Another newbie here

[NovaSpyder]

I have owned my RT-S SM5 for 10 days now and I love it. I've owned bikes for 35 years and over the winter was thinking of updating my 2001 Honda ST1100. I was looking online at St1300, Bmw's - Sport tooring bikes. One snowy Saturday morning I woke up and thought "What about a Spyder"? I was somewhat interested in them when they first came out but up until then didn't think it was for me. So i decided to get on the net and see what I could find out.

What did I find? Spyderlovers.com! Wow! I found this to be an amazing source of information and humor too. lots of interesting, diverse, and knowledgable people. I was thinking Bob Denman was like Wilson from the TV show Home Improvement, you never saw his face but he had words of wisdom to offer every day. But then I thought that description fit Scotty and then I realized the whole site was full of Wilsons!

Armed with what I learned I decided I would purchace a Spyder RT. So I began the quest. Boy, Spyders are sure cheaper in the US than here in Canada. There is only one dealer in my province, Nova Scotia, and they had a few but the price was still a detraction. Then in March I came across this RT-S on Kijiji but it was 1000 miles away in Ontario. It was a demo with 600 miles on it. So I contacted the owner who turned out to be the owner of a BRP dealership and was currently in Florida for a few months. Did my due diligence on the dealership and found them to be reputable BRP dealer (not much info on Spyders though). So we made a deal. Saved may $ooo's.

Set a date to pick up the Spyder for May 17. I spent the next several weeks lurking on this site, watched all the training videos and read the manual, some parts multiple times. Stlii haven't ridden a Spyder though. Sent an email to the dealer to confirm the 600 mile check was complete, latest software updated and please set the front shocks to five as I will be ryding away two up. My niece decided it wouldbe fun to come withme and I couldn't say no.

So we flew to Toronto, Friday May 17, rented a car, drove 75 minutes to dealership. Spent a bit of time going over the controls, noticed the toolkit was missing so they got another and put it under the seat. Then, we dropped the rental off (conveniently next door) and headed out for our 1000 mile ride home! So now this is my first Spyder ryde. Now I can hear many of you go tsk tsk and I would agree that one should test ride and practice first but sometimes I am stubborn abd sometimes stupid and sometimes both.

Anyway we had a flawless 2.5 day 1000 mile ryde home, still smiling. Oh, the only issue was I thought the handling was squirrly at times and my niece was feeling at times that she was "drifting" so at the first night's stop I remembered to check the shocks, oh-oh, set to 3. Dug out tool kit and no tool for the shocks. I remember seeing it and think i lost it when adjusting the passenger footrests. Now the smart thing would have been to get something to adjust them but then i was afraid to without a jack so we just carried on. Just reduced speed appropriately in turns. Adjusted shocks when I got home, but not easy without the tool. Going to order BajaRons anti-swaybar for sure.
There are not very many Spyders around here, saw one this month, so it draws lots of attention.

So I just want to say a big thank you to Lamont for starting the site and to all of you who provide such great advice, and yes I read problem or negative posts and I considered that information carefully as well. Oops sorry for the long post

[SPYD1]

[JJW SpyderRider]

and

Nice first ride

[srwilli]

Congrats and Welcome..


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

[kubie]

AND get on and ryde 1000 miles!!!!!

[daveinva]

Only one dealer up your way, huh? You'll have to chime in and let us know how they are, particularly in the turnaround department.

Reason I ask is I'm thinking of taking a ride up that way to Nova Scotia and Newfoundland one of these years, but I'd love the safety of knowing there's a responsive dealer in the area in the event of trouble (or even just handling those mid-trip oil changes).

[PrairieSpyder]

on your new machine! And to the Spyderverse!

BTW, Bob Denman's face isn't too bad!

[Spidergirl]

And on your new .

[Daisyjoe]

Congratulations and welcome to the spyderhood. (or web)

[StanProff]

1000 miles on your first ride on the Spyder Impressive !! Sounds like you done your homework well and know what you are doing. Congrats on the Spyder and You're sure to enjoy it.

[Sarge707]

Set the shocks to #5 and Rons Sway Bar and your in Heaven!!!!!!!!

[MrLooney]

Welcome aboard !!

Congratulations on your Great Purchase and hope you have many wonderful trouble free miles with it.

My real first Ryde is a little longer than yours, Check my name and history for MrLooney in Oregon Bound... some 5,000 miles in snow, ice, wind, rain, sunshine, Oregon Coast storm and best of all a grin on my face from Ear to Ear !!

[d.o.spyder-rts]

and to the spyder web. Dale

[Spyder601]

Welcome aboard

[retirednick]

Congrats and welcome to the insanity that is Spyder ownership. Nice that you had a long trip to get the feel of the Spyder. I am a displaced Bluenoser and have it on my Bucket list to ryde back for a family visit. Enjoy the Spyder and be prepared for the extra time it takes to fuel up as it attracts people like honey does bees.

[SpyderAnn01]

sounds like a great first trip. You will love the sway bar and you may not even need to adjust the shocks to 5 with it.

I like the Wilson analogy it fits both Bob and Scotty to a tee.

[ARtraveler]

on the new ryde. Great write up. Glad to hear you already have 1000 under your belt.

[Chupaca]

Great saga..must have been a real fun trip.If we helped we are all glad for thats what we are here for. Now to make the whole thing right..enjoy..!!

[NovaSpyder]

Thanks for the welcome. I will post local dealership notes when i have dealings with them in case anyone is in need of a dealer when travelling in the area.

[GloryRyders]

to the "web" and on your new .

[midnightrider55]

Welcome to the new world of riding,I am new too only 1200 klms on my RT LTD Live in Nova Scotia too. Pick my up in Moncton only 1 hr,away.I have a rt-622 trailer good to here more spyders in nova scotia

[Bob Denman]

Welcome to our World!!
Here's my High School Graduation photo; just to end this speculation... don_knotts.jpg

[CruiseRT]

[CyncySpyder]

[SpyderWolf]

on getting your Spyder and on an incredible first ryde on it as well.