Does it really take 300 miles?

[SPYD3R]

100

i'd say about 100 miles of WHITE KNUCKLES..... :yikes:

after which, it's always been MILES of SMILES for me....

i bought my 1st SPYD3R in 2009, and RS SE5.... on my first venture, which was less than 10 miles, i just couldn't figure out what this thing was doing.... :dontknow: i thought to myself; "wow, i just wasted a bucket-load of money".... :banghead: but since i spent so much, i was determined to work things out - and i'm here to tell you it's been absolutely thrilling for me... i put just over 51,000 miles of smiles on my RS, and then in 2015, Feb. i got my now F3, and turned 44,000 miles of smiles on this one.... :bowdown: can't explain just how happy i am with both my SPYD3Rs, and i'm certain that you will be also once you get use to it...
enjoy and ride safely.... :yes:
Dan P
SPYD3R

 

[teninospyder]

How long did it take ??

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?

The FIRST STOP SIGN where I didn't have to put my feet down :yes::yes::yes:

 

[Fire34]

As soon as we drove it off the Lot

We liked it as soon as we drove it off the lot, I say we as we ride two up all the time, she wont let me leave without her. But it took a few hundred to get really use to it. We have a 13 RTL

 

[foxtail1]

As many others have said, I liked it immediately, but it took at least 500–600 miles before I really started having fun on the curves again.

I love my Spyder, but I do occasionally miss doing the curves on my HD. Then I get home to my gravel driveway and reverse into my garage, and remember the many reasons I'll never go back to 2 wheels.

 

[BigGuy66]

I agree with Bob and newbert about the ryde...

I'd say that's about accurate for me too.

But I would add that I really started to LOVE it after I got it laser-aligned and the upgraded swaybar installed!

Bob had said...2 miles to figure out it wasn't going to kill me and about 500 to get the hang of it...

After years of riding two-up we got our Spyder. Immediately was more comfortable and we felt safer. But we had get miles on it to finally relax. I think the are still indents where I had gripped the handles so tightly in those first 100 miles!! Now, we sit back and relax and enjoy the ryde.
Jim

 

[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.

:welcome:

 

[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. :bowdown:

 

[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]

Day 1

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!:yes::yes:

 

[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!:yes::yes:

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]

Easy-peasy

Having ridden 3 and 4 wheel atv's at speed ------- the :spyder2: 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]

About 10 feet

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]

1st Ryde sucked

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/suspension-products

The combination eliminates that going to tip over feeling entirely.