Off-roading Can-Am Ryker Rally - SHOCKING RESULTS
How off-road capable is Can-Am’s three-wheel rally machine?
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00:00 (upbeat music)
00:03 This is the Can-Am Riker Rally,
00:05 BRP's most aggressive three-wheeler.
00:08 This one is a little bit different.
00:09 The Riker Rally is designed to go on and off road
00:13 and explore new riding areas.
00:15 So we brought it up to the mountains
00:17 to test its on and off road capabilities
00:19 and put it in a special test
00:21 between two proven off-road vehicles
00:23 to determine just how much the Can-Am Riker can rally.
00:27 (upbeat music)
00:30 Starting off with the power plant,
00:36 it's powered by the Rotax 900 ACE engine.
00:39 This is a 900 CC inline three liquid cooled
00:42 fuel injected engine with a claimed 82 horsepower
00:45 and 58.3 pound feet of torque.
00:48 This 900 CC engine is super linear power delivery.
00:52 It's sort of electric like feel.
00:54 And that's in part because of the continuously
00:56 variable transmission, so you're not shifting the thing.
00:58 There's no clutch, you just crack the throttle
01:00 and it continues to pull.
01:01 The Can-Am Riker Rally has three different ride modes.
01:04 It's got eco mode, rally mode, and standard.
01:07 So when we came and hit the dirt,
01:09 obviously we put it straight into rally mode.
01:11 The first thing you'll notice is the rear tire
01:13 can now spin.
01:14 Traction control is limited,
01:15 and so you can really light up the rear and sort of slide.
01:18 It does still have stability control on.
01:21 You can't eliminate that in any mode,
01:23 but it's less intrusive.
01:24 So it'll allow it to sort of fishtail
01:26 and slide through corners.
01:28 At some point, the stability control will take over
01:30 if it feels the vehicle is getting a little too sideways.
01:34 So the power delivery in standard mode
01:35 and rally mode is really the same.
01:37 The only difference is gonna be in rally mode,
01:40 the traction control is turned off
01:42 and the stability control is less intrusive.
01:45 Moving on to the suspension,
01:46 the front end is gonna be a double wishbone design
01:49 with KYB HPG suspension with remote reservoir
01:52 four piston compression adjustable dampening
01:55 and preload adjustment.
01:57 The suspension travel is 2.8 inches.
01:59 And in the rear, it's a multi-link monoshock
02:02 and swing arm setup with KYB HPG suspension
02:06 with remote reservoir four piston
02:08 compression adjustable dampening and preload adjustment
02:11 with 7.05 inches of suspension travel.
02:14 So on the road, the suspension was nice and plush.
02:17 I spent a majority of my time
02:18 on the stiffest suspension setting,
02:20 and that gave me a good feel of what the front end was doing,
02:22 what the tires were doing.
02:24 And then in the rear,
02:25 it kept the bike at a good riding height.
02:27 It didn't blow through the stroke
02:28 when you hit a big bump in the road
02:30 or a transition in the freeway.
02:31 And that just made it a really comfortable ride.
02:34 Because the Riker Rally has two wheels upfront,
02:37 coming up here on the freeway,
02:38 I noticed that one tire tends to pull
02:40 on one side of the road and the other
02:42 on the other side of the road.
02:43 And this makes it feel really floaty
02:45 and kind of constantly being pulled
02:47 from one side to the other.
02:49 And to alleviate this, you have to be adjusting
02:52 sort of nonstop to maintain a straight line.
02:55 And then when we get into the twisties,
02:57 it felt even more foreign.
02:58 As you come to initiate a corner,
03:01 because you have so much traction up front,
03:03 it really fights your handlebar input
03:05 and wants to straighten it out.
03:07 So mid corner, you have to really be pushing
03:10 on one side of the handlebar and pulling on the other
03:12 to maintain that turning arc.
03:14 Once I got on the dirt,
03:15 I quickly realized that the stiff suspension setting
03:18 was too harsh off-road.
03:20 So I backed it out to the softest suspension setting
03:22 and that allowed the front wheels
03:24 to just stay on the ground a lot more consistently.
03:27 The handlebars don't get jostled from,
03:29 again, a rut or a rock.
03:30 And then in the rear, when you do hit a bump,
03:33 it's a lot softer on your back.
03:35 It doesn't bounce you out of the seat.
