Does it really take 300 miles?

[PrairieSpyder]

Picked mine up last weekend after 40+ years on 2 wheels, first 50 miles were pretty tense.
I would say it was a couple hundred miles to get comfortable with the ride difference, still working on the tight twisties.

My wife took it around the block with me on the back, which never would've NEVER happened on 2 wheels.
Now she's looking at taking the course to get her endorsement. Only potential regret for me might be the purchase of a 2nd one in a year or so.

[ARtraveler]

It took me a long time to get comfortable. My first was a 2008 GS, first one sold to a customer in AK. I was 1500 miles before I got comfortable. Time--about a week.

Prior to that, it was all two wheeled rice burners since 1965. Lots of stuff to "unlearn" there.

As you can see by the other posts, the "learning curve" is all over the board. Some of us learn quicker than others.

[johnsimion]

I had watched a lot of YouTube video reviews of the Spyder, and most said the scariest part was the first few miles. Knowing this, I wasn't that surprised by my test ride in which I had a deathgrip and it felt like the Spyder was extremely nervous, darting back and forth, and that I'd fall off going around a turn. My wife was the passenger and she didn't notice the darting back and forth and felt completely comfortable right then and there. She was the one who wanted me to try the Spyder anyway and I think she was preconditioned to like it. Anyway, the YouTube videos were a godsend. Knowing my problem was the deathgrip, I forced myself to relax (which is quite a trick!) and loosened my grip and voila! the whole experience improved 1000%. Finished the test ride with no problems, bought the thing on the assumption it would only get easier, and went out the next day to practice. I found an empty parking lot and before long I was doing donuts. I'd say in 20 miles I was plenty confident enough to ride. That was 2 months and 900 miles ago. For many of you that's not much but we mainly stay in town and do a lot of short rides which are probably more challenging than several thousand highway miles. Regardless, we both feel pretty confident by now.

For new riders, I would say (a) loosen your deathgrip, and (b) treat the Spyder like it is a very small sportscar, not a motorcycle.

[Big Juice]

Bought my F3 Ltd in Missouri, left the dealer at 6pm for the 250 miles home to Arkansas. First 25 miles was sunshine, next 200 miles was rain and darkness, last 25 miles was heavy fog and a lot more darkness! Needless to say, my roadster and myself were "broke-in" by the time I got home a little after midnight! Coming from 2 wheels, then from a conventional trike, I was amazed and very pleased with the handling and tracking of my Spyder in bad weather on those roads (no interstates on my way home). Nanny and the ABS got me home safe, but not dry (didn't think to take rain gear with me). Still loving it and riding as often as I can.

[MR. H1956]

Rode across town on a test ride. Eat lunch while they were doing the paper work then rode back to dealer. We both loved it. Probably rode 15 to 20 miles round trip. 45 yrs of riding two wheels this was great to not worrying about dropping it or having to put my feet on the ground to hold the bike up. Now the wife feels happy and safe.

[Pirate looks at --]

Bought my F3 Ltd in Missouri, left the dealer at 6pm for the 250 miles home to Arkansas. First 25 miles was sunshine, next 200 miles was rain and darkness, last 25 miles was heavy fog and a lot more darkness! Needless to say, my roadster and myself were "broke-in" by the time I got home a little after midnight! Coming from 2 wheels, then from a conventional trike, I was amazed and very pleased with the handling and tracking of my Spyder in bad weather on those roads (no interstates on my way home). Nanny and the ABS got me home safe, but not dry (didn't think to take rain gear with me). Still loving it and riding as often as I can.

I have to say that the F3 out of the box handles a lot better than the RT. There is no body roll because of the low center of gravity. I think I could have been more comfortable driving the F3 had they been available in 13. But the F3 may have been easier because I had 30000 miles on the RT by then. Now that we have both, neither my wife or I miss the two up ryding!

[Big Juice]

I have to say that the F3 out of the box handles a lot better than the RT. There is no body roll because of the low center of gravity. I think I could have been more comfortable driving the F3 had they been available in 13. But the F3 may have been easier because I had 30000 miles on the RT by then. Now that we have both, neither my wife or I miss the two up ryding!

I never rode the wife's RT (neither her 2011, nor the 2014), but after she rode my F3 Ltd, she decided she would like to sell her RT and buy an F3-T. She said she also liked the way it handled and drove, compared to her RT (that she loved!). Done deal, she sold her RT and has bought an F3-T.
We also like ryding our own bikes, rather than ryding 2 up, that we did on my conventional trike, until she rode on a Spyder........then that was a done deal, she wanted a Spyder!

