I just picked up Another 2018 RT!

I picked this up today on FB market place.

2018 Asphalt Grey Metallic
8240 miles, aftermarket wheels and Elka shocks of the front.
This will be my AZ Spyder and the other one will be my Washington one.
Very clean, alway garaged.

Bring on the mods. LED headlights, magic mirror, GPS mount and another Zumo XT power cord and bracket. USB port, phone mount, foam grips, dash cam, drink holder, 3rd brake light strobe, BajaRon sway bar. New car tires Vredestein Quatrac SL, General out back. And the beat going on.

:congrats: on a very nice looking Spyder. :2thumbs:

It also came with the Can Am roller suitcase for the Frunk!

Anyone one know what wheels those are?

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Originally Posted by Snoking1127

Anyone one know what wheels those are?

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OK, I found that these are BRP wheels.
https://www.brppac.com/brp-219400357.html

Was that Greg's Spyder from Ritzville, WA? GKamer on this forum, Retired USAF Spyder enthusiast?

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Originally Posted by DGoebel

Was that Greg's Spyder from Ritzville, WA? GKamer on this forum, Retired USAF Spyder enthusiast?

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NO local to me in Gilbert, Az

:congrats: nice looking :spyder2:

Deanna

Got the new Spyder licensed and insured this morning and put some miles on it today. I let a little air out of the tires, and it seems to ride a little better (fronts were 23.5 and rear 28.5, I let them down to 20F/22R. Going to move the Centramatic wheel balancers from the Champagne one to it and see if it is any smoother on the road.

I have a medical test tomorrow, so that is out. Wednesday maybe!

Noticed today that it has a belt roller on it, need to check that out more. However, ON EDIT the roller looks large. I have fairly long list of things ordered to install in the next couple of weeks. At any rate, the extra tools etc. moved from the Champagne Spyder into the Asphalt one, and it has the Champagne Spyder blocked in. So guess which one I will be riding the most now.

I am not sure that I like the BRP backrest, I have the tilt screw backed all the way out and it still seems to be forcing me forward more than I like. Riding buddy Carol (she is fairly tall) jumped on the back and said she had a lot more room! Like yeah, it is forcing me forward! Got to figure out how to remove it and maybe do some grinding so it will tilt back more, as I am 6'2" and 220. It seems one pushes the little silver lever towards the center, and it should pull out.

Busy day on the NTM Asphalt Spyder. New strut on the top case, it stays open now. Installed a two port USB/voltmeter in the center blank switch position. This had a round hole, so I was able to cut out the correct size rectangle slot to push the module into. I at the same time installed the power cable for my Zumo XT GPS. Power from both is from the GPS power source behind the fuel tank of the right side, same as Champagne trike. I have everything for the mount except the 1" ball that replaces one of the handlebar bolts. This is supposed to arrive Friday.

https://store.valueaccessories.net/S...MMountKit.aspx

Next it was onto the LED headlights and magic mirrors.

Remaining to be installed and here:

Foam grips, extend the battery tender cable to the grill behind the left front tire.

Things to do list:

Install third brake light, that flashes for 6 seconds and then goes steady on. These are home brew and I have made four now.
Sequential front fenders turn signals (out of stock currently).
Tires - maybe will wait until fall.
Figure out a storage pouch for Carol smart phone. The driver's backrest on the Champagne one has a pouch that snaps on.
Ride it!!!

Well for a while I thought I was going to have to name this new Spyder "Old Shaky"! I moved the Centramatic Balancers from the Champagne machine to it and did another test ride. I noticed that the left tire seemed to have some run out in it that I was not noticing in the rim itself. So I put on chrome "starfish" wheels that have Federal Formosa tires mounted, and it is pretty smooth. I also had a hard time removing the lug nuts. Had to get a friend to come over and put the brakes on too, while I used my long handled 350 lb ft torque wrench to loosen them. It appears that the lug nuts where not matching the taper in the wheels, and it appears that the six points of the lug nuts were contacting the wheel before the taper seated. So maybe they were not centered correctly.

