The Ride Says It All Tour
Can-Am Demo Days at
Carnegie
By
Bob
Balunda, Factory UTV
After much
eager anticipation, Can-Am finally introduced their Commander UTV Lineup
to the public in early June. The Commander is Can-Am’s first venture
into the UTV marketplace after many years of success with their
innovative ATV lineup. While production units are not scheduled to hit
the showroom floors for a couple months, Can-Am is touring the country
this summer with their Ride Says It All Tour, giving enthusiasts a first
hand look at the new Commander lineup, as well as their full line of
ATV’s.
A little surfing
on
Can-Am’s website took me to a list of dates and locations for the
tour. I was happy to find a stop in my neck of the woods at the
legendary Carnegie Cycle
Park in Tracy California and made myself an online reservation.
Carnegie Park gained notoriety in the early 1970’s when it hosted the
Trans-AMA series that brought the European Motocross stars stateside.
Racing icon Roger Decoster famously crashed his Suzuki at Carnegie in
1975 landing face first when his bike broke in half on a high speed
jump. The full-face off road helmet we accept today as the standard, is
said to have been born that day at Carnegie. Decoster had actually been
doing some testing on a the first prototype full-face off road helmet
and after that crash never raced with an open-face helmet again, the
rest as they say is history.
I was like a kid
in a candy store as I’ve anxiously awaited the debut of the Commander
after a couple years of rumors. After signing the obligatory forms, I
received a one-on-one overview of the Commander's features from a very
nice Can-Am rep. They fitted me with a loaner full face helmet and
assigned me a Camo
Commander 1000 XT for my demo ride. We were sent out as a group with
a leader to show us the course, but it was not a parade lap as we got to
attack sections at our own pace. The course gave us the opportunity to
get a real feel for these machines with a technical little hill climb,
some whoops, jumps and a few straights where we could open things up a
bit. It didn’t take long for me to realize the Commander would be my
next off road investment with its industry leading power to go along
with a fit and finish that raises the bar for the UTV Industry. I also
took the opportunity to test ride a
Renegade 800R X XC. The XC is a 4wd/sport cross over ATV I’ve had my
eyes on and I had a blast putting it through its paces a bit on the demo
course.
The Ride Says It
All tour is really an excellent, innovative approach to showcase a
product and an excellent opportunity for the buying public to check that
product out. Yes there is an abundance of electronic and print media out
there with all the specs and opinions one could ever ask for on any new
ATV/UTV, however it’s true what they say, that one man’s trash can be
another man’s treasure and what better way to decide for yourself than
experiencing the ride first hand. I thoroughly enjoyed my demo day at
Carnegie Cycle Park and for me The Ride did Say It All, well done
Can-Am.
###
Bob is the owner of Factory UTV in Sacramento California. Factory UTV
is renowned for their UHMW UTV protection - skid plates, a-arm & CV
guards and fuel tank guards.
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