Originally Posted by
Rick H.
Ya know Road Kill I don't think it is a matter of anyone enjoying their break downs on a Spyder and I certainly can't speak to it as I don't own a Spyder. In fact today I stopped at the nearest Spyder dealer and looked at the left over RT's they have on sale. I like the grey dark version, but something in the back of my mind just won't let me pull the trigger and buy one while they are on sale. It could be your comments, which are quite vocal, or other issues I have read about. I am a confirmed BMW owner who came from Harley. I have had 5 BMW's and over 12 new Harleys before the Beemers. Almost every one of my bikes has at some point required going back to the shop for something, but only one broke down on me and left me stranded. That was a 2002 Road Glide that made it about 14 miles from the dealership before it broke down due to a bad stator. That Road Glide, although it was the nicest Harley I ever owned was also the last I would ever own. It listed for about 15K and after I got done putting another 5K into it to turn it into a Road Glide Ultra, which they didn't make back then, I tried to trade it in a year and a half later and could only get 14.5K on trade. Bye-Bye Harley along with their crap about 10 cents on every dollar back on accessories at trade-in time.
Went over to the Dark Side and bought a BMW 1200LT and switched to the K1600 series and they have made great strides in refining that bike since my first one in 2012. Unfortunately for me K1600's don't bring back a lot of trade-in value in my area, so switching to a Spyder RT is going to be a costly affair. The saving grace is that the sale price now offered on Spyder's makes up for some of the monetary shock. Even with the savings I am having a hard time convincing myself that a Spyder is a worthwhile purchase. I have read about the dreaded DESS issues and a few other glitches and actually making the switch is difficult for me. Reliability aside on a Spyder, the lack of horsepower concerns me as my K1600 pushes out quite a bit more, but I almost never use it which is rather sad. In retrospect though I have to ask myself if I really need that much horsepower at 67 years old? Part of me says yes and part says no, not anymore. But will I miss it on a Spyder? I don't know....decisions, decisions. Your posts certainly don't make my decisions any easier. So in some respects you have accomplished one of your underlying goals of keeping potential customers away from buying a Spyder.
I have a few more days to think this through and hopefully I will make the right call for me. From a personal standpoint though if I suffered two similar breakdowns on my K1600 I would certainly find a common thread as to what is taking place. If a drive belt pulley or bolts are breaking there has to be a reason and just replacing the parts and waiting for it to break again isn't repairing the underlying problem. So all I can say is good luck finding the real cause of your pulley problem and quite possibly you saved me from making a decision I may regret later on.
Rick H.