New (2012) Spyder owner

[CJ.RamMan]

Hi all. My girlfriend just purchased a new to her 2012 Spyder RT. She has some street experience as she owned a Sportster. I have 0 street experience but have owned and ridden atv's of the 3and 4 wheel varieties. We live near Kansas City, MO and she finds her Spyder in Denver, CO. She was pretty sold on this machine and insisted we needed to go and bring it home. We figured it to be about a ten hour drive so we got a few things lined out and headed to Denver.
She signs the papers and off we go with this new awesome touring machine. We stopped in a large parking lot to get a feel for this thing and hit the highway. We decided we would take turns riding the Spyder and driving the truck. Our first pitstop had my girl saying this thing does not handle wind like a motorcycle. She said even her little Sportster from back in the day was more settled than the Spyder. Now it was my turn. Like a street legal ATV right? More like a 65-70 mph white knuckle windstorm with passing 18 wheelers that nearly blow you off the highway. Took us almost 13 hours to make our ten hour drive.
I realize this wasn't the greatest idea or way to gain experience but we wrew crunched for time and didn't have funds for delivery. My big question right now is are these things always this susceptible to wind turbulence? What is the best way to deal with it?

Thank you and glad to be here!

 

[BoilerAnimal]

Rarely have had any problems since we had ours Squared Away. It REALLY took the squirrelly handling out of it.

 

[SteveP]

Takes time

Spyders do take a few rides to get used to but it sounds like you both were hanging on for dear life instead of Ryding it ? It should have got better after a few hours of driving though . Just practice relaxing your grip on the bars , although they handle a little like a four wheeler you don’t push and pull on them constantly like a quad ....... practice on some lighter travelled roads at a lower speed a few times and I’m sure you will find it drives ok

 

[CJ.RamMan]

Rarely have had any problems since we had ours Squared Away. It REALLY took the squirrelly handling out of it.

What do they do to make it "squared away"? Is this something the dealers know?

 

[CJ.RamMan]

Spyders do take a few rides to get used to but it sounds like you both were hanging on for dear life instead of Ryding it ? It should have got better after a few hours of driving though . Just practice relaxing your grip on the bars , although they handle a little like a four wheeler you don’t push and pull on them constantly like a quad ....... practice on some lighter travelled roads at a lower speed a few times and I’m sure you will find it drives ok

SteveP it did get better, but we also know we really bit off a little much for our first ride. At that point we were committed and had to make the situation work. I'm keeping an eye out for a Spyder of my own but also trying to decide if I want to go with the f3 or RT.

 

[Buckeye Bleau]

What do they do to make it "squared away"? Is this something the dealers know?

Squared Away is a sponsor of this page, they do a great job performing a three wheel laser alignment on Spyders.

I have two suggestions for you to dramatically improve handling.
1. The most important and less than $100, buy some good car tires for the front and get tips easier awful OEM tires off the Byke.
2. Investigate Baja Ron and his "Sway Bar" it will help in corners, winds and truck blowers. That one is a little more money, but do the tire size first, you won't be sorry.

 

[Chupaca]

congratulations....

welcome to both the spyder world and this most informative site. You have probably the best year for the V-Twin 998. I have an RS and love it. On the handling in wind.... the spyder has the DPS traslated dynamic power steering. It is an electric assist and can be very touchy to small changes and that is why you will hear you need to relax your grip. The spyder will track well in all wind conditions but you on the other hand will have to fight the wind. The laser alignment will be a help and the BajaRon swaybar will be a real nice addition. Start with the grip and some well known roads. The alignment is next and so on...:thumbup:

 

[ARtraveler]

:welcome: Your complaint is typical for those that try the :spyder2: for the first time.

Attached, you will find a very helpful thread about do's and don'ts. Suggest you give it a good read.

http://www.spyderlovers.com/forums/...t-Do-s-and-Do-Nots-quot-for-new-Spyder-owners

It sounds obvious that you guys were "white knuckleing" it down the road. It takes about five hundred miles to "get the feel" for driving the Spyder. We call it the "learning curve."

I would give it a thousand miles before looking at "handling" options. Those mentioned so far are good--but maybe you wont need them.

 

[youngers]

hey c-j

hahaha man a 13 hour maiden voyage ! :yikes: MAN ! I bet you were both beat like a bass drum when you did got home , :roflblack: so lets see what you folks ended up with ----> do you have a clutch lever , or the thumb shifter ? ( clutch lever is s-m 5 model and thumb shift is s-e 5 model ) what color is the new cycle ? seems a lot of silver cycles were the choice of the day --- 2012 --- I noticed the wind a little bit , if it is around 10 m.p.h. on the wind blow , try raising the windshield it helps a bit ( although a cross wind will be what it will be , you get a push or noticeable rock if you will ) after a few weeks you will love the heck out of the cycle ... take a look at the front shocks , there are adjustments you might be able to do , there should be something in the range of 3 or 4 levels of stiffness you can click the shock to , this might give you a more stability ....hey if you can please post a photo ! hope your miles get a lot better brother !

