Slingshot ?

[oldandslow]

Not the kind you throw rocks with. Well, it will if you goose it a little on a rocky road but it's the one made by Polaris that you ride in. My son started talking about maybe getting one around three years ago after his shoulder started giving him a lot of trouble. The talk increased after he had a reverse shoulder replacement and is now missing two muscles that makes your shoulder work. To make a long story short he purchased one last week and I took him to Lubbock, TX to bring it home this morning. After we got it home he wanted to check it's rear light options and I got in it to push the brake which was easy to do. Your butt is almost dragging the ground and the brake pedal is too far away to just lean over into the cockpit and push with your hand. When we finished and I went to exit the trouble started when I found that with my bum hip I wasn't able to get out of it. It's too heavy to tilt up on it's side and let me crawl out so it was me pushing and him pulling and I finally made it out without breaking the steering wheel off although I was beginning to wonder.

It is a very nice way to run around with the wind in your face but certainly not something for decrepit old geezers with hip problems to be using. Maybe I'll have the hip fixed by warm weather and get to drive it then. It has almost all the bells and whistles offered and the cockpit is just about like a modern car/suv/truck. Rockford-Fosgate sound system with Apple+ with blutooth, turn by turn navegation + system, P/S, Brimbo disc brakes with the wheels they require, large rear tire, engine power boost, plus all the optional storage offered and everything about it is 100% waterproof. It needs a top but he didn't want the Polaris one anyway. It makes me wish something like had been available back when my wife and I were riding Harleys.

[Graybeard]

I have a John Deere Gator, dunno the model number on this new one. Even when my hip is acting up I can get in and out without too much trouble. Getting out is easier than getting in tho both are simple enough.

I was just about to have that reverse shoulder replacement a month or a bit more ago. I thought it over and decided to live with the pain I know rather than the aftermath of that surgery. My next door neighbor had it perhaps 1.5-2 years ago and she said don't do it.

That shoulder is main reason I have the new Gator rather than my old one. Old one didn't have power steering and it was getting to point I couldn't turn it around in a tight space. Steering on the go was OK but man turning in a tight spot with no PS was next to impossible.

[oldandslow]

Well, it was a case of his arm was basically useless and also very painful so he decided to do something about it. At this point in time he is much improved. Of course it will never be as good as original but better is better and he is happy with his results. His doctor told him it would be a slow recovery and so far it has been although he managed to do some things much more quickly than I did with rotator cuff repair. Look at two years to be fairly well recovered and never able to do somethings again with reverse shoulder replacement.

His take today even though he is still doing therapy is that he is glad he had it done and since his left shoulder is now giving him fits he is getting an appointment with the same doctor to see what has to be done to fix it.

[Lloyd Smale]

hope its more reliable then some of the other polaris snowmobiles and atvs and side by sides ive had or i would go far from home.

[Graybeard]

My left arm is pretty much just hanging there useless and yeah there is a great deal of pain. But it's pain I've been living with a long time. The doctor told me I'd have less range of motion after surgery and the primary reason for the surgery was pain reduction.

I at first did not understand it was to be a reverse replacement and thought it was a straight replacement. I didn't learn of the reverse part until I was in the hospital getting tested before surgery. I went home and thought it over and decided that if the arm was to still be mostly useless after surgery I'd just live with the arrangement GOD gave me and deal with the pain and lack of use of it.

I have no idea if I made a good or bad decision or if someday I'll really have no choice but to get it done. I figure that if I'm lucky I have another 8-10 years on this old rock, likely less and almost certainly no more. I'm hoping I can tuff out the pain that long.

[oldandslow]

It seems to be that after the recovery the pain is pretty much gone and you can still lift things pretty easily. Over your head strength is greatly reduced. Son says he would do it again although he still has a way to go before he is fully recovered.

[ironglow]

About 20 years ago, I was told I was a candidate for a shoulder replacement.  I guess like the one O&S mentioned, where the ball and cup switch places.
    So I asked the doc what that would do for my blacksmithing. He said there would be no more blacksmithing..so I told him there would be no shoulder replacement..

 I'm still alive...and my arm functions OK, except when reaching above my head, where it gets a bit "notchy"...

[Graybeard]

It seems to be that after the recovery the pain is pretty much gone and you can still lift things pretty easily. Over your head strength is greatly reduced. Son says he would do it again although he still has a way to go before he is fully recovered.