[Lew L]

Having ridden 3 and 4 wheel atv's at speed ------- the was an easy ryde right out of the box. Only got better with techniques like pressing the outside foot, shifting body to the inside ( one buttock off the seat when I'm really hoofin' it) , no death grip on the bars and proper wheel alignment/ tire pressure..Anti-sway bar and spring stiffeners do make a big difference.

Lew L

[asp125]

Coming from the two wheeled crowd, I rented one before I bought. The first 100ft I almost put her into the guard rail trying to countersteer and grabbing for the nonexistent handbrake! It took 10 miles before I realized I wasn't going to kill myself. Between 100-200 miles I stopped fighting it and learned to corner without holding up traffic or scaring other drivers.

[Samson]

I ordered it, paid for it and had it delivered before I ever saw it or sat on it. I never rode a Spyder prior to buying it. Loved it right off however I think it was about 1000 miles before I felt comfy on it. Obviously it's very different from 2 wheels and I spent a lot of time reading this forum etc..

[Scotts8826]

I never owned a 2 wheel motorcycle. For me, I loved my RT-S from the first day. But my comfort level wasn't so much the miles but the riding experience I needed. First, getting around town. Being watchful and aware. Then, 4 lane boulevards, upping to State highways and then Interstates. All over again with my wife riding behind me. I'd say all told it was probably 4-6 weeks before I was really comfortable. Which finally led to a 3K cross country ride last year.

[JFD]

I have riden bikes since I was 18. When I drive a regular motorcycle, I always ease my foot off the edge of the peg so that when I'm leaning into the turn I hit my foot first and then just scrape the foot peg a little. Love the lean just a bit too much. So how did it work on three wheels?

I traded in my Yamaha 1100 I rode for 11 years, bought my RT, rode it a mile to the interstate, got it up to a 90 about five miles in, rode it like I stole it about 40 miles home, put it into a drift in the round-about and a mile later pulled into the garage. Yeah, it took me forever to get used to it.

OK, I will say that the first time I passed a car at high speed on a two lane, I pulled out, passed and twitched it back to the original lane and almost went into the ditch. Whoa! Easy does it on the lane changing after that.

Is it different? yes. Fun? Oh hell yeah!

[PaladinLV]

The trip from the Dealership to Home.
About 20 miles or 30minutes which was longer

AJ

I've heard someone say it takes 300 miles to get used to the Spyder and fall in love with it if you only used to riding 2-wheelers. Before that mark you might hate it and regret the purchase.
I wasn't victim to this, since I haven't owned a proper motorcycle and the only substantial experience I've had on 2 wheels was during my MSF course years ago.

So, how long did it take you to start liking your ryde?

[SteveP]

My trip home from dealership in Toronto - was on a Friday afternoon at 3pm ( not good) - HOT summer day full gear - first 5 minutes got cut off and took sidewalk to avoid getting crushed- 2 hours to get 40 kilometres home - kept squeezing handlebars for front brake ...... thought I had made an expensive impulse buy mistake . The next day went out on some county roads for about 200 Kms and by the time I was home I realized there was still a learning curve but I had already got past the doubt . Can't do 2 wheels anymore but now I doubt I would again anyway

[blitzkreig]

Purchased a 2012 RTS rode it 200 miles and thought I would kill myself. I read everything I could find on riding it and tried everything and still hated it. After a 1,000 miles I put a for sale sign on it. Than put on Baja Rons sway bar and loved it ever since. What a difference I felt safe for the first time.

Jim

Just want to echo that the Baha Ron sway bar is an absolute must for me. I also stiffened up the front springs with 4 of these ... : https://www.roadsterrenovations.info...nsion-products

The combination eliminates that going to tip over feeling entirely.

[Warlock]

Took me several thousand miles to really appreciate the Spyder. After having both knees replaced I gave up 2 wheels. Still miss 2 wheels, but have come to realize that I need to stay off 2 wheels. I like the bigger bikes like the Goldwings and Valkyrie. So it took a while before I really got warmed up on the Spyder. And now the more I ride it the better I like it. No plans in the future to change bikes.
David

[gnorthern]

I only have about 250 miles on mine, but over 100 in town. I test rode an RT and was terrified. Long explanation why but I went back and test drove an F3-T, loved cruising with it, and bought it. I initially began to second guess myself at 200 miles since I found myself getting much more sore riding it than even my road bicycle for the same amount of time (2-3 hours). But after some thought I am now 100% convinced that a backrest (I constantly assumed different positions on the Spyder) and repositioning the handlebars will solve the soreness when I do a lot of turning.

[missouriboy]

Having ridden 3 and 4 wheel atv's at speed ------- the was an easy ryde right out of the box. Only got better with techniques like pressing the outside foot, shifting body to the inside ( one buttock off the seat when I'm really hoofin' it) , no death grip on the bars and proper wheel alignment/ tire pressure..Anti-sway bar and spring stiffeners do make a big difference.