 

[Deanna777]

:welcome: & :congrats:

Deanna

 

[CJ.RamMan]

hahaha man a 13 hour maiden voyage ! :yikes: MAN ! I bet you were both beat like a bass drum when you did got home , :roflblack: so lets see what you folks ended up with ----> do you have a clutch lever , or the thumb shifter ? ( clutch lever is s-m 5 model and thumb shift is s-e 5 model ) what color is the new cycle ? seems a lot of silver cycles were the choice of the day --- 2012 --- I noticed the wind a little bit , if it is around 10 m.p.h. on the wind blow , try raising the windshield it helps a bit ( although a cross wind will be what it will be , you get a push or noticeable rock if you will ) after a few weeks you will love the heck out of the cycle ... take a look at the front shocks , there are adjustments you might be able to do , there should be something in the range of 3 or 4 levels of stiffness you can click the shock to , this might give you a more stability ....hey if you can please post a photo ! hope your miles get a lot better brother !

We were both definitely beat after that run. She got the RT SM5 in blue. Once I figure out how to post a pic I will get one on here. I'm sure the miles will get easier and a lot more fun.

 

[Katgirl]

I’m the GF that thought a 600+ mi maiden voyage would be a good idea

Beat like a bass drum is about right. We had heavy heavy cross winds. Found my 2012 RT online, 1189 miles, $10,700 I knew I had to act quickly as the same models sell for much more in the KC area. I have experience riding so I figured, no big deal! Wrong! Lol

Please don’t misunderstand Cj’s and I’s posts. We will laugh about this hilarious memory forever. It’s more about what our perception was and what reality served us up.

- I promise to read my manual
- and the do’s and dont’s link

question: decided to try to back up a small incline into our garage tonite and sound my reverse to be very sluggish, to the point that I gave up and pulled into the garage regularly. Any ideas why that was?

Kat

 

[BryanSD]

Kansas Winds

I tell people the only thing worse than South Dakota winds (where I live) are Kansas winds (originally from KCK). My wife and I are newbies with about 1300 miles on our new 2017 RT and I'm stilling trying to figure what to do with the side winds. When wearing our helmets, there are at times we occasionally get a whiplash effect too. I'm only now starting to experiment with lowering and raising the windshield and in some cases I found there are times that a lower wind shield actually creates a more steady-stable flow of wind along the drive. Like people have already said on this thread...give it some time as it gets better. I'd also suggest you find some or the more protected areas around KC with trees and hills so you get a sense of what it's like to drive a Spyder with less winds. I can't imagine what I-70 across the western high-plains felt like for your first Spyder ride! I'm not sure I would have make it past Goodland!

Congrats on your new Spyder.

 

[daz]

Beat like a bass drum is about right. We had heavy heavy cross winds. Found my 2012 RT online, 1189 miles, $10,700 I knew I had to act quickly as the same models sell for much more in the KC area. I have experience riding so I figured, no big deal! Wrong! Lol

Please don’t misunderstand Cj’s and I’s posts. We will laugh about this hilarious memory forever. It’s more about what our perception was and what reality served us up.

- I promise to read my manual
- and the do’s and dont’s link

question: decided to try to back up a small incline into our garage tonite and sound my reverse to be very sluggish, to the point that I gave up and pulled into the garage regularly. Any ideas why that was?

Kat

My 2011 RT does the same thing. Watching for someone to answer you. Congratulations on the new bike!

 

[Highwayman2013]

What do they do to make it "squared away"? Is this something the dealers know?

A laser front end alignment from Squared Away a forum sponsor. Take your time learning the spyder there are pinned instructions on this forum for newbies. Do and Do Nots
http://www.spyderlovers.com/forums/...t-Do-s-and-Do-Nots-quot-for-new-Spyder-owners

 

[Elembytes]

We used to own a 2012 RTS-SE 5

For us, we too experienced what you did on our 2012 RTS-SE5 that we used to own. I will tell you that a Swaybar upgrade, ELKA SHOCKS and an Alignment and proper air pressure in tires makes a HUGE improvement in that bike. At least it sure did for us. We now own a 2015 RT-Limited and love it too and also did same to it when we bought it. Just my two cents worth....if that is worth anything in today's world!