03:37 It really became a lot easier to ride
03:39 and you could push the thing at a faster speed
03:42 without feeling like it's gonna sort of bump you off.
03:45 The handling off-road is completely the opposite
03:48 of the handling on the road.
03:50 Because the tires can sort of push and slide with the dirt,
03:53 the tires are able to just feel a little bit more free,
03:56 kind of push and slide.
03:58 And with that rear tire wanting to spin in rally mode,
04:01 the front end feels a lot lighter
04:03 and it just feels a lot more agile off-road
04:06 than it does on-road.
04:07 The braking components on the Riker Rally
04:09 include a 270 millimeter disc
04:11 with a dual piston caliper up front on both wheels.
04:14 And in the rear, it's a 220 millimeter disc
04:17 with a single piston caliper.
04:19 Unlike a motorcycle,
04:20 the brake systems are not independent of each other.
04:22 The front and the rear brakes are tied together
04:25 through an electronic braking distribution system.
04:28 And so what that does is it applies even braking pressure
04:32 to all three wheels
04:33 when you modulate the brake pedal on the right foot.
04:36 It felt very foreign not having a brake lever
04:38 at the handlebars.
04:40 Relying only on that brake pedal on the right foot
04:42 took some time to get used to.
04:44 But once you do start putting trust in that brake pedal,
04:47 you'll quickly realize that the brakes are really strong.
04:50 It does have ABS system that you can't turn it off,
04:53 but I never felt the ABS kick on on the pavement.
04:56 On the dirt, you will feel it.
04:58 If you lock up the tires,
04:59 you will feel that system kick on,
05:01 but this thing has really strong brakes.
05:04 You do have to get pretty deep into the lever stroke,
05:06 but once you do,
05:07 you'll realize this thing stops on the back.
05:10 The ergonomics feel very similar to a jet ski or a quad.
05:14 It's really comfortable.
05:15 You're sitting upright.
05:16 Because it has that ErgoFit system
05:18 where you can slide the handlebar forward or back,
05:20 just like the foot pegs,
05:21 it allows it to fit a lot of different riders.
05:24 For me, I had the handlebars all the way back
05:26 for just a shorter reach.
05:28 And then with the foot pegs,
05:29 I brought them back a little bit further as well,
05:31 so my legs weren't as extended.
05:34 For the most part, it's really comfortable.
05:36 You're just kind of sitting on it
05:37 like you would a jet ski or a quad.
05:39 The Can-Am Riker Rally has a unique look.
05:42 I think it looks really sharp.
05:43 The addition of the rally wheels for 2023
05:46 was something that I think makes this thing
05:48 look a lot more dirt worthy.
05:50 There are a few gaps in the fenders,
05:52 and the dash is really rudimentary.
05:54 It is digital,
05:55 but it doesn't show you a lot of information,
05:58 but it is functional.
05:59 You can switch between the three modes pretty quickly
06:01 with the push of one button.
06:03 And then you do have a RPM load gauge.
06:06 It's not a tachometer where it really shows you where.
06:09 It's just a digital reading
06:10 that says where it is in the RPM range.
06:12 It does have cruise control,
06:14 which is a great feature for getting out to the dirt,
06:16 going down the freeway.
06:17 That's something that's really nice,
06:18 and I have used on the machine already.
06:21 The Riker Rally has been very surprising off-road.
06:24 I did not anticipate it had these sort of dirt capabilities
06:27 in its DNA.
06:28 But to answer our question,
06:30 we need to go conduct our special test.
06:32 And that test is a good old-fashioned time trial race,
06:39 representing two wheels, the Honda XR 650L,
06:43 representing four wheels, the Can-Am Defender,
06:45 also known as the Dirty Defender.
06:48 We're down here on the dry lake bed.
06:49 We have a preset course.
06:51 We're gonna record lap times on all three vehicles,
06:54 and that'll help us determine
06:55 just how much the Can-Am Riker can rally.
06:59 First up, the Honda XR 650L.
07:01 Third gear.
07:08 This section's pretty fast.
07:11 Gotta make sure we slow down for this right-hander.
07:14 Woo!
07:15 Whoa, the front just pushed.
07:16 That was sketchy.
07:18 Finish first.
07:19 First you gotta finish.
07:21 This is a fast left-hand sweeper.
07:24 Oh, man.
07:25 And gotta slow down for this.
07:29 That's a tricky section.
