BajaRon
02-10-2008, 10:00 PM
Ok, Spyder 1st impressions from the 1st ride.
Hhhhaaaaa!!!! Yeah-Baby!
Now for the more detailed (long and boring) version.
The Spyder is not a motorcycle. But I wanted something different. If it was just another motorcycle I’d stick with my Suzuki M109R (which I love).
We put about 75 miles on and 90% of that was mountain twisties. What a BLAST!
The Spyder shifts as smooth as silk. I wore soft top tennis shoes and even so could hardly feel the shifts. Coming from my M109 which clunks and has to be mashed forcefully into each gear, this is a big change.
The Spyder is quick, nimble, and that Rotax loves to spin. 1st gear seemed too high and 5th gear seemed too low. But again, I’m coming off the M109 which does not rev like the Spyder. And when I looked at how much Tach I have left in 5th gear at 75 I decided that 5th was closer to good than I’d first thought. It will take longer to get used to 1st gear.
Spacing between the gears is excellent. You don’t have to watch the tach to know what gear you need. I really like that the current gear is displayed nice and big. I don’t need it most of the time but now I no longer find myself up-shifting to that phantom 6th gear. I just check the display.
I also love the self-canceling turn signals. Maybe I’m getting old but that is a nice feature. The people behind me love it too! ;D
I need a break lever on the handlebars. My right hand was unhappy all day long. I don’t know why BRP didn’t put one on. I know the Spyder doesn’t need it and that you can do all the stopping you ever need to do with the foot brake alone. The Spyder doesn’t need it, but I do. Mine will have one as soon as I round up the parts.
At first it seemed like I was going faster than I actually was. It felt like 60 when I was only doing 45. It wasn’t the wind. The small shield sends most of the wind up and over. What’s left is fine with me. I like some wind in my face.
Maybe it was the higher RPM that I can hear because the Spyder is so quiet. Maybe it is those front wheels that tend to attract my attention up close where the road always seems to be going by faster than it’s coming at you from a distance. Maybe it’s just the new ride. I don’t know.
It was a persistent feeling for several miles. I’ve never had that much trouble keeping up with Lamont, (not that he doesn’t ride fast). With Lamont, I’ve always been more nervous about getting a speeding ticket than running off the road, (though I’ve done both). You might understand my feelings with a guy that does 130mph on a freeway on-ramp and when asked why he says "Because it was too short to go any faster".
For Whatever reason I just didn’t feel comfortable going fast on the Spyder right off the bat.
I found myself watching the inside wheel on turns. Not a good way to ride. It was hard to drive into turns smoothly with this approach. When I forced myself to look farther into the turn (as you should always do no matter what you ride) everything got much better.
The Spyder really handles well. It is very stable and forgiving. Once I got that comfort level, Lamont was not staying so far ahead of me. For awhile there I was wondering if he was purposefully trying to run off and leave me.
The integrated brakes are fantastic, straight line, hard cornering, or debris on the road; you get as much stop from every wheel as you possibly can without compromising stability or control.
I managed to engineer a panic stop at the beginning of our trip. Even with all this technology you still have to pay attention to traffic. Can you imagine? What is this world coming to?
Anyway we were on a straight stretch of highway and I thought it was a good time to admire all the techno-gizmos on my display at 65mph. When I looked up, everyone was stopping. Turns out I had plenty of room but you don’t wait for your brain to calculate the telemetry, closing speed, etc. I hit the foot brake hard and felt the rear wheel lock. But it released so quickly that I didn’t even have time to think about letting up on the break, even though I was expecting it.
When you lock any wheel on a 2 wheeler you have precious little time before things get really ugly. But absolutely nothing negative happened with the Spyder.
Since it was clear that I would stop in plenty of time, (and no one was behind me-a constant benefit of riding with Lamont unless you take into consideration Law Enforcement), I just stayed mashed down on the peddle to see what the Spyder would do. It stopped arrow straight without locking any wheel again. I could have gone to sleep!
