I started the day all excited as I went down to my dealer to take delivery of my second Spyder, a brand new automatic yellow SE5. I wanted the bike so my better half could help drive on long spells. I had big plans, like a full Corbin seat and bags, adjustable windshield, the works. I could see myself cruising over the 7-mile bridge heading down to Key Largo this Fall.
As I reached the dealer, they had it fueled up and ready to go, so I began my check ride to make sure everything was OK. Within 5 minutes, I was almost ready to head back to the shop, I was really, really, disappointed with my first experience with the Spyder’s so-called Automatic. I’ve driven other autos such as the Bergmen 650 which uses almost the same system but works great.
First off, even though the rider has control of the up-shifts, you’re still limited to when the computer thinks it right for you to shift. As an example, I was riding in traffic, so rather than having the engine wound up in 3rd gear, I shifted up to 4th only to find out I couldn’t. The computer determines what gear you should be in at all times. Somewhat like your transmission in your car.
If you think you’re just going to climb on the SE5 and drive it normal with no bucking and klunking of the transmission – forget it, it’s easier to shift a manual transmission because you’re the only one shifting it. With the SE5, your hitting the lever and the Spyder’s computer is shifting, clutching, and controlling the engine. Even thought going up through the gears is painless, when slowing down, you’re going to feel like idiot as this thing bangs in the gears as you slow.
It’s important to note the engine speed while shifting is momentarily controlled by the computer, as you up-shift, it lets off the throttle momentarily as you would normally do in a manual shift trans. As you down shift, it speeds up the engine momentarily to sync the shift just like you would do if you were shifting a manual trans. The only problem is it’s nowhere as efficient as a good rider. For the most part, the up-shift portion of the transmission is OK, after 20-30 minutes, rather than let the computer regulate the throttle, I found I could make the transmission shift with almost no clunking by lowering the throttle a bit as I hit the lever.
The real downer is the down-shift – it’s almost un-acceptable in it’s current state. If they would left the down shifting to the rider, you could live with it, but they didn’t!!
As you cruising along at say 55 mph in 5th and decide to stop, the computer starts banging down gears when it thinks it’s time to do so. The result is; you sound and feel like a rank beginner, with the gears clanking so loud it’s almost to the point of embarrassing. After 40 minutes or so, I started noticing (rpm-wise) when the downshift would occur and therefore I would manually downshift before this point myself with a shot of throttle as I hit the lever. After an hour of stop and go trials, I could almost make the transmission up shift and downshift without too much noise, but I began feeling like a robot with this thing telling me how to drive my bike!
Bottom line, after you climb off the bike, you’ll be asking yourself why in hell would I want to buy this thing. It’s an semi-automatic but it’s more difficult to shift (properly) than a standard Spyder because for some reason, BRP decided to let the computer dictate what gear we’re in when up-shifting and totally decides the downshift speeds. While you can “pre-shift” on downshifts if you stay ahead of the computer shifts, it’s like a balancing act.
When I got back to my dealer, I asked him to call BRP and ask if there was any way to disable the automatic downshift portion of the transmission - only to find out I couldn’t.
In conclusion, if someone can’t shift a bike, then go with the SE5 and clunk away, it does work, but it’s very, very, clumsy in it’s actions. I really believe that BRP wanted to get some of the “Cagers’ on bikes, so with three wheels and an automatic transmission, they have achieved their goals. My advise to anyone who’s looking to get a Spyder, if you can press in a clutch with your left hand and wiggle your left toes for the shifter, then forget the SE5, it takes a wonderful innovative bike that’s a blast to ride (and shift) and destroys it, at least for me it did.
As I reached the dealer, they had it fueled up and ready to go, so I began my check ride to make sure everything was OK. Within 5 minutes, I was almost ready to head back to the shop, I was really, really, disappointed with my first experience with the Spyder’s so-called Automatic. I’ve driven other autos such as the Bergmen 650 which uses almost the same system but works great.
First off, even though the rider has control of the up-shifts, you’re still limited to when the computer thinks it right for you to shift. As an example, I was riding in traffic, so rather than having the engine wound up in 3rd gear, I shifted up to 4th only to find out I couldn’t. The computer determines what gear you should be in at all times. Somewhat like your transmission in your car.
If you think you’re just going to climb on the SE5 and drive it normal with no bucking and klunking of the transmission – forget it, it’s easier to shift a manual transmission because you’re the only one shifting it. With the SE5, your hitting the lever and the Spyder’s computer is shifting, clutching, and controlling the engine. Even thought going up through the gears is painless, when slowing down, you’re going to feel like idiot as this thing bangs in the gears as you slow.
It’s important to note the engine speed while shifting is momentarily controlled by the computer, as you up-shift, it lets off the throttle momentarily as you would normally do in a manual shift trans. As you down shift, it speeds up the engine momentarily to sync the shift just like you would do if you were shifting a manual trans. The only problem is it’s nowhere as efficient as a good rider. For the most part, the up-shift portion of the transmission is OK, after 20-30 minutes, rather than let the computer regulate the throttle, I found I could make the transmission shift with almost no clunking by lowering the throttle a bit as I hit the lever.
The real downer is the down-shift – it’s almost un-acceptable in it’s current state. If they would left the down shifting to the rider, you could live with it, but they didn’t!!
As you cruising along at say 55 mph in 5th and decide to stop, the computer starts banging down gears when it thinks it’s time to do so. The result is; you sound and feel like a rank beginner, with the gears clanking so loud it’s almost to the point of embarrassing. After 40 minutes or so, I started noticing (rpm-wise) when the downshift would occur and therefore I would manually downshift before this point myself with a shot of throttle as I hit the lever. After an hour of stop and go trials, I could almost make the transmission up shift and downshift without too much noise, but I began feeling like a robot with this thing telling me how to drive my bike!
Bottom line, after you climb off the bike, you’ll be asking yourself why in hell would I want to buy this thing. It’s an semi-automatic but it’s more difficult to shift (properly) than a standard Spyder because for some reason, BRP decided to let the computer dictate what gear we’re in when up-shifting and totally decides the downshift speeds. While you can “pre-shift” on downshifts if you stay ahead of the computer shifts, it’s like a balancing act.
When I got back to my dealer, I asked him to call BRP and ask if there was any way to disable the automatic downshift portion of the transmission - only to find out I couldn’t.
In conclusion, if someone can’t shift a bike, then go with the SE5 and clunk away, it does work, but it’s very, very, clumsy in it’s actions. I really believe that BRP wanted to get some of the “Cagers’ on bikes, so with three wheels and an automatic transmission, they have achieved their goals. My advise to anyone who’s looking to get a Spyder, if you can press in a clutch with your left hand and wiggle your left toes for the shifter, then forget the SE5, it takes a wonderful innovative bike that’s a blast to ride (and shift) and destroys it, at least for me it did.