That is sure not the experience of my next door neighbor Teri. She told me last time we talked that she has no less pain and far less movement in the arm/shoulder.

I realize each person is different and likely no two are gonna have the same results.

I'm old, soon to be 78 and have leukemia so I don't have a lot of expected life time left. I'm not gonna spend two years of it trying to recover from a surgery that even my own surgeon says will only relieve pain but not give me much if any improvement in range of motion.

If I were still young with a longer expectation of life I'd prolly go for it. Heck I might still get to me in so much pain I do it, who knows.

Hearing that your son is doing well sure is encouraging. Perhaps if I had heard more such stories I'd have gone on thru with it.

[ironglow]

  A local motorsport co. handles both the large slingshot, and a smaller unit called the CanAm.  My local Legion has a Legion riders  branch, and along with regular bikes and trikes, there are some of these newer style three wheelers.

  In our state, motorcycles require a special license endorsement, and this dealer offers free classes to prepare the
     potential CanAm owner for his license.

  I haven't been interested in the large model, but did take a spin on one of the guys smaller CanAm model, which comes in either a 600cc and a 900cc engine.

  I didn't see where it offered much gain over the scooter I already have.  Besides, spending about $8k for one doesn't seem feasible.  Perhaps in a more southerly climate, where it will be used more months of the year.

  See smaller model below.

[Lloyd Smale]

id at least trust the can am to get me there and back. Bombardier makes good crap.

[oldandslow]

As an owner of Polaris ATV's and even one snowmobile I never had any problems with them. Guess I'm just not rough enough on them. However I have drug in a Honda and Suzuki ATV behind my undependable old Polaris, and more than once.

[Lloyd Smale]

I tend to use them a bit harder. Its not that there terrible but fit and finish is way behind can am and yamaha and so is reliability. I keep buying them because there american made but come to find out there made for the most part in mexico now anyway. Buy the way DO NOT BUY a polairs 700 snowmobile. That motor was trash and in 3k i had mine replaced 3 times. Lucky  guys got 2k out of them. Same with the original  800 rzr. My first motor lasted 1200 miles. I pretty much buy artic cat snowmobiles anymore but that 700 was bought off a buddy that lost his job 2 weeks after he bought it. I bought a polaris general last spring and at 500 miles it blew the front end to pieces. Now do i baby them? Nope. But im 66 (censored word) years old and have been operated on more then most 5 people my age so they sure arent treated like they were when i was in my 20s. One thing i will give the polaris atvs and sxs's. There hands down the smoothest riding machines out there. If your impressed with your atv or sxs go and take a ride in a yamaha. Take in the fit and finish. Comparing one to a polaris is like comparing a bmw to a chevette. Abosolutely love my 700 grizzly. Its got 5k on it now and only thing done to it was oil filters and a set of plugs it didnt need. Well a set of tires too. I swore id buy a yamaha side by side this time and am still kicking myself in the ass. By the way ive had two sportsman 500s and a sportsman 700 and its seemed like i was working on them all the time.

As an owner of Polaris ATV's and even one snowmobile I never had any problems with them. Guess I'm just not rough enough on them. However I have drug in a Honda and Suzuki ATV behind my undependable old Polaris, and more than once.

[phalanx]

Polaris makes the Indian motorcycle also. The one i had for 5 years was dependable. And it had a good re-sale value when i sold it. Heavy thing it was, hard to hold up at my age now.

[Lloyd Smale]

Polaris makes the Indian motorcycle also. The one i had for 5 years was dependable. And it had a good re-sale value when i sold it. Heavy thing it was, hard to hold up at my age now.

I know one guy that had the original victory motorcycle and swore by it. Sure was ugly though. Probably why it died off and they replaced it with indians. surprised the real indians haven't demanded payment for using "Indian" and "Chief" and "Scout"

[ironglow]

Polaris makes the Indian motorcycle also. The one i had for 5 years was dependable. And it had a good re-sale value when i sold it. Heavy thing it was, hard to hold up at my age now.

I know one guy that had the original victory motorcycle and swore by it. Sure was ugly though. Probably why it died off and they replaced it with indians. surprised the real indians haven't demanded payment for using "Indian" and "Chief" and "Scout"

   Maybe they have an "out"..  If for instance, the Lakotas tried to sue them, they could tell them that they were thinking of the east Indians..Delhi, mumbai etc..

   I'm surprised that the Vikings football team hasn't been sued by some Scandis... but then, what court would listen to a bunch of "white supremacists" , such as the Vikings...?