What did you do to your Spyder today?

[greer]

After reading all the warnings on this forum about needing an emergency seat release I tried to think of an easy way to do it. I wound up riding to Bass Pro Shop (any bait shop would work) and bought a set of 9" stainless wire leaders. They have a snap on one end and a swivel on the other. I hooked the snap to the actuator bar and routed the cable out the right side. The leader is just long enough to tuck behind the body work and the swivel makes a great handle on the end. A pack of 4 was $2.50.

Genius! I'll be doing the same, thank you!

Sarah

 

[Dasmoetorhead]

Took this picture

 

[Wdaniels]

I switched to the Amsoil metric 10w-40 synthetic vs the BRP oil kit I have been buying. I then got the oil filter and o rings kit from Slingmods. I noticed the bike shifts smoother and the motor is quieter now. I'm still considering changing the oil and filter at 5,000 miles vs the 3,000 I have been doing since I bought the bike. I know they say I can go longer but I just don't feel comfortable doing that yet.

-

 

[mecsw500]

I switched to the Amsoil metric 10w-40 synthetic vs the BRP oil kit I have been buying. I then got the oil filter and o rings kit from Slingmods. I noticed the bike shifts smoother and the motor is quieter now. I'm still considering changing the oil and filter at 5,000 miles vs the 3,000 I have been doing since I bought the bike. I know they say I can go longer but I just don't feel comfortable doing that yet.

I'm pretty picky about oil change intervals and I'm certainly not going the 9,300 miles Can Am says you can between oil changes for a Spyder. However, I think with a quality full synthetic oil (whatever "full synthetic" means these days) 5,000 miles is more than frequent enough especially with a name brand like Amsoil. I think 3,000 mile intervals are not really necessary and a little bit over cautious. These modern oils are just fine with 5,000 mile changes, no problem at all.

I've been doing 5,000 mile oil changes with a 2021 Spyder for 5 years, and now a 2026 Spyder, and my service department thinks I'm pretty cautious. Amsoil will still be perfectly serviceable at 5,000 miles, and probably much longer than that realistically. I did 2,000 miles for the first change and 5,000 miles from then on with no significant oil degradation. Filters are always clean. Oil comes out as it should.

These Spyders are not a very highly stressed engine with moderate power output and a very large 5 quart dry sump system where the oil suffers less as a result. The highest stress is likely to be shearing effects from the transmission and modern high quality oils will easily withstand that for 5,000 miles no issue. Saving 40% of your oil change costs without doing any harm at all to your engine will go a long way to offset the price of premium gas right now.

Anyway, your mileage may vary of course.

 

[Cobranut]

I agree with mecsw500.
50 years ago we did 3,000 mile intervals on our cars, and I usually did 1,000 miles on my old bikes, but oil back then was conventional with far less advanced additive packages, and the air cooled engines ran drastically higher oil temps than the water cooled engines of today Also, most lacked a spin-on filter.
I'll continue with 5,000 mile changes on my Spyder, and am confident that the oil will still be good for that mileage.

 

[Little Blue]

The only 'good way on oil' is by doing oil samples. I have been doing
'engine' oil samples for over 20 years. Quality oils have been changed
many times over the years. Be aware that USA brand Oils are giving us
a 'lot of smoke'. Just saying about Oils.

 

[mecsw500]

The only 'good way on oil' is by doing oil samples. I have been doing
'engine' oil samples for over 20 years. Quality oils have been changed
many times over the years. Be aware that USA brand Oils are giving us
a 'lot of smoke'. Just saying about Oils.

You can learn a lot about whether the oil is truly a full synthetic on a Type IV base stock, or whether it is a "full synthetic" meaning a highly refined mineral oil Type III stock, from the oil's Safety Data Sheet (SDS). It doesn't give you the exact answers but hints at these things in Section III of the SDS. There's quite a long discussion on this topic on several General Discussion forum threads.

To summarize, the new XPS Fully Synthetic oil, like most fully synthetic oils, is a highly refined mineral oil based on a Type III stock. However, like most similar name brand oils, this is not necessarily bad and to be avoided. To claim fully synthetic it must largely perform as per an ester based actually synthetic oil. It has additives which help it do so too. This same wishy washy claim to be "fully synthetic" follows the same marketing rules in many countries such as Canada and the UK. It still doesn't make these highly refined mineral oils bad oils though. If they meet all the industry specifications they will provide more than adequate shear protection up to the 9300 mile BRP oil change intervals. However, I change mine at 5,000 miles to be doubly sure. Oil change analysis done by BajaRon on reports on his, and his customer's, bikes has proven this to be more than acceptable oil change mileage.

I've attached the SDS sheet for the new XPS Fully Synthetic oil and my determination of its type from Section 3. If you Google Oil Safety Sheet Oil Type it will tell you how to read between the lines on what the oil is actually based on, type of stock wise.

So, most name brand fully synthetic oils are often the same, even fancy name brand stuff you can trust, from around the globe.

Having done oil sampling in the past, in the last ten years I've stopped bothering as changing the oil every 5,000 miles for the manufacturer required oil brand, weight and specifications, has led me to no longer worry about things if the engine is performing well and making no weird noises. Having got silly high mileages out of various Jaguar Land Rover engines that everyone assured me would have all kinds of mechanical issues one day outside of warranty, I just stopped bothering with modern motorcycles and my Spyders.

After time after time oil analysis reports coming back with essentially the same data corrected for normal mileage related values, I just trust the oil itself now. Nowadays I would only do the oil analysis if I was suspicious that something was not quite as it should be.