less finesse IMHO. However, having said that, I really love most of the clatter and mechanical sounds of the Harley. I am surprised that the stock mufflers meet the current noise requirements because they seem pretty loud to my ears and I generally wear a 3/4 helmet with foam ear plugs on either trike."

[GARYD]

Harley really did a good job on the exhaust starting back in 2010 to the present. I've never cared about replacing the mufflers before (I'm a purest), but when I heard a friends Cobra Race Pro slip ons, I fell in love. They are not as obnoxious as Rineharts but have a really low rumble. I wear a half helmet (sometimes) and E.A.R ear plugs (doesn't everyone). Of course I have the Stage II Boom system so it competes with the Cobras.

I'm just not the smooth quiet type rider. I need the vibs, man!