The instructions warn not to counter steer. DUH! I never had the urge to do that. Neither did I have any of the nervous hunt & twitch issues that some have reported. The Spyder really needs very little input. You just relax and gently point it where you want to go. You don’t want to have a death grip or think a lot about steering; it is not necessary and will be counter productive. It drives very naturally.
Of course it helps to set up properly into a turn and keep a good line. Especially at the speeds that Lamont likes to ride. But it’s not nearly as critical as it is on a 2 wheeled machine. The Spyder is much more forgiving if you go into a turn too hot or with a bad line. And if you find gravel, dirt, mud or a really bad road patch (like we did) in the middle of your turn, the Spyder will handle it much better than a 2 wheeled ride.
It was interesting to watch Lamont’s Spyder (when I could get close enough). My 1st impression was that my Spyder was leaning more than I thought it should. But watching Lamont’s I could see very little, if any lean in his. Knowing that my Spyder was not leaning any more than his I realized it was more perception than reality. I think being used to leaning into the turns with a 2 wheeler, the slight counter lean from my Spyder was exaggerated in the butt sensors.
Late in the ride, with shadows running across the road, we encountered a really nasty road repair in the middle of a tight turn. 2 large humps of blacktop ran all the way across our lane about 6 feet apart with some other nasty spot patches in-between. We were running pretty hot at that point and you can imagine that I watched Lamont’s ride closely to see how his Spyder handled it.
I would have a split second to slow down if he had issues, but he didn’t. As sharp, abrupt and raised as those humps were, and as hard as we rode into that turn, I was a bit surprised that all 3 wheels stayed in touch with the road throughout. It didn’t change his line at all. I think Lamont was surprised as well as he sat up and slowed (after the fact).
I stayed at speed and just like Lamont, I had no problems. Steering, suspension, tire grip and ride were excellent. It didn’t even shake the handlebars.
I've only got 100 or so miles on my Spyder but it is already clear to me that this is the most integrated, stable and functionally efficient ride I have ever owned. It isn’t a motorcycle, so if you expect it to be then you may be disappointed. But if you want to have a blast at any speed, ride with little or no stress while having time to safely enjoy the view, then this may be your best choice.
Daytona here we come!
Hhhhaaaaa!!!! Yeah-Baby!
Now for the more detailed (long and boring) version.
The Spyder is not a motorcycle. But I wanted something different. If it was just another motorcycle I’d stick with my Suzuki M109R (which I love).
We put about 75 miles on and 90% of that was mountain twisties. What a BLAST!
The Spyder shifts as smooth as silk. I wore soft top tennis shoes and even so could hardly feel the shifts. Coming from my M109 which clunks and has to be mashed forcefully into each gear, this is a big change.
The Spyder is quick, nimble, and that Rotax loves to spin. 1st gear seemed too high and 5th gear seemed too low. But again, I’m coming off the M109 which does not rev like the Spyder. And when I looked at how much Tach I have left in 5th gear at 75 I decided that 5th was closer to good than I’d first thought. It will take longer to get used to 1st gear.
Spacing between the gears is excellent. You don’t have to watch the tach to know what gear you need. I really like that the current gear is displayed nice and big. I don’t need it most of the time but now I no longer find myself up-shifting to that phantom 6th gear. I just check the display.
I also love the self-canceling turn signals. Maybe I’m getting old but that is a nice feature. The people behind me love it too! ;D
I need a break lever on the handlebars. My right hand was unhappy all day long. I don’t know why BRP didn’t put one on. I know the Spyder doesn’t need it and that you can do all the stopping you ever need to do with the foot brake alone. The Spyder doesn’t need it, but I do. Mine will have one as soon as I round up the parts.
At first it seemed like I was going faster than I actually was. It felt like 60 when I was only doing 45. It wasn’t the wind. The small shield sends most of the wind up and over. What’s left is fine with me. I like some wind in my face.
Maybe it was the higher RPM that I can hear because the Spyder is so quiet. Maybe it is those front wheels that tend to attract my attention up close where the road always seems to be going by faster than it’s coming at you from a distance. Maybe it’s just the new ride. I don’t know.
