My new/older Spyder build

Hi, I recently purchased a used 2015 Spyder F3S SM6. It only had just over 800 miles on it. I want to use this thread as a place to show and review all of the mods (farkles) I plan on doing. I’m doing all of the mods myself. I want to thank Spyderlovers forum for a lot of great info and help so far.

So far I installed the long reach drag bars. I’m not sure what size bars were on it (short reach or what). I’m showing the difference between the 2. The drag bars have risers that go between the original Spyder mounting location to the new mounting bracket. Those spacers are about 2 inches long. This is so the bars do not hit the tank at full turn. The side by side doesn’t look like the drag bars are that much farther away but I do ride with my arms only slightly bent whereas the originals my arms seemed more like 45 degrees. The drag bars seem a little wider and I do have to lean a little further at full turn of the bars. Overall, I like them and the straighter arms are actually more comfortable for me especially at higher speeds leaning against the wind with no windshield.

Mods in the works are the mono seat cowl, LED headlight conversion, A-arm driving LED bars, LED fog lights, power relay for electronic accessories, Baja Ron sway bar, ECU flash or Dynojet PCM, and changing color with Plasti Dip. And who knows what else. I have a real mod sickness in being able to leave things alone.

I also installed the cat delete with Akropovic Sinister exhaust which I got new from ebay for $749 (around $200 cheaper). I got the cat delete from A guy on Amazon. He has an Iron business and makes these as a hobby. I know this because I had a question about the baffle, and he was very cool and helpful. The construction is A++, fits perfectly and is about $100 cheaper than the other main cat delete pipe out there https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1It comes with a baffle with 2 options although I left it out for now, and along with the Akropovic it sounds very aggressive. The combo may be too loud for some (especially for those that care about what their neighbors think), but it lets other drivers know you’re there, so for me it’s not only cool,but a safety thing. The cat delete comes with a spring tool and the whole uninstall of the stock pipe and cat, and the install of the new hardware only took about 20-30 minutes. Here is a link to a good video comparing stock with and without cat delete, and the Akropovic with and without the cat delete https://youtu.be/ns3-x4URJWM.

I had these drag bars on my 2017 Daytona. I hated them. Put a set OEM bars on my bike.

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Originally Posted by Texas Al

I had these drag bars on my 2017 Daytona. I hated them. Put a set OEM bars on my bike.

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That’s cool. Different strokes for different folks. I like a more aggressive position, and want to review my experience for others that are considering the same mods/products.

:popcorn::popcorn::congrats:

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Originally Posted by Catalyst105

That’s cool. Different strokes for different folks. I like a more aggressive position, and want to review my experience for others that are considering the same mods/products.

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100% agree...not in regards to owning the drag bars, but truth in attitude and mods.

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Originally Posted by Catalyst105

I also installed the cat delete with Akropovic Sinister exhaust. I got the cat delete from A guy on Amazon. He has an Iron business and makes these as a hobby. I know this because I had a question about the baffle, and he was very cool and helpful. The construction is A++, fits perfectly and is about $100 cheaper than the other main cat delete pipe out there https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1It comes with a baffle with 2 options although I left it out for now, and along with the Akropovic it sounds very aggressive. The combo may be too loud for some (especially for those that care about what their neighbors think), but it lets other drivers know you’re there, so for me it’s not only cool,but a safety thing. The cat delete comes with a spring tool and the whole uninstall of the stock pipe and cat, and the install of the new hardware only took about 20-30 minutes. Here is a link to a good video comparing stock with and without cat delete, and the Akropovic with and without the cat delete https://youtu.be/ns3-x4URJWM.

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A buddy and I actually stopped at Baldwin's shop last fall on a ride down to the Ozarks. He lives about 20 miles from Branson. He fab'd up a pipe while my buddy and I went to town for a beverage. He called to say it was done about 30 minutes later. We went back and he installed it. He recommends baffle in/plug off for best performance. He says it works best with a bit of back pressure and it doesn't have a droning sound. For $200, I got free install + he shipped my OEM cat back to WI. He does awesome work and has a lot of cool stuff. Class guy ++

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Originally Posted by Texas Al

I had these drag bars on my 2017 Daytona. I hated them. Put a set OEM bars on my bike.

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I guess it depends on your comfort level. If you're 5'7" tall, you'd hate the drag bars. Being 6'3", I much prefer the long reach bars ...

Very nice...I would do a monster ECU flash next..due to you changing out your cat delete..your bike will come alive...you will love it ...and since yours is a manual...your bike will be fast..btw...leave the baffle off of your cat delete..it hurts your top end performance.

