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Can a three-wheeled vehicle that has side-by-side bucket seats in an open cockpit, a steering wheel and a stick shift located in a console between those seats – but 
also has a swing-arm and is belt-driven – be considered a motorcycle?
In unveiling its new Slingshot model on July 27, Polaris noted that the reverse trike (two wheels in front and one in the rear) is “a 3-wheeled motorcycle.” The company emphasized, “It is not an automobile, it does not have airbags, and it does not meet automotive safety standards.”
While some publications immediately took to calling it a “roadster,” Merriam-Webster’s definition of a roadster is “an automobile with an open body that seats two and has a folding fabric top and often a luggage compartment or rumble seat in the rear.” The Slingshot isn’t a ragtop, though, and it doesn’t have rear storage, unless you count the bins behind the seats that are big enough to fit a helmet.
The Slingshot also doesn’t have handlebars or a saddle-type seat for rider and pillion, which the Can-Am Spyder reverse trike has. A flip description of the Slingshot would be to call it a go-cart for adults. What makes the Slingshot potentially problematic in Connecticut is that is defies easy categorization.
Kevin Nursick, spokesman at the Connecticut Department of Transportation, reports that staffers tell him that legislation would likely be needed to change existing statutes so that the Slingshot could be classified as a motorcycle. He joked that maybe it’s a new species requiring DNA testing before a determination can be made.
Perhaps that’s the reason why Polaris hasn’t listed any dealers in Connecticut on website pages dedicated to the Slingshot, although it does show Slingshot dealers in Massachusetts, New York, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine. Nursick said the Connecticut Department of Motor Vehicles will ultimately make the call.
Mark Fontanella, co-owner of Connecticut Power & Sport in Wallingford, is hoping to be able to sell the Slingshot. His dealership has Suzuki and Yamaha motorcycles and Polaris ATVs. He said last week that it’s his understanding that Polaris is hamstrung until the state acts. “That’s what’s delaying the process,” he said.
Libby’s Motoworld in New Haven, CT says it has already been approved to sell the Slingshot, once the bureaucracy acts, and even posted on its Facebook page on Monday a tease for the trike. “We certainly have been selected,” said Dan Coppolella of Libby’s. “I know the target is to have them available in the fall.”
Polaris is apparently being stingy about who gets the Slingshot. Being a Polaris dealer doesn’t automatically qualify you, and Polaris is evidently even bypassing existing dealers in favor of Indian motorcycle dealers. Polaris owns both the Indian and Victory motorcycle brands as well.
“It’s only to a select few dealers at first,” said Ralph DeLuco, general manager of Springfield Motorsports in Springfield, MA. His store sells Polaris products and Victory bikes (as well as Kawasaki and Yamaha) but has seemingly lost out on the Slingshot to Indian Motorcycle of Springfield. The Indian dealer in Westfield, MA. says it will be selling the Slingshot when it reaches stores in the fall, although it is not currently listed by Polaris as a dealer. “Eventually all dealers will get it. I’d really like to have it,” DeLuco said.
One Polaris dealer not interested in the Slingshot at this point is New Boston Crane Service & Sleds in Sandisfield, MA. It’s the closest Polaris store to northern Litchfield County. “I don’t think it’s a market that’s going to take off because of the price of the machines,” said owner Billy White, suggesting the Slingshot may be more popular down South and in the West.
The base price of the Slingshot is $19,999 with a premium “SL” version costing $23,999. The Slingshot is powered by a 2.4 liter, 173-horsepower dual-overhead
cam engine. It has a five-speed transmission, electronic stability and traction control, and ABS on all three wheels.
The base version of the Slingshot is titanium in color and has 17-inch wheels in front and an 18-inch wheel in the rear. The SL comes in red and has 18-inch wheels in front and a 20-inch wheel in back. The Slingshot weighs in at less than 1,700 pounds.
RIDE-CT /RIDE-NewEngland contacted the D.M.V. to check on the status of the Slingshot in the state, but didn’t hear back by deadline. A public relations firm representing Polaris likewise didn’t respond in time to an inquiry about the vehicle’s status in the state.
Which brings us back to the beginning: Can the Slingshot accurately be called a motorcycle? It doesn’t look like one. It doesn’t require balance to drive one. Would you be required to take the state Basic Rider Course and have an “M” endorsement on your driver’s license to safety operate one? And why? That would seemingly be unnecessary.
Until the state acts, what if you bought one in Massachusetts and trailered it home – could you register it in Connecticut? DeLuco recalled back when he owned Canton Cycles in Winsted, CT and wanted to become a dealer of Ural motorcycles, which have sidecars. The state didn’t have a category for the Ural, so he couldn’t sell them, yet a rider could buy a Ural from a Massachusetts dealer, bring it home and register it. Will this be the case with the Slingshot as well?
Being able to register the Slingshot raises another issue. If what is so obviously a “recreational vehicle” designed for fun can be registered for road use, why not a quad? Polaris’ release of the Slingshot prompts more questions than answers.
(Originally published in “The Republican-American” on Aug. 2, 2014. Additional info included in today’s web version.)
It’s time to bring back the old designation of cycle car. these were popular until the Model t prices dropped into the low hundreds. i believe(but not positive) that this was based on weight and had it’s own tax and regulations
There is nothing in the CT General Statutes that suggests a Polaris Slingshot falls outside the CT definition of a Motorcycle:
From the definitions section of the CT General Statutes: http://www.cga.ct.gov/2011/pub/chap246.htm#Sec14-1.htm
(54) “Motorcycle” means a motor vehicle, with or without a side car, having not more than three wheels in contact with the ground and a saddle or seat on which the rider sits or a platform on which the rider stands, but does not include a motor-driven cycle, as defined in this section, or a vehicle having or designed to have a completely enclosed driver’s seat and a motor which is not in the enclosed area;