What Canada is teaching me about Spyder design

[UtahPete]

We're towing our Scamp with the Xterra through Canada (1800 miles so far) and the roads are 'interesting. This is what I have deduced thus far.....

1. The Can-Am engineers don't know about drive belt vibration because that starts at 65 mph and the top legal speed here is 100 kph (60 mph) on the superhighways only, of which they seem to have only 3 of about 100 km each around the three major cities of Montreal, Ottawa and Quebec. All the rest are 55 mph or less, including the 2 lane, no median, no shoulder trans-Canadian highway 17 ...... all the way through Ontario
2. Spyders aren't aligned at the factory because that would be a waste of money. Except for the above-mentioned 300 km of superhighway, all the other roads are basically secondary farm roads that apparently are left to the locals for maintenance. Farm tractors towing combines and the occasional logging trucks have no problem with the off-camber, pitching, rutted, pot-holed roads apparently so there's little incentive to fix them. Besides, they're only good for driving on 3 months of summer; after that they're turned over to snowmobiles and dog sled teams I think. So, back to my point, laser alignment isn't really necessary for riding most Canadian roads, particularly at the average top speed of 40 mph, and if you go any faster you'll wreck the alignment anyway.
3. Spyders have great brakes because, whenever you get on a good head of speed (90kph) you will inevitably have to very quickly scrub that speed for; a. A 4 way stop in the middle of a corn-field, b. A work crew in the middle of nowhere that has shut down one of the only 2 lanes for road repairs or c. A section of road that has been torn down to the road base with a sharp 4" transition from pavement to gravel and back again with little to no warning.
4. Spyders have long travel front suspensions for when they get launched off a particularly nasty frost heave, and sticky front tires for when they land again on the aforementioned rutted, off-camber road.
5. 9000 miles on a Kenda rear tire is actually not bad, considering that in the 3 months of riding season you really can't get very far in Canada anyway.

Joking aside, we love it here in Quebec, although we have had to drastically reassess how far we can realistically travel in a day! This ain't the American Southwest, for sure

[LeftCoast]

Sounds like you are having a great adventure Pete, keep the posts coming!

[Bob Denman]

Glad to hear that you're not lost in the Great White North!
Bring us back some Canadian Bacon!

[UtahPete]

Glad to hear that you're not lost in the Great White North!
Bring us back some Canadian Bacon!

Here it's just 'bacon

[Grandpot]

Very interesting perspective.

[billybovine]

Canadian bacon is an american thing.

[cptjam]

Carbines? LOL!
Combines, sure. Carbines are rifles.
Have a great trip!
Remember, they do winter testing in Phoenix!

[oldgoat]

We have a country bigger than yours & with 10% of your population. It is impossible to do everything that you do or eqal your exacting standards.

Enjoy yourself & keep on watching out for the nids de poule, they can swallow you up!

[SilverFox1]

Pete. So you went to Quebec City and Toronto by way of Ottawa! And you think you saw Canada?

[ARtraveler]

Hope you went into the Old City when you were in Quebec. It's like going back to the 1700's. The square with the Citadel isn't bad either.

[PW2013STL]

When we went to the BRP's 10th reunion party I told my wife " and we thought Minnesota has bad roads. Our roads are great in comparison"

I love Canada - especially when I asked for barbaque sauce for my chicken strips and I was given gravey!

[jbim]

Make sure you go around the Gaspe peninsula. Also, several stretches of road where you are right on the ocean.

enjoy

[UtahPete]

Pete. So you went to Quebec City and Toronto by way of Ottawa! And you think you saw Canada?

Should have said Montreal not Toronto. Never went into the cities, just the bypass. We're Scamping. Spent last night boondocking near Saguenay.

[UtahPete]

We have a country bigger than yours & with 10% of your population. It is impossible to do everything that you do or eqal your exacting standards. Enjoy yourself & keep on watching out for the nids de poule, they can swallow you up!

It was meant to be humorous, not critical. Sorry.

[UtahPete]

Carbines? LOL!
Combines, sure. Carbines are rifles.
Have a great trip!
Remember, they do winter testing in Phoenix!

