If Batman doesn't have a Spyder parked in the Batcave, chances are, by the next sequel he will.

With two wheels out front, one trailing behind, and a sleek nose cone, the Spyder looks like nothing else on the road. And marketers are banking that something really different - safer than a cycle and cooler than a car at 35 m.p.g. - may be enough to hook drivers with $15,500 to burn.

The Spyder, which is getting its national roll-out in September, is manufactured by Bombardier Recreational Products Inc., which also makes Ski-doo snowmobiles. The resemblance shows.

"It shares some of the DNA of our other products," said Phillipe Normand, marketing manager for Bombardier's BRP International division.

The privately held Canadian company manufactures Sea-doo personal watercraft, Evinrude and Johnson marine engines, and Can-Am all-terrain vehicles. It has a division that makes aeronautical engines.

Ten years ago, the company decided to make something for asphalt, too, but didn't want to compete head-on with car and motorcycle manufacturers.

"The idea was to have something different from anything else on the highway," he said.

The Spyder doesn't have the monopoly on three-wheeled vehicles. A new Vespa scooter, the Piaggio MP3, mounts two small wheels up front to ensure a more stable ride.

BRP is targeting two markets: "power sport" aficionados - that is, guys with either a snowmobile or ATV in the garage - and people who have toyed with getting a motorcycle but don't relish becoming hamburger on the highway.

"It offers the thrill of the open road that comes with a motorcycle with the peace of mind of a sports car," said BRP's Normand. "We believe it democratizes the road."

Bill Baker, host of Ride to Adventure on cable's Outdoor Channel, is enthusiastic about both the Spyder and Vespa's MP3.

"People are always looking for cheaper ways to commute but are reluctant to go to two-wheels," Baker said.

The problem with a standard motorcycle?

"They can fall over," he said.

On the Spyder, "you don't lean into the turn," said Blake Conner associate editor at Cycle World Magazine. "It's closer to an ATV, an off-road vehicle, though the controls will be very familiar to motorcycle riders.

The Spyder preserves the throaty growl of its two-wheeled motorcycle brethren, although the ride is altogether different.

The Spyder is fast, yet unlike most motorcycles, it's no gas sipper. With a 990cc engine built by BRP's Rotax division in Austria, the roadster can clock about 115 m.p.h. without much effort but only gets about 35 miles per gallon. At $15,499, it's pricier than a Ducati.

Talk to motorcycle enthusiasts about the Y-shaped roadster, and the first word used to describe it is usually unique.

Reviews have been as colorful as the screaming-yellow edition of the 990cc three-wheeler parked on Broad Street last week.

"The Spyder is to a conventional motorcycle what Cirque du Soleil is to the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus - different, original, and ever-so-slightly out of kilter," wrote Dexter Ford in Motorcyclist magazine.

The Spyder has been in production since last year, said South Jersey dealer Coby Frier. But it has been available in only a limited number of states and Canadian provinces.

Frier has sold 37 of the roadsters at his Surf & Turf Powersports dealership in Pemberton since April 1.

The buyers have been a diverse lot.

"I sold one to an amputee, an Iraq war veteran who really wanted to ride again," Frier said. "I've also had pro athletes, elderly people, and wives who wanted to ride with their husbands. Everyone is buying this thing."

At East Coast Cycle Center in Bensalem, owner Walter Young has sold 19 of the roadsters in three months. Sure, he has moved a boatload of Accords at his adjacent Honda dealership in the same period, but no family sedan grabs people's attention like the Spyder, he said.

The company, which manufactures the Spyder at its plant in Valcourt, Quebec, has high hopes for its latest creation.

The market for personal watercraft was relatively small until BRP introduced a key innovation in the 1980s, Normand said.

"We were the first to introduce the sit-down watercraft," Normand said. "Before then, it was stand up only. It was highly physical."

Allowing riders to sit down created a huge new audience for the buzzing wave-hoppers, he said.

"The market exploded. It now represents 95 percent of all watercraft sales," Normand said.

He said sales of the Spyder are exceeding all of the company's internal expectations, and called the vehicle a staple of fashion-conscious hip-hop videos.

And when the roadsters are featured in Transformers 2, all bets are off. The sequel to last summer's blockbuster is set for release in June 2009.

"Based on the response we're getting so far, things are looking very good," Normand said.