Our 2010 Daytona Owners Event Adventure

[SpyderWolf]

The trip started on the morning of March 4, 2010. The weather was not very cooperative, and it was quite a bit colder than we were hoping for. When we left our house it was 27 degrees, and we bundled up as much as we could and hoped for the best.

Here is my wife, who referred to herself as pack mule mama:

My father in law, who thought he was ready to go:

My Spyder sitting on go:

And a self taken photo since everyone else was too bundled up to snap a picture:

So, with all our gear loaded we headed off to the closest town on the way to wait for another friend who was going along with us on his Harley. It was so cold on the way to the gas station, about a 20 minute ride, that my father in law wanted to turn back. His hands hurt so bad he was about to cry. My wife figured out how to pack more heat packs into his gloves and we pushed on toward Daytona.

I was ryding in the rear of the pack as I had a bright yellow jacket on and figured I was the most visible of the group. While running down I-95, I noticed my wife's Spyder wiggle erratically a couple of times, and made a mental note to ask her what she was doing at our next stop. When we stopped for breakfast I asked her what was going on, afraid to hear she was falling asleep or something. She said the Spyder started to drift left, and when she went to correct it she had to use more force than she was expecting to, and that is when it wiggled. She also said it only happened the two times that I saw it. After we ate, I opened her fuse panel and pressed down on all the fuses to make sure they were fully set. I then took her Spyder for a spin down the road, and "played" with the steering at all speeds up to 85 without any issues. I gave it back to her and told her to just be aware of it, and to signal me if it happened again. There were no further issues with her Spyder for the entire trip.

 

[SpyderWolf]

We were running at a pretty good clip down I-95 without any difficulties, and needed to stop for fuel and to thaw out some again. When we stopped and were talking, it was discovered that a piece of my Spyder was left somewhere on I-95. This is an issue we are already familiar with on this forum:

So, I no longer had a reflector cover over my license plate light. Not bad for day time ryding, but it can get you in trouble at night.

We continued on to Daytona attempting to make it to the Owners Event on time. The sign in was supposed to be from 3:00 - 3:30, and I for some reason thought we had until 4. We made it to the hotel at Destination Daytona, dropped off our gear, and then flew to the speedway. We made it there at 3:45, and the BRP folks were kind enough to still let us in for the event.

The talk was already in progress, and here was the crowd listening:

Another shot of the crowd and the speaker:

During the talk, I happened to look over and notice two guys on the ground next to my Spyder doing something to it. I walked over to see what was going on, and found it was Kurt and another BRP guy testing belt tension on the Spyders that were there. They asked for my mileage and noted my belt was a little loose, but still within specs and then tested my wife's Spyder as well. At that point I rejoined the presentation just in time to hear the next homecoming will be somewhere near Chicago.

Just before lining up for the track ryde, I snapped a few pictures.

This was the first time I had seen a blue RT, and I really like the paint color:

It was also the first time I had seen one of the trailers:

And of course, the RT was there and appeared to be a big hit:

 

[SpyderWolf]

A black Spyder that was parked close to me:

A line of Spyders that were ridden to the event:

Then it was time to start the line up for heading to the staging area:

Lined up and ready to roll:

We then made our way to under the grand stands where we were staged until being allowed on the track. While there I met a bunch of great Spyder Lovers to include Doc, RShrimp, Dave01, and Forrest, along with others who I cannot remember their user names (sorry).

Here I am saying hi to Forrest:

When we realized we might be there a while, the helmets came off and the visiting started:

Some more pictures of the line up:

Then we got the word that it was time to start our engines:

 

[musicarcade]

Spyder infestation!

Great photos!
Wish I coulda been there

 

[SpyderWolf]

The Track Ryde

Somehow I missed the part of the briefing where they told us to stay off the banks while on the track. It was probably due to the excitement of getting to ryde my Spyder on a super speedway. Anyway, I wanted to see how well my Spyder would stick, and I started ryding it up onto the bank for the entrance of a turn. It felt pretty good, even though it was at an interesting angle, and I rolled back off the banking onto the flat. As we got deeper into the turn and the banking was steeper, I tried it a few more times and the Spyder was very sticky, and I was enjoying myself.

Well, about the center of the turn when you look to the right and the track actually looks like a wall of black, the insanity kicked in and I just had to try it again. I hit the banking and the Spyder was not happy with it at all. First the VSS light came on along with VSS fault scrolling on the dash. Then Check DPS began scrolling across the dash, and the check engine light came on. Then the dreaded Limp Home mode kicked in. As I slid it back down onto the apron of the track, one of the track police officers came up next to me and firmly stated "If you go on the bank one more time you are out of here". That didn't hurt nearly as bad as the problems with my Spyder. I hit my turn signal, and headed for the infield grass. Once there I shut the Spyder down and waited a bit to restart it. Some of the BRP guys were kind enough to stop their Spyders to check on me as well.