Damn autocorrect!

[UtahPete]

Make sure you go around the Gaspe peninsula. Also, several stretches of road where you are right on the ocean.enjoy

It's on our planned route for sure!

[UtahPete]

Hope you went into the Old City when you were in Quebec. It's like going back to the 1700's. The square with the Citadel isn't bad either.

We're avoiding cities as much as possible. I've heard Old City is nice, though.

[Buckeye Bleau]

Pete. So you went to Quebec City and Toronto by way of Ottawa! And you think you saw Canada?

A great point! A few years ago I had some coworkers from a land overseas tell me they wanted to bring their family to the USA for a month. They wanted my input on their plan. He thought one week in NYC, a week at Disney in Orlando, a week in Miami and the last week in Los Angeles. I said really, your kids won't see the real America.
After discussions he decided a week in NYC followed by a week at Disney, then they spent the next week in Yellowstone area followed by an Alaskan cruise. NOW WE ARE TALKING!
The family loved it.
The point is, foreigners think of America as her cities, that is not America but it isn't the "fly over" states that do and did make it great!

Joe

[jbim]

It's on our planned route for sure!

If you go thru Ste-Anne-des-Monts, and you should as you make you way around the peninsula, there's an inn called "Auberge de La Seigneurie des Monts". It's on the water with a magnificent view, great breakfast and good coffee. I stayed there twice when I did my tours of the peninsula several years ago. I was on a BMW R1200GS once and I had an alarm system on. Winds were so strong it pushed the bike around and the alarm sounded. Had to get out at 3 AM in the rain to switch it off. The inn has a newer section close to the parking lot were you may be able to see your Spyder from your room.

Right after you leave Ste-Anne-des-Monts, going towards Gaspe, you start a stretch of 50-60 miles where the road is right on the ocean. If you go slowly, say 45 mph, and you open up you shield, you can smell the ocean and enjoy the refreshing breeze. Obviously, I need to go back one more time.

[johnsimion]

A great point! A few years ago I had some coworkers from a land overseas tell me they wanted to bring their family to the USA for a month. They wanted my input on their plan. He thought one week in NYC, a week at Disney in Orlando, a week in Miami and the last week in Los Angeles. I said really, your kids won't see the real America.
After discussions he decided a week in NYC followed by a week at Disney, then they spent the next week in Yellowstone area followed by an Alaskan cruise. NOW WE ARE TALKING!
The family loved it.
The point is, foreigners think of America as her cities, that is not America but it isn't the "fly over" states that do and did make it great!

Joe

When we go to France, we want to see Paris and the Eiffel Tower. When we go to England, we want to see London and Buckingham Palace. Do those represent the "real" France and England? Of course not, but we're not moving to France or England, we're just tourists. When you're a tourist, you want to see tourist destinations. I don't see anything wrong with that. Moreover, in your example, I don't think Yellowstone and an Alaska cruise are anything more than different tourist destinations -- those places are hardly representative of the "real" America. If you want to see the real America, maybe you should go drive through the cornfields of Kansas, see the hogfarms of Missouri, visit the Tyson chicken factory in Arkansas, drive really quickly through the slums of Chicago, and gaze at the McMansions in the suburbs of Cincinnati. Those places come a lot closer to being the "real" America, but good luck getting any tourists to take THAT itinerary.

[Bob Denman]

Damn autocorrect!

That guy "Otto Czech": gets a lot of us into trouble!

[UtahPete]

I'd estimate over a third of the vehicles we encounter are motorcycles and probably close to half of those are Spyders. Great to see!

[bcer960]

We're towing our Scamp with the Xterra through Canada (1800 miles so far) and the roads are 'interesting. This is what I have deduced thus far.....