It was a persistent feeling for several miles. I’ve never had that much trouble keeping up with Lamont, (not that he doesn’t ride fast). With Lamont, I’ve always been more nervous about getting a speeding ticket than running off the road, (though I’ve done both). You might understand my feelings with a guy that does 130mph on a freeway on-ramp and when asked why he says "Because it was too short to go any faster".
For Whatever reason I just didn’t feel comfortable going fast on the Spyder right off the bat.
I found myself watching the inside wheel on turns. Not a good way to ride. It was hard to drive into turns smoothly with this approach. When I forced myself to look farther into the turn (as you should always do no matter what you ride) everything got much better.
The Spyder really handles well. It is very stable and forgiving. Once I got that comfort level, Lamont was not staying so far ahead of me. For awhile there I was wondering if he was purposefully trying to run off and leave me.
The integrated brakes are fantastic, straight line, hard cornering, or debris on the road; you get as much stop from every wheel as you possibly can without compromising stability or control.
I managed to engineer a panic stop at the beginning of our trip. Even with all this technology you still have to pay attention to traffic. Can you imagine? What is this world coming to?
Anyway we were on a straight stretch of highway and I thought it was a good time to admire all the techno-gizmos on my display at 65mph. When I looked up, everyone was stopping. Turns out I had plenty of room but you don’t wait for your brain to calculate the telemetry, closing speed, etc. I hit the foot brake hard and felt the rear wheel lock. But it released so quickly that I didn’t even have time to think about letting up on the break, even though I was expecting it.
When you lock any wheel on a 2 wheeler you have precious little time before things get really ugly. But absolutely nothing negative happened with the Spyder.
Since it was clear that I would stop in plenty of time, (and no one was behind me-a constant benefit of riding with Lamont unless you take into consideration Law Enforcement), I just stayed mashed down on the peddle to see what the Spyder would do. It stopped arrow straight without locking any wheel again. I could have gone to sleep!
The instructions warn not to counter steer. DUH! I never had the urge to do that. Neither did I have any of the nervous hunt & twitch issues that some have reported. The Spyder really needs very little input. You just relax and gently point it where you want to go. You don’t want to have a death grip or think a lot about steering; it is not necessary and will be counter productive. It drives very naturally.
Of course it helps to set up properly into a turn and keep a good line. Especially at the speeds that Lamont likes to ride. But it’s not nearly as critical as it is on a 2 wheeled machine. The Spyder is much more forgiving if you go into a turn too hot or with a bad line. And if you find gravel, dirt, mud or a really bad road patch (like we did) in the middle of your turn, the Spyder will handle it much better than a 2 wheeled ride.
It was interesting to watch Lamont’s Spyder (when I could get close enough). My 1st impression was that my Spyder was leaning more than I thought it should. But watching Lamont’s I could see very little, if any lean in his. Knowing that my Spyder was not leaning any more than his I realized it was more perception than reality. I think being used to leaning into the turns with a 2 wheeler, the slight counter lean from my Spyder was exaggerated in the butt sensors.
Late in the ride, with shadows running across the road, we encountered a really nasty road repair in the middle of a tight turn. 2 large humps of blacktop ran all the way across our lane about 6 feet apart with some other nasty spot patches in-between. We were running pretty hot at that point and you can imagine that I watched Lamont’s ride closely to see how his Spyder handled it.
I would have a split second to slow down if he had issues, but he didn’t. As sharp, abrupt and raised as those humps were, and as hard as we rode into that turn, I was a bit surprised that all 3 wheels stayed in touch with the road throughout. It didn’t change his line at all. I think Lamont was surprised as well as he sat up and slowed (after the fact).
I stayed at speed and just like Lamont, I had no problems. Steering, suspension, tire grip and ride were excellent. It didn’t even shake the handlebars.
I've only got 100 or so miles on my Spyder but it is already clear to me that this is the most integrated, stable and functionally efficient ride I have ever owned. It isn’t a motorcycle, so if you expect it to be then you may be disappointed. But if you want to have a blast at any speed, ride with little or no stress while having time to safely enjoy the view, then this may be your best choice.
Daytona here we come!