Polaris Slingshot – flying low and street legal

Having fallen in love with two Bombardier Spyders a week or so earlier, I was ill-prepared for what I saw in a West Vancouver RV park in early August. Built low to the ground, an orange-bronze 2015 Polaris Slingshot was parked alongside three motorcycles and two large tents. Like the Spyder, it looked part motorcycle, part car and part alien.

That evening, when I was invited to sit down with Guy and Carmen Munro and their friends, laughter and chit-chat about the Slingshot were the order of the day.

The laughter erupted when I asked about the reaction they’d received as they rode in a group from Edmonton to Vancouver.

“When I bought the machine, I expected people to be interested,” Guy said, “but not like we’ve experienced.”

How true. In the RV park, most people either stopped dead in their tracks to gape, or kept walking with their heads turned backwards.

The 51-year-old Guy, a supervisor for the Edmonton AMA tow-truck fleet, rode motorcycles for many years. He decided to buy the Limited Edition Slingshot SL following a his first-ever road accident.

“I was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2010,” he said, “and since MS is a muscle-weakening condition, I wondered if I’d come off the bike because I was no longer as fit as I’d been.”

Whether or not MS contributed to the incident, Guy said he’d worked at the scene of too many gruesome accidents to take chances. So he decided to leave his motorcycling days behind him and take a more cautious approach to his time on the road.

Cautious? In a Slingshot? The very name conjours up visions of danger, being launched out of the starting blocks.

Instead, when ridden responsibly—not sedately, just responsibly—this “reverse trike” holds well to the road, especially on the type of highway curves that led to Guy's minor crash.

With two people aboard and towing its small trailer, the Slingshot’s 2.4 litre overhead cam engine and five-speed manual transmission clock in at around 8.5 litres/100 kilometres on the Munros’ trip from Edmonton. The group came through unscathed as they travelled from Barkerville and Lillooet through to Pemberton and the resort town of Whistler.

“We had heavy rain and travelled through fog and forest fire smoke," said Guy, "and the Slingshot had no problems on the back road into Whistler."

With the vehicle's low centre of gravity, three-point seatbelts and motorcycle helmet and gear, the travellers were as safe as one can be in a vehicle that doesn’t have the airbags and other safety features of a regular car or SUV. In fact, as one of Guy’s anecdotes illustrated, most of the danger comes not from the vehicle and its riders but from the distracted behaviour of some drivers they meet along the way.

“Not long after I bought it,” Guy said, shaking his head at the memory, “I was at a stop on a four-lane highway when, all of a sudden, a driver travelling in the other direction veered over to pull up alongside me to ask questions about the Slingshot. Was he crazy or something?”

So where to now?

“We’ll be here about four days," said Guy. "Enjoyed Barkerville, love Vancouver... and then we’re off up to Penticton and Kelowna before leaving for home. Great trip.”