San Antonio — I have ridden motorcycles since I was about 9 years old. I still remember the day my dad brought home that Benelli 90 and my first ride on it. Then we graduated to a Cushman scooter. I remember it being so heavy I couldn't pick it up, if it fell over...and the compression was so strong, I didn't weigh enough to kick start it for a couple of years.
So when a PR firm for the Polaris company reached out to me asking if I would consider taking one of the "Slingshot" 3 wheeled vehicles for a ride for Texas Outdoors, I jumped at the chance. It's a hybrid form of motorcycle/sports car. "They call it a cycle car or an autocycle sometimes," says J.J. Spofford, the marketing manager for Alamo Cycle Plex.
My 82-year-old father, who has ridden across all lower 48 states and Canada on a motorcycle went with me. He really enjoyed the open cockpit of the vehicle and the fact you can have the wind in your face and don't have to worry about being strong enough to hold up two wheels.
It is fast, sporty, and incredibly agile in the corners. Since you're actually sitting in bucket seats, wearing a seatbelt and steering with a steering wheel, you don't have to worry about hanging on or falling off. It is licensed as a motorcycle but oddly, Texas and 43 other states you don't have to have a motorcycle operators license to ride it.