Skip to content

Waterfront covered with Spyders

Spyder Cross Canada Tour stops in North Bay Wednesday.
SpydersNorth Bay
Russian Spyder enthusiasts Sasha Matveev and Mikael Danilin at the North Bay Waterfront on Wednesday. Photo by Chris Dawson.

The North Bay waterfront off Memorial Drive was covered in Spyders yesterday.  

But this was no worry for anyone with arachnophobia because these giant Spyders are part of a Cross Canada tour that took a pit stop in North Bay organized by local Spyder dealer Giesler Marine. 

The Spyder is a three-wheeled vehicle invented 10 years ago by Can-Am, the company that created the Ski-Doo snowmobile. 

More than 30 Spyders took a break in North Bay and then stopped near Ottawa Wednesday night with a goal of getting to the birthplace of the three-wheeled vehicle on Friday.  

“We introduced it in February of 2007 we are actually having close to 3,000 people converge on Valcourt, Quebec for the homecoming,” said Alex Smith, a BRP District Sales Manager based out of Calgary.  

“We are expecting on Friday morning about 600 of these Spyders to form a bit of a parade into the factory where all the employees are going to be meeting us,” added Smith, noting an American group from Los Angeles will meet up with them too.   

The tour is getting some international appeal as well.  

Russian Spyder enthusiasts Sasha Matveev and Mikael Danilin were with the tour when it started in Vancouver last week. They are part of a global Spyder tour with colleagues in Russia who are doing a cross-continent Spyder tour of their own.  

“We have a dream to cross Canada from ocean to ocean,” said Matveev.  

“They are going from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean, we are from the other side of the Earth, going from Vancouver from the Pacific Ocean to St. John’s at the Atlantic Ocean.” 

Smith says there are around 100,000 Spyders on North American roads and highways.  

“It was kind of initiated as an alternative for a motorcycle,” Smith explained.  

“A lot of our clients are ex-motorcyclists, perhaps don’t have the confidence for two wheels on the road anymore, whether it be age or physical handicaps. 

“There’s also a lot of people that have never been on a motorcycle before. They are very stable, they’ve got a complete vehicle stability system on them so if you corner too hard they level themselves out, they have ABS braking, traction control. They are probably the most sophisticated open road machine on the market today.”  

Riders need a valid standard driver's license and 10 hours additional training, or a motorcycle licence to operate the vehicles.


Chris Dawson

About the Author: Chris Dawson

Chris Dawson has been with BayToday.ca since 2004. He has provided up-to-the-minute sports coverage and has become a key member of the BayToday news team.
Read more

Reader Feedback