When I restarted it the check engine light was on, and Check DPS was scrolling across the dash, but no other problems appeared. So, I took off and was actually able to finish the ryde around the track without any problems steering or anything else.

Once we finished the ryde, and shut down our Spyders, Kurt came over to check on mine and see if it was still acting up. It had been turned off for a couple of minutes by then, and when we started it back up there were no codes or any idiot lights displaying. He told me if anything else happens that night, bring it to the track the next day and he would hook it up to BUDS for me. He also explained that at the angle I was at the Yaw sensor most likely thought I was flipping over and didn't know what to do about it.

The check engine light came on one time on the way back to the hotel, but I did not feel any problems with the way the Spyder was running. The next day we got some work done by Evan and the gang at ESI and then headed to the track. Kurt hooked my machine up to BUDS and checked everything out. Things all seemed good, so he cleared all of the codes for me. I also told him about my wife's issue while heading to Daytona, and he hooked hers up to BUDS as well. He actually drove hers around a little while hooked to BUDS:

And looked like someone with a severe case of internet addiction. He found the steering was off center by a very small amount, and reset it to center for her as a just in case measure. We sincerely appreciate all of the work that Kurt was doing for us as owners at the gathering and I want to give him a big :2thumbs: from the both of us.

 

[SpyderWolf]

Great photos!
Wish I coulda been there

Thanks Tom. It would have been cool for you to ryde down there with us as well. Perhaps next time, or maybe you can make Biketober Fest in October.

 

[DynamoBT]

Another great write up with accompanying pictures. Good job!!

It sure looked cold at your start!

Thanks for putting it all together for us!

 

[SpyderWolf]

Work done on our Spyders

One order of business I had to take care of, before getting a ticket, was to get my rear license plate light fixed. I was going to ask BRP to take on off one of their demo units, but wasn't really sure that would be fair to them. They told me where the closest dealer was, but highly doubted they would have the part in stock. Then Lamont informed me that a Cateye light would fit back there.

Since we have repeatedly read about problems with this reflector, I decided to go that route. I headed over to J&P Cycles at Destination Daytona, and had one of the technical assistance guys come out to the Spyder and talk with me about what could be done. We found a Catye light that looked like it might work, and then I rode over to the contracted mechanics tent. Turns out the first light I picked had a large plastic wire knob on the back that would not work, so I went into J&P and exchanged it for a different model. The mech said that should work fine, but they were closing so I needed to bring it back first thing in the morning.

The operation started March 6, at 9:00 AM.

Here is a picture of the packaging for the light in case anyone else is interested in ordering the same thing:

This requires drilling 2 new holes in the fender, so we removed the fender in order to keep from hitting the tire with the drill by mistake:

A side note, upon removing the OEM part, there is a sticker on the back that says "Made in Romania" which was a new one for me to see. While we thought the rear fender was just plastic, it turns out there is a piece of sheet metal in there that was fairly tough. He drained the battery on the cordless drill, bound the gears in an older drill, and then found one that did the job. You will soon read how breaking tools seemed to follow me on this day. We got the light mounted and the fender back on and everything was good to go.
However, one thing you will notice is I could use some touch up paint as the stock reflector rubbed the paint off the fender where the two corners touched it. This is reflected in the top of the new light:

The day before, we had Evan and the gang at ESI Cycle products install the LED Mud Flap Lights on my wife's Spyder, and their billet aluminum Spider Pegs and brake adapters on mine. While I have resisted putting anything with a spider on my Spyder all this time, my resolve was diminished by how good these pegs actually looked on their Spyder they brought along.

This is the right side foot peg and brake pedal cover:

This is the left side and extended parking brake adapter:

I only had them install these at the time, and learned a valuable lesson. 1) If you replace the front pegs with something cool, the back ones will look even worse and almost force you to do something with them.
2) If you are thinking about getting something done at a show, get it all done at once as if you go back later they may be out of stock.
That was the case with the rear foot pegs, but they will be shipping them to me on Monday.

I was not sure if I would want the LED Mud Flap Lights on mine, but must admit they looked so good on my wife's and lit up the Spyder as well as the road so much, that I went back after getting my license plate light done and had them install them on mine.

Another side note, for those of you who allow a tire shop to mount your tires make sure you inform them of the torque specs. It is supposed to be between 65 and 85 foot pounds for the front wheels. These guys broke 2 ratchets and had to go borrow a cheater bar and solid socket wrench in order to get my tires off that were put on with an air gun at the tire shop. If I had an issue on the side of the road, I would have never gotten one of them off.