Lew L

That's real close to my story too. No 2-wheelers since I was a teenager, then about 10 years before getting a Spyder I began hundreds of miles on 4-wheel ATVs, on rough trails in the woods, high-speed tight turns through the trees, etc. This experience made the Spyder easy for me; I was proficient with it in a couple hundred miles, at most. Now I'm on track to hit 80,000 miles in 5 years, and looking forward to the next 5 years. Then 5 more. Then... (Whoa, boy! I was 73 when I got the first one!)

PS... I did do the MSF course, in a parking lot, on a 125cc rice-burner, though. No great performance, but I did pass OK. From that experience, I knew I'd never again do 2 wheelers in traffic.

[4 MARIE]

I obviously "liked it" before I bought it. I was reasonably comfortable on it after about 500 miles.
I still learn, and maybe get more of the nuance of riding it. I think it will be like that for a long time.
I expect to never hit the edge of it's performance envelope, and that's okay with me.
I would rather be old, slow and alive, than young, dumb, and dead....which is where I nearly was at one point in my life.

[sandeejs]

It took me a day or so to get used to the Spyder (RT). Really freaked out the first stop and couldn't put a foot down!! Now, I'm good. Mostly.

Tryke was totalled out after a crash in October. New Spyder coming soon. First ryde will be a trip, I think. Eh, we will see.

~Sandee~

[WilderThomas]

I've heard someone say it takes 300 miles to get used to the Spyder and fall in love with it if you only used to riding 2-wheelers. Before that mark you might hate it and regret the purchase.
I wasn't victim to this, since I haven't owned a proper motorcycle and the only substantial experience I've had on 2 wheels was during my MSF course years ago.

So, how long did it take you to start liking your ryde?

At 65 years of age, it's been my pleasure to have been riding for 49 years. And have during those years have owned, and ridden, 16 two wheeled vehicles, from a 1957 Lambretta 150cc scooter, to a 2005 Harley Davidson FLHTCUI, with five Gold Wings intermixed. Now, its the pleasure of my wife and I to own and ride, a 2012 Can Am Spyder RT-SE5. How long did it take to fall in love with it? About 5 miles. Every motorcycle had its pros and cons as does every motorcycle, but we have no regrets on the purchase of the Spyder. And now its unlikely that we'll return to two wheels.

[Biscuit]

Imy case I have been riding two wheels for forty-five years plus, so I found therewas more of a learning curve then I expected. The muscle memory with hand brakes, clutch and counter steering took mea couple hundred miles to really feel comfortable but it is great. My bike is my daily driver to down town Atlanta. If I have any complaints it would be the wimpystock horn (which has been replaced).

Rod

[frigmall]

We bought my wife's F3-T from a dealer that is 85 miles from our house last October. When we picked it up she did not want to ride it back that distance so I did. I have been riding 2 wheels for many years so when I first got on the bike it felt weird. Got on the highway and rode it for around 45 miles getting used to it. Decided to get on a twisty road for the remainder and by the time I got off that road I was having a blast. Probably not as proficient as putting some miles on it would make me, but I could see what the bike can do.
Albeit my wife has logged many miles on the back of my bikes she has never piloted a two wheeled bike so she did not have any preconceived ideas of what the difference is. She was able to log 600 miles on her bike before we put it up for the winter. At first I rode in front of her to show her the lines to take on curves and to run interference for her. I found myself spending too much time looking in the mirrors worrying about whether I was going too fast for her, so I put her up front so she could ride at the pace she is comfortable with. By the time we put the bikes up for the winter she was riding at a pace that made me concentrate!
The Spyder's are a very forgiving ride. Lot's of neat safety features that are good for new riders and appreciated by veterans. My wife is pretty conservative so if you ask her she will probably tell you she has a few more miles to put on the bike before she is proficient with it, but we do have some pretty long rides planned this year and she is chomping at the bit to go!

[Road-Kill]

I've heard someone say it takes 300 miles to get used to the Spyder and fall in love with it if you only used to riding 2-wheelers. Before that mark you might hate it and regret the purchase.
I wasn't victim to this, since I haven't owned a proper motorcycle and the only substantial experience I've had on 2 wheels was during my MSF course years ago.

So, how long did it take you to start liking your ryde?

It took me 10,000 miles (6 months) to love the Spyder.
Unlike many who bought a Spyder I didn't switch from 2 wheels to 3 because of a disability.
I still miss leaning though.

[Easy Rider]

I still miss leaning though.

I don't think I will EVER get as much satisfaction out of the Spyder.
It is, after all, not a "real" motorcycle.

It likely will help a bit to get the Vulcan sold........because every time I get on it I am reminded how different it really is.