2011 RT-S SE Shifting Problem

[Tadgh45]

I just had a very strange experience yesterday on my return trip north to NJ from Ocean City MD Bike Fest. I took the Cape May- Lewes Ferry and when I rode down the ramp off the boat it would not shift out of 1st gear. The boat ride was a little choppy and my Rt-S was up in the very front of the boat. I immediately started to panic, thinking something must has jarred loose or scrambled the electronics and pulled into a side parking lot by the terminal building. Being 150 miles from home, I did not have a good feeling about it. I had just done 4 days of riding in MD and Delaware with no problems. Neutral, Reverse and 1st worked fine but it would not up shift beyond 1st. I decided to shut it down, wait a minute or so and try again. I started it up, backed out of the space and slowly advanced through the lot in 1st. When it came time time to shift again I crossed my fingers, pushed the paddle shifter forward and lo and behold it went into 2nd. I rode off into Cape May with no further problems all the way home. Has anyone else experienced such a problem? The bike was also in the front of the boat on the way south to Delaware and I had no shifting problems after that ride.

[OldCowboy]

What you experienced was known as a 'Stray Neutrino Interaction.' Now, as everyone knows, neutrino's are small, subatomic particles with high energy but no charge. And all physical objects are composed mainly of empty space with an occasional nucleus and some scattered electrons here and there. We are bombarded daily by gazillions of high energy neutrinos, but because they have no charge, and physical objects are basically empty, nothing happens. But once in an awfully rare time (thank goodness) a neutrino will hit a nucleus of an atom dead on. When that happens, the high energy of the neutrino is transferred to the nucleus, reversing the magnetic moment of the nucleus. If that nucleus happens to be in a transistor of a CPU or Memory Chip, it can flip a bit from 1 to 0 or from 0 to 1, resulting in an incorrect value that may be interpreted by the CPU as an error. In your case, the flip caused nanny to determine that it was impossible to shift from first to 2nd. By turning off the Spyder and re-energizing the circuits, the bit was reset to the proper value and you were able to shift normally again.

[Chupaca]

sometimes happen and things work fine after the computer resets..hence the key walk. Now there are two things I have seen..the paddle shifter mechanism fails or the actuator and or linkage fails. Watch it and if it happens again check into it or have it checked out...

[Top End Unlimited]

What you experienced was known as a 'Stray Neutrino Interaction.' Now, as everyone knows, neutrino's are small, subatomic particles with high energy but no charge. And all physical objects are composed mainly of empty space with an occasional nucleus and some scattered electrons here and there. We are bombarded daily by gazillions of high energy neutrinos, but because they have no charge, and physical objects are basically empty, nothing happens. But once in an awfully rare time (thank goodness) a neutrino will hit a nucleus of an atom dead on. When that happens, the high energy of the neutrino is transferred to the nucleus, reversing the magnetic moment of the nucleus. If that nucleus happens to be in a transistor of a CPU or Memory Chip, it can flip a bit from 1 to 0 or from 0 to 1, resulting in an incorrect value that may be interpreted by the CPU as an error. In your case, the flip caused nanny to determine that it was impossible to shift from first to 2nd. By turning off the Spyder and re-energizing the circuits, the bit was reset to the proper value and you were able to shift normally again.

[Bob Denman]

Rule of Themb #1: When in doubt; check your oil level!
ESSIES are real fussy about it, and they'll manifest a low-oil condition by getting cranky about shifting...

[ronrico]

Had the same thing happen and my spider spent three weeks in the shop while the techs and BRP talked about it. They replaced almost everything they could think of and I believe they still really do not know what cause it the problem in the first place. I just got back from a 3300 mile trip and no problems..

[sonny]

Had the same thing happen and my spider spent three weeks in the shop while the techs and BRP talked about it. They replaced almost everything they could think of and I believe they still really do not know what cause it the problem in the first place. I just got back from a 3300 mile trip and no problems..

I had it happen several times, but only one ride did it happen more than once. Does anyone think that the computer thinks it's in trailer mode and won't let it shift till the RPM's are over 4500? Don't know about neutrons from space, but they do mess up other computer related stuff.????

[Bob Denman]

The bike will only "Think" that it's in Trailer mode; if you actually put it into Trailer Mode...
But that wouldn't prevent shifting it from first, back into neutral anyway...
There are gear position sensors that have failed...
And the paddle shifters have also been replaced in a few instances...

And then there's also the low oil situation

[Marker]

I had a similar problem after taking the spyder on a ferry crossing. I had a hesitation going into first gear and also the check engine light came on and stayed on for a while.
Fortunately our group stopped once off the ferry, so I shut the spyder off for a couple of minutes removed the key and walked away from the spyder. After about 15 minutes I started the spyder and had no problems after that. The water was a little choppy that day. I had no other problems after other ferry crossings with calm waters.

[Pennyrick]

This is interesting.

Last month we took the Ferry from Cape Hatteras to the mainland and my wife's RT exhibited some problems. It went into limp mode when she took the ramp up to the ferry. It was running rough when she parked it but when she started it up to get off the ferry 3 hours later it again went into limp mode.

We did the usual 'remove the key and take it away from the Spyder' routine a couple of times and it reset itself although it didn't really run correctly all the way home. Her Spyder is currently at the dealership going through prolonged analysis. So far we have done a throttle body upgrade, have a new control module on order and determined the electrical system is weak.

Even though the battery is just six month's old, apparently another dealer put the wrong battery in place. Here is what the service manager from the dealer put in an email she sent me this afternoon after I sent her a copy of the repair order from the other dealership (that has now gone out of business).

I do see that on the Repair Order that they put a Deka Battery in your wife's
machine and that is not good. That battery is not the proper battery. We will get the correct battery installed and get our tech to do some testing to make sure the charging system is working as it should.Anyway.... maybe Spyders don't like ferry rides.