2020 RTL Power Steering Question

[Flyback]

Hello all...

Is there a way to adjust the sensitivity of the power steering? I’d like it to be a little less sensitive or “twitchy” if you know what I mean...

Thanks for any thoughts on this!

-Doug

[Copperman]

Try this: If it's "twitchy" at speed, take one hand off the handlebars. Does it go away? Try it with the other hand. If it goes away, you're holding on too tight. Lighten your grip and the twitchiness goes away. Good luck.

[Peter Aawen]

The other thing to consider is the wheel alignment! Poor alignment can give you twitchy steering, and the OE alignment specs aren't all that great at limiting twitchiness anyway!! So you need to know that your wheel alignment is correct (for your Spyder, NOT just 'as per BRP's specs'!) and you need to sort /ensure this is done properly before you start playing with anything else, or you could very easily make things a lot worse and a whole lot harder to resolve too!!

Have you had your Spyder aligned by someone other than the dealer, preferably by someone with a reputation for being able to align Spyders properly??

The alignment process & specs that BRP uses/recommends are certainly better than they used to be, but neither is it ideal if you want 'directional steering' and to reduce the twitchiness that is a frequent result of the 'factory alignment', even when done by an 'otherwise great' dealer; plus, very few dealers have techs who are skilled &/or competent in doing 'proper' alignments - why should they, most of the products they sell only vaguely need their front ends to point in the right direction, so not only do they only do a few every now & then, but even when they do do them, often it's a case of 'close enough is good enough'! So your dealer will rarely be a good place to get an alignment done!

[PaladinLV]

BTW
It is not power steering, but a variable power assist.
If it were "power steering" while standing still at idle, you would be able to turn lock-to-lock with ZERO effort.

AJ

[bikerbillone]

Flyback, I'm a newbie to the Spyder world with a 20 RTL, 600 miles on the ODO, I'm guessing you're a newbie as well with 12 posts. My suggestion, give it time and get the 'feel' of the machine.

[JayBros]

Copperman and Peter have told you just about everything you need to know about the twitchy feeling you are experiencing, particularly if coming from lots of miles on two wheels. Bikerbillone is in the bulls-eye too; we're individuals and some adapt quicker than others. Gibe yourself time and miles.

[BLUEKNIGHT911]

BTW
It is not power steering, but a variable power assist.
If it were "power steering" while standing still at idle, you would be able to turn lock-to-lock with ZERO effort.

AJ

Yep it's power assist, annnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnd after about 8 MPH it's not providing any assist ..... so the " twitchy feeling " is something everyone feels when they first learn how the Spyders handle ...... keep in mind how light the front end is, there really isn't much resistance to turning when you go above 10 MPH ..... After you get more miles operating it you won't think it's " twitchy " at all ..... " Less is more " when it comes to effort when turning / steering ..... a lighter touch will help .... I've had a GS up to approx. 120 mph and it felt quite stable .... zero effort was needed to keep it going straight ..... good luck .... Mike

[IdahoMtnSpyder]

Yep it's power assist, annnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnd after about 8 MPH it's not providing any assist .....

I don't think that is the case all the time. On the straight road, no, there is no assist. But on curves there is, and I don't think there is any speed limitation then. As Paladin and you say, it's power assist. There is a torque sensor on the steering column shaft inside the DPS that measures how much torque you are exerting on the handlebars. In a heavy turn it takes more torque to hold the wheels in the proper direction so the DPS provides more assist. When the DPS wasn't working correctly on my 2013 RT it was an adventure coming off the Interstate at like 30 mph. I would pull hard and then all of a sudden the DPS kicked in and added so much assist I had to react quickly to keep from going off the inside edge of the road. Then when it cut out I had to quickly increase my turning effort to keep from going off the outside of the curve.

[redrazor]

BTW
It is not power steering, but a variable power assist.
If it were "power steering" while standing still at idle, you would be able to turn lock-to-lock with ZERO effort.

AJ

Good point. Took me a while to figure that out.

[ThreeWheels]

What is the air pressure in your front tires ?
You should be running around 18 PSI plus or minus a little bit. If you are running higher pressure, like 25 PSI, the bike will turn easily at low speed, but it will feel twitchy on the highway.