At any rate the Kenda's are going bye bye! So I will just run the Chrome wheels and Federals for now and decide in the fall what to do and which wheels to put Vredestein's on. I really like the 2019 Chrome Spyder RT limited Chrome wheels. Some F3's have these wheels also.

And I think the PPA wheels on the Champagne Spyder look nice.

Question??? On the new Asphalt Spyder the left-hand Housing Switch Automatic (AKA left switch assembly) is clocked to the front and not in the same alignment as the right-hand assembly. On my Champagne Spyder they are both like the right-hand assembly. So IT APPEARS that if I remove the lower handlebar cover that I can loosen four screws and re-clock it to be in alignment with the right side????????

It is very apparent in this photo.

Nice looking bike. How do you like the digital dash in comparison to the standard that you had on your older one?

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Originally Posted by blacklightning

Nice looking bike. How do you like the digital dash in comparison to the standard that you had on your older one?

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Mine are both 2018's with digital dash.

A note about these wheels. Premium cast aluminum 15 in. (381 mm) 6 twin-blade spokes mags. Sold in pairs. Standard on 2013 ST-S, RS-S packages and 2014 ST-S package. Carbon Black. don't use 60 degree taper lug nuts(on edit, the lug nut in the parts list are the same part number), so I am still scratching my head about how hard they were to remove.

Thinking about moving to Spyder from Freewheeler, so what did you pay for this?

So this is my setup for now the PPA wheels and Vredestein Quatrac SL are on the Asphalt one and the chrome starfish and Federal Formosa's are on the Champagne one.

And I was able to reclock the left hand switch pod.

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Originally Posted by Strelnikov

Thinking about moving to Spyder from Freewheeler, so what did you pay for this?

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People in Phoenix area seem to think the used pre 2020 Spyders should sell for 1000-2000 or so less than what you can buy a left over 2023. Asking was 16K when I saw the add, I went and looked at it and said I would go to my bank and be back shortly with a cashiers check for a little less, and he took it. Delivered the check and was given the title, came home on the Champagne trike and got the truck and trailer, so like 2.5-3 hours it was home. Deals like this do not happen very often, there is a 2019 RTL Chrome in our RV Resort with an asking price on 21,500, 6K more than I paid.

Did a two up ride to Eloy to watch sky diving, and the new Spyder with the Elka shocks handles really nicely.

Original owner added the chrome mirror housings and I put my chrome PPA wheels on the new one. If I could find the chrome pieces for the windshield mounts and the chrome pieces for the pop off lower tupperwares covers it would look even better. ON Edit, google is one's friend. Found both items at a price that was within my budget.

On edit: Well I found that Ebay had a good price for the chrome windshield parts, Walmart online had a good price on the "CAN AM" chrome parts for the lower panels, and Leadersrpmshop had a good price for and chrome muffler extension and heat shield.

Rode up to Saguaro Lake to take my obligatory trike picture of the new to me Asphalt Grey Mellitic 2018.

I like the chrome wheels on thr Gray Spyder. They look very elegant.

I do also! In the bright sun the Asphalt Grey Metallic looks a nice dark metallic green. It is going to stay as my Az trike and the Champagne one will move to Wa. I never cared for the wheel on the 2018 RTL Chrome wheels, but the Federal Formosa tires have a lot of life left in them so the wheels and tires on it will stay for a while.

Progress continues, I did a chrome vinyl wrap of the windshield mount covers and installed the chrome Can Am badge on the side panels. Chrome tailpipe and muffler heat shield on their way.

So the Champagne gone a fish/hook decal on the frunk to denote that everywhere you stop people come up and want to talk about the Spyder and ask questions. We named it "The Hook"! Fast forward to the last few weeks and The Hook has a brother. Carol who is my friend, now that my wife stepped off the planet thinks the Champagne one is more feminine, so her name has changed a little now that she has a brother.

Champagne one is now known as "Hooker"!
Asphalt Grey one is now "Hookie"!

So, Hookie got his BajaRon sway bar installed today. I got everything ready on blocks in my carport and then went over to my friend with a 4-post host, we raised it up, swapped the bar, and it was back to my carport to put everything back together. Took a 38-mile test ride with some twisties, and between the Vredestein front tires, Elka shocks, and now the sway bar, it handles excellently.