IT'S A BIKE, IT'S A TRIKE, IT'S AN ATV! Can-Am Spyder redefines `segment buster'.(News)

Byline: STEVEN COLE SMITH

In a business where secrets are profoundly hard to keep, here's a tip of the hat to Bombardier Recreational Products, the Quebec-based firm that builds Ski-Doo snow machines and Sea-Doo watercraft and owns outboard motor companies Evinrude and Johnson. Company president Jose Boisjoli says BRP was so secretive about its all-new product that most of its own employees weren't aware of it.

For nearly a decade, BRP has been mulling a street-legal vehicle, and it kept coming back to a three-wheeler, with two wheels in front and one in back. The idea isn't new-Morgan had it 97 years ago-but it's never really caught on.

Enter the 2008 BRP Can-Am Spyder, a three-wheeler that provides most of the two-wheel motorcycling experience but adds stability, luggage and passenger capacity, the latest in electronic safety equipment and more than a little flash.

And boy, is the Spyder different. Its Rotax V-twin engine, the same one used in the 1000-cc road bikes built by Aprilia, is a detuned 106-hp version that turns the rear wheel through a belt drive. The transmission is a five-speed manual, but a five-speed clutchless sequential transmission will be available.

This is a remarkably complex vehicle in ...