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Originally Posted by 308gunner

Very nice...I would do a monster ECU flash next..due to you changing out your cat delete..your bike will come alive...you will love it ...and since yours is a manual...your bike will be fast..btw...leave the baffle off of your cat delete..it hurts your top end performance.

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The ECU flash or Dynojet is coming soon. I have to weigh the options of both. Thamks for the heads up on the baffle. It will be staying out. I didn’t notice any torque loss on the lower end opening up the system.

I also installed the ISCI hand brake conversion. I have an incomplete spinal cord injury and my right leg is almost useless. There’s not much I can say that hasn’t already been posted. Install was easy. I missed the part of bleeding the master cylinder on the handle bar, and only bled from the bottom slave cylinder so needless to say the first test ride was disappointing. I bled the master and re-bled the slave cylinder, and now it stops great using only the hand brake. I had my neighbor who is a Harley guy test ride, and compare the foot, and the handbrake and he said they are identical in stopping power.

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Originally Posted by troop

A buddy and I actually stopped at Baldwin's shop last fall on a ride down to the Ozarks. He lives about 20 miles from Branson. He fab'd up a pipe while my buddy and I went to town for a beverage. He called to say it was done about 30 minutes later. We went back and he installed it. He recommends baffle in/plug off for best performance. He says it works best with a bit of back pressure and it doesn't have a droning sound. For $200, I got free install + he shipped my OEM cat back to WI. He does awesome work and has a lot of cool stuff. Class guy ++

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That’s awesome! He and his Cat Delete are both great! Man I bet that was a great ride through the Ozark's. I have so much envy for those of you that get to enjoy scenic twisty road rides. Florida has mostly straight flat roads except the highway on/off ramps. I miss the old track days I did at Moroso which is now Palm Beach International Raceway, and Jennings GP in north Fla. I need to see if they allow Spyders on the track.

Looked up ISCI hand brake and they show for the RT but none for the F3.

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Originally Posted by Rattlebars

Looked up ISCI hand brake and they show for the RT but none for the F3.

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There are 2 websites. One might be an old one. Here is the link to the F3 hand brake. I called them and asked for a discount, and they said they can give a discount to handicapped and/or military, but you didn’t hear that from me. https://www.isciride.com/product/handbrake-f3/

As a suggestion, remove the front drive pulley, inspect, lube and reinstall. They are a known issue on those bikes. With the mods you have and likely way you plan to ride, most likely the splines will fail earlier than most others have.

I am liking all of your mods. :bowdown: :bowdown: :firstplace: :firstplace:

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Originally Posted by PMK

As a suggestion, remove the front drive pulley, inspect, lube and reinstall. They are a known issue on those bikes. With the mods you have and likely way you plan to ride, most likely the splines will fail earlier than most others have.

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I will, thanks for the heads up. It only has 800 miles on it right now. Here’s how it has looked for a few weeks. I’ve only been able to work on it on the weekends, and progress has been a lot slower than I thought.

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Originally Posted by Catalyst105

I will, thanks for the heads up. It only has 800 miles on it right now. Here’s how it has looked for a few weeks. I’ve only been able to work on it on the weekends, and progress has been a lot slower than I thought.

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Perfect time to do the front pulley. Before you see red dust indicating a trashed pulley AND, the machine is getting work done anyway.

Finally done! Well, kind of. I updated the pics in the first post. The original was obviously the orange. I still have a custom emblem, pinstripes/racing stripes, and wheels and tires to do next weekend. It’s been along 7 weeks working on it on the weekends. I’m just glad it’s back to being rideable.

Put the new PPA Widow 15x5.5 wheels (from ppawheels.com) and used the coupon code I found on here somewhere. They are wrapped in Hankook Ventus V4 ES H105 175/55R15 (Amazon). The wider wheel along with the 175 tires really fill out the fenders nicely. Went for a quick ride and it does feel a little more solid and less twitchy. Also got my hood emblem from maineventemblems.com. I went with one of their designs although they do custom emblems. It is very good quality.


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New windshield from Secdem. It’s a company in France. I wanted to keep the sport look and lines of the F3s. This achieves that, and is still practical at keeping wind off the body. The wind line is right at my neck level at 65mph. This model usually comes in a 60cm size, but I had them cut it down to 50cm. It was a little bit of a pain to order, and took awhile to get, but worth it all around. Their website is secdem.fr. If you want check them out then use Chrome and it should give you an option to translate the website to english. I had to email them through the process of ordering.

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:b2b:

Pretty nice, and not unreasonably priced when compared to other USA models.

Lovely. I searched but did not find any info on the fenders...

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Originally Posted by Rattlebars

Lovely. I searched but did not find any info on the fenders...

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The fenders are called low brow fenders from BRP. I got them new off ebay for about $200 less than usual.