1. The Can-Am engineers don't know about drive belt vibration because that starts at 65 mph and the top legal speed here is 100 kph (60 mph) on the superhighways only, of which they seem to have only 3 of about 100 km each around the three major cities of Montreal, Ottawa and Quebec. All the rest are 55 mph or less, including the 2 lane, no median, no shoulder trans-Canadian highway 17 ...... all the way through Ontario
2. Spyders aren't aligned at the factory because that would be a waste of money. Except for the above-mentioned 300 km of superhighway, all the other roads are basically secondary farm roads that apparently are left to the locals for maintenance. Farm tractors towing combines and the occasional logging trucks have no problem with the off-camber, pitching, rutted, pot-holed roads apparently so there's little incentive to fix them. Besides, they're only good for driving on 3 months of summer; after that they're turned over to snowmobiles and dog sled teams I think. So, back to my point, laser alignment isn't really necessary for riding most Canadian roads, particularly at the average top speed of 40 mph, and if you go any faster you'll wreck the alignment anyway.
3. Spyders have great brakes because, whenever you get on a good head of speed (90kph) you will inevitably have to very quickly scrub that speed for; a. A 4 way stop in the middle of a corn-field, b. A work crew in the middle of nowhere that has shut down one of the only 2 lanes for road repairs or c. A section of road that has been torn down to the road base with a sharp 4" transition from pavement to gravel and back again with little to no warning.
4. Spyders have long travel front suspensions for when they get launched off a particularly nasty frost heave, and sticky front tires for when they land again on the aforementioned rutted, off-camber road.
5. 9000 miles on a Kenda rear tire is actually not bad, considering that in the 3 months of riding season you really can't get very far in Canada anyway.

Joking aside, we love it here in Quebec, although we have had to drastically reassess how far we can realistically travel in a day! This ain't the American Southwest, for sure

Well being from the other side of Canada, I found this to be quite amusing, truthful.... but amusing. Although I get a 6 month riding season......

[jaherbst]

Canadian bacon is an american thing.

Not nessacerily (sic) so. They have a special breed of pig there called the "Canadian Pig". It is huge and can jump tall buildings. You can slice bacon off of it and it will

regrow the "Canadian Bacon" in several days. This is one phenomenal pig.

​I am sending one to Bob for his Birthday.

Jack

[easysuper]

We're towing our Scamp with the Xterra through Canada (1800 miles so far) and the roads are 'interesting. This is what I have deduced thus far.....

1. The Can-Am engineers don't know about drive belt vibration because that starts at 65 mph and the top legal speed here is 100 kph (60 mph) on the superhighways only, of which they seem to have only 3 of about 100 km each around the three major cities of Montreal, Ottawa and Quebec. All the rest are 55 mph or less, including the 2 lane, no median, no shoulder trans-Canadian highway 17 ...... all the way through Ontario
2. Spyders aren't aligned at the factory because that would be a waste of money. Except for the above-mentioned 300 km of superhighway, all the other roads are basically secondary farm roads that apparently are left to the locals for maintenance. Farm tractors towing combines and the occasional logging trucks have no problem with the off-camber, pitching, rutted, pot-holed roads apparently so there's little incentive to fix them. Besides, they're only good for driving on 3 months of summer; after that they're turned over to snowmobiles and dog sled teams I think. So, back to my point, laser alignment isn't really necessary for riding most Canadian roads, particularly at the average top speed of 40 mph, and if you go any faster you'll wreck the alignment anyway.
3. Spyders have great brakes because, whenever you get on a good head of speed (90kph) you will inevitably have to very quickly scrub that speed for; a. A 4 way stop in the middle of a corn-field, b. A work crew in the middle of nowhere that has shut down one of the only 2 lanes for road repairs or c. A section of road that has been torn down to the road base with a sharp 4" transition from pavement to gravel and back again with little to no warning.
4. Spyders have long travel front suspensions for when they get launched off a particularly nasty frost heave, and sticky front tires for when they land again on the aforementioned rutted, off-camber road.
5. 9000 miles on a Kenda rear tire is actually not bad, considering that in the 3 months of riding season you really can't get very far in Canada anyway.

Joking aside, we love it here in Quebec, although we have had to drastically reassess how far we can realistically travel in a day! This ain't the American Southwest, for sure

Guess that rules out our little camper for a cross country trip thru Canada. Think We'll just stick with the Spyders and pop up tent trailer !
Sunshine Progress 10-27-17 014.jpg