is it just me

[cuznjohn]

or does anyone else find the spyder a difficult bike to work on. ok i admit i am not as nimble as i used to be but i always thought my goldwing was a bad bike to work on than i found my BMW tough to work on, but this 14 rt is a :cus:
to work on. first i tried installing the shocks and ended up having ron and his son install them, so today i decided to take the cat out so when the bypass pipe comes i would install it myself. well for the life of me with the bike jacked up as far as i could get it, i8 could not remove one spring that holds the cat to the down pipe from the engine. seems like you need a lift table to really get under this bike to work on it. also why would they clamp the connection to the muffler but use springs on the front side to the down pipe from the engine. if it was a clamp the job would be so easy.

[ARtraveler]

It is not you John. The :spyder2: is not a user friendly item to work on.

I am not mechanically inclined, and even the most easy things (e.g.) airing up the tires, are a PIA.

[Bob Denman]

:agree: Face it; it's not a great bike for amateurs with wrenches... :shocked:
Mine goes to the dealer tomorrow for it's 3,000 mile service. :thumbup:

[Chupaca]

I've seen worse...!! but they are far from easy..!! No doubt. The trick is to have the right tool (a well known impossiblity) I have a large assostment of special tools and still have to make more from bike to bike. It's not you thats why they have all the specials tools listed in the shop manual...:gaah:

[retread]

Dunno, I could strip the tupperware off my GS in about 5 minutes, did most of the work on it myself. The RT? anything that has directions to get access to the working parts that start with, "first, take off the rear view mirrors", is guaranteed to be a glorious PITA to work on.

john

[cuznjohn]

going to try one more time at a different angle in a lil

[Bob Denman]

Good LUck!! :2thumbs:
http://smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/23/23_33_15.gif

[bruiser]

John, any way to get a headlight spring tool on that spring?

I was thinking the same thing yesterday while working on the wife's bike. The frunk started leaking. So I figured I would just adjust the lid. HA! I'd get the front hinge adjusted, couldn't get the latch to close. Get the latch to close, the front hinge was out. :banghead: After some choice words about the lineage of BRP designers/engineers, a few visits to Sam Adams, a few breaks to catch up on the race. I finally got it. But you know one thing leads to another. I decided to take the broken frunk sensor (that's what BRP calls it) off so I could find a new one. Mind you, this switch is adjustable. Some idiot (don't know if was factory or what) glued the switch to the bracket. So it came of in pieces. :mad:

[cuznjohn]

ok i got two springs off with a really large set of angle needle nose pliers but i couldn't get to the top spring. i called my friend and asked if he had a spring puller and he did, he came over and he tried to get it but had a hard time. so once he got it hooked and him on one side of the bike and me on the other we both pulled and got the top spring, let me tell you that they are really strong springs and the cat is one big a$$ cat.

[Bob Denman]

:congrats: :thumbup:
Now that wasn't so bad; was it?? :D

[retread]

For the exhaust springs, I took an old T handle allen wrench, and heated the end enough to curl it over to hook the springs, works great!

john

[DrewNJ]

Cotter pin extractor...