07:31 You gotta be careful with the front on this thing.
07:34 Sort of street by his tire.
07:36 Little bit wide, that's gonna hurt the time.
07:39 Overshot this a little, but we'll throttle out.
07:45 Now the fast section, and the home straight.
07:50 Gotta slow up for this.
07:54 Steer with the rear.
07:55 And we're home.
07:59 The Honda XR 650L set the pace
08:03 with a time of one minute, 36.9 seconds.
08:06 Gonna be tough to beat.
08:08 Next up, the Can-Am Defender XT-HD10.
08:11 All right, we're off.
08:15 This thing actually gets going pretty quick.
08:17 Got some pretty beefy tires that hook up.
08:21 Kinda feels slow.
08:22 Oh, we're gonna overshoot this corner.
08:24 Woo!
08:25 Little bit of body roll, little bit of wiggle.
08:29 Just kind of gotta accept it.
08:31 Let it do its thing.
08:32 Oh, shoot.
08:34 Right into the sun.
08:35 Get on the brakes, get on the brakes.
08:38 Steer with the rear, fully forward.
08:41 All right.
08:43 Kinda just gotta accept that body roll.
08:46 Oh, there we go.
08:49 We got this left-hander, tightening apex.
08:52 On the brakes, now on the gas.
08:55 Oh, it stepped out.
08:57 Don't wanna flip the boss's whip.
08:59 Oh, sliding a little bit.
09:01 Whoa!
09:05 Stay hard on the brakes, and then steer with the rear.
09:09 There we go.
09:10 Now we're fully forward.
09:11 Now we got this tightening left-hander.
09:15 Steer with the rear.
09:17 All right, straight through the finish.
09:22 Woo!
09:22 The Defender circulated the course in 1 minute, 51.2 seconds.
09:28 Not fast enough to keep up with the two-wheel machine.
09:31 Lastly, the Can-Am Riker Rally.
09:34 (crowd cheering)
09:36 All right, spinning off the start.
09:38 Kind of expected that, but we're gonna make up for it.
09:41 This is where the Riker really does well
09:43 at these faster-flowing corners,
09:46 where you're not putting so much demand
09:47 on those front tires.
09:49 Oh, oh!
09:51 All right, we made it through.
09:53 That was a little sketchy, but it still hangs.
09:56 Cut back a little bit right,
09:58 and then we got this fast sweeper left coming up right here.
10:01 Go hard on the brakes!
10:03 Get into the soft stuff.
10:05 Oh, mid-throttle, mid-throttle.
10:07 Keeping it from the stability control kicking in,
10:11 and we're sliding out.
10:12 That was pretty good.
10:14 Slow down, little bit of throttle,
10:16 little bit of handlebar turning.
10:18 Oh, it's getting out of whack.
10:22 You can't ask for too much from the front end,
10:24 or the understeer really will cost you.
10:26 Oh, but there we go.
10:31 That was pretty good.
10:32 Power through there on the exit nicely.
10:35 And this is where it really does well,
10:37 are these faster-flowing sections.
10:40 All right, final corner.
10:42 Let's see what we can do.
10:43 There we go, steering with the rear,
10:48 powering through, and nice.
10:50 All right, that felt pretty quick.
10:52 But was it quick enough?
10:53 The Can-Am Riker Rally set a time of 1 minute, 49.5 seconds.
10:58 The Can-Am Riker Rally managed to edge out
11:00 the Defender XT-HD10 for second place,
11:03 but was 12.5 seconds slower than the XR650L.
11:07 So what does this all mean for the Can-Am Riker Rally?
11:10 In short, it exceeded our expectations
11:12 and delivered on what the marketing effort promised,
11:14 a three-wheeler that is off-road capable.
11:16 Is it limiting?
11:17 Of course.
11:18 It will not keep up with an experienced rider on two wheels,
11:22 but that's not the objective.
11:24 The Riker Rally is designed as an alternative option
11:26 to traditional motorcycles
11:28 and delivers a riding experience like nothing else.
11:30 One that is neither car or motorcycle,
11:33 but an entertaining combination of both.
11:35 Whether you ride two wheels or four,
11:37 don't knock this three-wheeler until you try it.
11:39 You just might like it.
11:41 (bell dings)
11:44 (bike wheels whirring)
11:48 (wind whooshing)
11:50 [BLANK_AUDIO]