Here is my Spyder jacked up after they broke the lugs free and were able to remove the wheel. Fortunately there was no damage to the threads on the lugs or anything.

I took pictures to prove that these guys actually do work. Here he is giving some love to my fender:

And placing the zip ties to hold the wires in place:

This is what the lights look like when installed:

And this is what they look like turned on in the daytime:

You have no trouble seeing they are on in the daylight, but at night is when they really shine. This is what my Spyder now looks like at night with the new Cateye light and LED mud flaps installed:

 

[SpyderWolf]

Overall, we had a great trip to Daytona. Met a lot of very nice people. Saw some very interesting things as well. I must also admit that everywhere we went the Spyders were definitely drawing attention. There were a few times when I had to sneak away to go look at things I wanted to look at, as the people with questions seemed nearly endless at one point while we were at Destination Daytona.

This was a great experience, my wife also had a fabulous time on her Spyder and is looking forward to our next outing as well. :2thumbs:

 

[SpyderWolf]

Another great write up with accompanying pictures. Good job!!

It sure looked cold at your start!

Thanks for putting it all together for us!

Thank you, and I am happy to share my experience with you, as I wish more of you could have made it.

It was extremely cold for us at the start, as we usually only go from the house to the car in that kind of weather. Hopefully we are stronger ryders from that experience now.

 

[Lamonster]

Great writeup Bro :thumbup: It was nice to meet you and the wife. :doorag:

 

[groundeffect]

SpyderWork: Nice report, great photos and very cool upgrades. I like the new license plate light! Ah, and the LED Mud Flap Lights looks great!!

Thanks so much for sharing!
:2thumbs::2thumbs:

 

[SpyderWolf]

Great writeup Bro :thumbup: It was nice to meet you and the wife. :doorag:

Thanks Lamont, it was great to finally meet you as well. I also apologize for the oversight in leaving your name out of the list of nice Spyder Lovers we met. That was a big oops.

 

[SpyderWolf]

SpyderWork: Nice report, great photos and very cool upgrades. I like the new license plate light! Ah, and the LED Mud Flap Lights looks great!!

Thanks so much for sharing!
:2thumbs::2thumbs:

Thanks Dean. Those mud flap LEDs make a huge difference that I was not aware of at first. I was tired when we got in last night and I took the night shot. I will try to take some more tonight and show you how much of the Spyder, and the ground, these things really light up. Very impressive indeed. :thumbup:

 

[dave01]

Thanks Dean. Those mud flap LEDs make a huge difference that I was not aware of at first. I was tired when we got in last night and I took the night shot. I will try to take some more tonight and show you how much of the Spyder, and the ground, these things really light up. Very impressive indeed. :thumbup:

Yep, they are one of the best additions you can make, as far as safety goes.:2thumbs::2thumbs:
Nice meting the both of you at ESI. Your Spyder looks even better in person:thumbup::thumbup:

 

[YPILOT]

Thanks SpyderWolf for the great write up and pics. :2thumbs:

 

[LDFIREWORKS]

great pics

:2thumbs: :2thumbs: :spyder::congrats: hyea: :clap: :clap:

 

[dltang]

Nice write up, great pictures, one question. Why does your wife's spyder have all the luggage while your spyder looks relatively naked...LOL

 

[rnet]

Had a buddy of mine that was down there and he told me there were very few Spyder's that he saw, must of been hiding under the grandstands. 95% Harley's

 

[SpyderWolf]

Yep, they are one of the best additions you can make, as far as safety goes.:2thumbs::2thumbs:
Nice meting the both of you at ESI. Your Spyder looks even better in person:thumbup::thumbup:

It was great meeting you, and keeping the people off your RT at the ESI display as well.

Thanks for the compliments on my Spyder, I know some may not like what I did to it, but I am really happy with it and that is all that really matters in the end.

Thanks SpyderWolf for the great write up and pics. :2thumbs:

:2thumbs: :2thumbs: :spyder::congrats: hyea: :clap: :clap:

Thanks!

Nice write up, great pictures, one question. Why does your wife's spyder have all the luggage while your spyder looks relatively naked...LOL

:roflblack: Hi Deb, my wife actually made the comment about her being the pack mule. Although she said something to the effect of here comes cool daddy with pack mule mama in tow. I was not so fortunate for the return trip, as my father in law strapped a big bundle of his stuff to the back rest of my Spyder and it rode on my passenger seat all the way home. He could have hooked it up on his own Boulevard, but my wife thinks he asked to put it on my Spyder just to tick me off. :dontknow: