Time to "comfort zone"

I am back on my RT after a year f going back to a maxi-scooter. Recently my wife decided she was not riding her Honda Silverwing with a tow-pac trike kit and we have it out for sale on consignment from my Can-Am dealer. I want her to be comfortable on the RT so we can do some road trips and switch back and forth as the "driver-Commander." She would tell you she is always in charge, and perhaps that is true!

The question is what is the normal learning curve on the Spyder, since she says it "just doesn't feel right." She says it wanders (not true), using your foot to brake is a pain( She was on a scooter the only has hand brakes), the steering is too sensitive, there are too many buttons and that the shifting is a pain (again CVT on the scooter and no shifting). I told her to give it time and she will love it and she keeps asking me when that will be. Keep in mind she has only "driven" it 4 times, and 2 of those were in a parking lot. Would setting up a course with cones in a parking lot help, or should we continue what we have been doing and having her take it out on the road with me as the passenger (pillion?).

I want her to love the spider as much as I do(I really missed it when I switched to a Burgman 400 scooter for the past year). Perhaps if I could tell her she too will love it if she simply gives it enough time.

Perhaps if there are some words of encouragement I can have her read here especially from the ladies(I hope that is not reverse sexist), it would help. We live in Pennsylvania and our children are in BOston, Ma., so a few road trips on the Spydrer could be a lot of fun if we shared the experience.

---sorry for the overly wordy post--

This is a tough issue... :shocked:
The Spyder probably isn't right for everybody, and it certainly would be reasonable to assume that different folks will have different lengths of time necessary to see if they will adapt to life on a Trypod...
A positive attitude will always help! :thumbup:
I recently saw in another thread (Trading from a GoldWing to an RT) where one person mentioned that it took them about 1500 miles to get it right...
Patience.... the one virtue that none of us can wait to acquire!
I wish both of you the best of luck! :2thumbs:

I agree with bob d.
I would add at my wife went from never having touched a throttle to leaving Cape Cod Mass. , having to negotiate 3 difficult rotaries and a scurry bridge and 75 MPH up route 495 and an advanced Evergreen side car trike course and lisencecing in less than 2 weeks.

It helps greatly to have no experience. It helps to relax your hands and arms. In our case we have an RT SE5 so there is not clutch to deal with.

As bob said. Patience will win the day

just f.y.i. i traded in my silverwing for the spyder se5 rts and i never had a manual bike shift ever adapted very fast to this paddle shift love this option as it can be put into nuetral and can rev pipe to show off..lol they gave m 5k for '09 silverwing had 12k miles on it.

RE: learning curve. Most people say it takes 250-500 road miles before one becomes comfortable with the :spyder2:. It took me almost 1000 miles and I was a two-wheeler for the previous 40 years or so.

The tendancy of the :spyder2: to wander is brought on by over controlling. I have found that as little imput as possible is better than hanging on for dear life. I use the push pull method on the handlebars, and a light touch. Some have suggested to think you have a little bird or an egg between your hand and the handlebars. Don't break the egg, or hurt the bird.

Braking: that is something to get used to--but over the miles, it will become natural.

Riding training: I suggest a hour or so of parking lot time, going through the proceedures in the manual. Move on to roads with very little traffic as possible in order to get comfortable with speeds up to 50. Then on to some highway riding. You will be surprised how quickly everything will fall into place.

Riding Curves: At first, you feel like you are going to be ejected from the :spyder2:. At first, approach curves at less than posted and be able to accelerate as you round them. I hit most curves from the (inner side) and go to the outer as I round them. Once you are comfortable, it is not uncommom to go more than posted and feel very comfotable when doing it.

:agree: I've also found that keeping my knees in on the pads helps to keep me centered... when I'm centered; the bike's steering is pretty darn stable! :thumbup:

Parking lot time with the exercises at the back of the Owner's Manual will help. But, finding a Three Wheeled Motorcycle class would help even more. I just completed said class even though I was already licensed for two wheels. I saw very nervous riders with low confidence become much more comfortable with their machines over the two days.

The Spyder cannot truly be compared to riding anything else. Constant comparisons of "it's not like such and such" just hold the process of adjusting back. Find a big safe area and just ride the thing. Invent exercises to keep things interesting. Practice quick stops, swerves, corners, curves and weaves. A tennis ball cut in half makes great markers! Riding higher speed limits takes some time to realize that it takes VERY little input to the steering. Really a feather touch is needed.

I hate to say it, but I too found the RT to have "too much" going on. I love my RS SM5. It's basic, straightforward, and fits me better than the bigger RT. The learning curve is different for everyone. 4 rides is not nearly long enough if those rides were not hours long. I was tentative nearly a month of riding when I first got the Spyder. The thing is to ride within your own comfort zone and not get pushed by anyone else. Enjoy the Spyder for all its engineering advances. It's a wonderful machine!!!! I am so grateful that BRP invented it!!!!

I would encourage her to take he RT out "Herself" on some of your country roads and just let her get used to it and she will either fall in love with it or not. :dontknow:

Thanks for the comments and encouragement. She took the MSF course on her "triked" silvering. The law a couple of years ago did not differentiate on your license whether you took the class/test on two wheels or three. Now Pennsylvania has a special three wheel designation. If you take your test on two wheels you can ride either 2 or 3. If you take it on three, you are limited to only riding on three.

I think one of the issues my wife is having is the fit that she is coming from another trike-of sorts. I found it fairly easy when I transitioned from my motor scooter to the Spyder. Of course picking it up at the dealer necessitated me riding over an hour on all sorts of roads. Looking back, it was not the way to do it, but the dealer wanted $100.00 to deliver it. Anyway I bought my current RT from another dealer who is much closer and seems much more reasonable in terms of pick-up and delivery.

Maybe I wil tell my wife if she takes the spider to the mall she can buy whatever she can fit in the bike(Ill be sure to fill up most of the storage first. That should drive her a big incentive to ride.

The video link is blocked. Bummer!

It took Nancy a couple of weeks to get comfortable when she got her GS. She did several days in a parking lot for a couple of hours each day. She did the full course in the manual, cones and all...until she was comfortable and didn't look at the controls anymore. Then she rode on side streets in our neighborhood for about a week before she ventured onto a main road. It was a few more days before a 55 mph rural road, and another few before the freeway. You can't force it if she doesn't have the desire or an open mind. It is a great ride, but a different one. Once that is accepted, some practice can make a rider comfortable. I hope she takes to it, as you hoped.

Find some back roads in good shape, not too many bumps. Take her and the spyder out there and then let her start driving, with you on the back. Find a good 5-10 mile stretch and just ride back and forth. Her comfort zone and speed will keep getting better.

I am a 62 year old female owner of a 2011 RT-S SE5. I have ridden all sorts of bikes in my day but that has nothing to do with a Y frame Spyder. I did the white knuckle ride, was tense, was actually afraid of twisties.......probably a bit like your wife at first. I was having a heck of a time turning. Was either over turning or under....... Then I adjusted my front shocks, changed tire pressures and was told on the forum to use the Push Pull Press. If turning to the left, I pull the handle bar with my left hand while pushing out a bit with my right hand. I also press down with my outside foot. What helped me the most is getting Seal Floor boards installed. She will have more room for her feet to sit flat and that was a wonderful difference. I also installed a Utopia drivers backrest which is also very helpful. I also remind myself of the "nanny' that helps keep all wheels on the road. Basically, some easy back roads with you and lots of saddle time will help her. I am now so much more confident (not cocky) with my rides. I ride with a MC that only does back road rides every weekend, and we average anywhere from 185 miles to 300 miles a day. The more she can ride the better she will feel!!! Let the bike do what it was built to do......and always 'ride your own ride'.

Good luck to her...... once she has one good ride under her belt, she will be hooked!

For those coming from a two-wheeler, steering the Spyder seems to frequently be a problem. The reason for that is that the steering technique for the Spyder is completely different than for a two-wheeler. Two-wheelers require a technique called 'counter-steering', which means to turn right, you actually steer slightly left to initiate a right-hand lean, which then makes the right turn. If you are accustomed to steering this way (and all two-wheeled motorcycle riders use this technique whether they know it or not), the direct-steering technique required for the Spyder will cause them some confusion. Unlike a regular motorcycle, the Spyder requires you to steer in the direction you want to turn.

When I first rode a Spyder, my arms had 20+ years of muscle-memory of how to steer a motorcycle. The brain said, "turn right" and the arms took care of it without conscience thought on how to do it. It didn't take long before I realized something was terribly wrong with the steering of the Spyder. I literally had to stop and think about what was going on. I noted that the Spyder doesn't lean, so counter-steering would actually cause me to turn in the opposite direct than intended. I also found that my timing for starting a turn on the Spyder was different than a two-wheeler. Again, because of so many years and miles of riding two-wheelers, I started my initial turn inputs slightly before I reached the actual place I wanted to turn. For the motorcycle, this works well. For the Spyder, this meant I was entering my turns too soon and had to make mid-turn corrections.

I have made conscience adjustments to my steering techniques and found all works well. I now can transition between two wheels and three wheels effortlessly.

Hope this helps.

Going from a regular type trike to a spyder is learning all over . It handles totally differently and takes awhile to lose the old habits. I rode a goldwing trike for 105000 miles and then got the spyder....whoa , whats wrong with the spyder. Nothing wrong once you get used to it , you just have to retrain yourself. The spyder is harder to steer in cornering than a regular trike and really feels different on curves. Centrifugal force seems a lot greater on the spyder. Took me a good 500 miles to get pretty comfortable .She'll either learn to love it or she'll always hate it. Give her time and patience. I think people that have never ridden a trike of any kind have better experiences on the spyder.

2manycars,
I have some input, but it has been a while since the last post. If this is still an issue, please reply and I'll respond. Thanks.