Lamonster
SpyderLovers Founder
I had a business meeting in Sunrise FL on Monday and I was offered a plane ticket to fly down from East TN but I declined and told them I would ride out on Sunday. The trip was right at 840 miles one way. I packed up my gear and headed south about 9am Sunday morning and was being chased by bad weather for the first 100 miles or so. I did hit some rain but not that hard but it was enough to try out my latest mod on the RT.
I've been wanting to do something different for the backend to help keep the spray and rock chips off of my trailer. I've seen folks add mudflaps to the existing fender and I'm sure that works fine but I wasn't crazy about the looks. I decided to see if I could come up with a fender mod that would wrap the tire and still look good. I started off by buying a 10" steel trailer fender and making some brackets that bolted to the hitch. That went really well but I ran into a little problem after I got it all painted and bolted up. I didn't realize how far the rear fender came down when the shock was fully compressed. I had the fender too far out and it just barley rubbed the paint if I hit a big pothole hard enough. The fender worked great and did what I wanted it to do but I couldn't live with knowing it wasn't right and the first time someone said "hey it looks like your fender is rubbing" it would have drove me nuts knowing I was too lazy to fix it right.
Because the brackets are welded to the fender I had to start all over. This time I put spacers top and bottom of the fender and clamped it to the tire and built my brackets to it. That worked great and I thought I was good to go. The next day I went to my dealer and had them put a new tire on the RT. The loved the fender and how it pulled off with the hitch. All was well until about half way home I kept feeling a little tug on the bike like the brakes were being applied or something. I got home and put the Spyder on the lift and spun the wheel thinking it had to be the fender but it was clear and sun freely. I then took a long feeler gauge and ran it down the fender and it got tight and the gauge was only 1/16". I had a good idea what my problem was then. I pulled the fender and sure enough it had some rub marks right in the middle of the fender. What I didn't think about was I built the fender to an old worn out tire and when the new bigger tire got hot is expanded and would rub in the middle. That wasn't going to work so it was time to build another fender.
This time I decided to do it a little different and I used a aluminum diamond plate fender and bolt it to the brackets instead of welding it. That worked out great and now I have it shimmed out perfect and I put almost 1700 miles on this mod with no issues and it looks pretty cool too. I was very pleased after I rode over a 100 miles in some heavy rain that there was very little spray on the trailer or the back of the RT.
I had a great ride down and was able to hookup with Reggie while I was down there and had some lunch. It's pretty cool to know that I can go pretty much anywhere in the country now and hookup with a SpyderLover. :doorag:
The meeting was at 1pm but the guy didn't show up till 2pm and the meeting went to 5pm so that kind of screwed up my plans for riding back home on Monday. I made it just south of Jacksonville and got a room. Took off early in the morning to try and get home just after noon. When looking at the weather on my iphone I knew I was going to get hammered with rain so I did something I almost never do, I put on my rain gear before I got wet. :thumbup: I was wearing the new boots, jacket and pants that I got from BRP and I got to tell you they worked great. I love the boots and they kept my feet nice and dry and the jacket worked great and so did the pants. For the first time in a long time I was dry after riding over 100 miles in heavy rain.
The Garmin 665 worked great too and it was nice to see where I was at in the storm as I was driving. I'm pretty much have the best setup you can have for the long haul.
As I was going down the road I got to thinking about all the bikes I've owned through the years and how I would pretty much jump on any of them and go cross country and the Spyder is no different. If I had one complaint is I had to stop too many times for fuel. I would stop about every 120 miles or so and I wish I could go 180-200, that would be perfect for me. Anyway I'm ready for Durango and can't wait to get back on the road again. See you there :doorag:
I've been wanting to do something different for the backend to help keep the spray and rock chips off of my trailer. I've seen folks add mudflaps to the existing fender and I'm sure that works fine but I wasn't crazy about the looks. I decided to see if I could come up with a fender mod that would wrap the tire and still look good. I started off by buying a 10" steel trailer fender and making some brackets that bolted to the hitch. That went really well but I ran into a little problem after I got it all painted and bolted up. I didn't realize how far the rear fender came down when the shock was fully compressed. I had the fender too far out and it just barley rubbed the paint if I hit a big pothole hard enough. The fender worked great and did what I wanted it to do but I couldn't live with knowing it wasn't right and the first time someone said "hey it looks like your fender is rubbing" it would have drove me nuts knowing I was too lazy to fix it right.
Because the brackets are welded to the fender I had to start all over. This time I put spacers top and bottom of the fender and clamped it to the tire and built my brackets to it. That worked great and I thought I was good to go. The next day I went to my dealer and had them put a new tire on the RT. The loved the fender and how it pulled off with the hitch. All was well until about half way home I kept feeling a little tug on the bike like the brakes were being applied or something. I got home and put the Spyder on the lift and spun the wheel thinking it had to be the fender but it was clear and sun freely. I then took a long feeler gauge and ran it down the fender and it got tight and the gauge was only 1/16". I had a good idea what my problem was then. I pulled the fender and sure enough it had some rub marks right in the middle of the fender. What I didn't think about was I built the fender to an old worn out tire and when the new bigger tire got hot is expanded and would rub in the middle. That wasn't going to work so it was time to build another fender.
This time I decided to do it a little different and I used a aluminum diamond plate fender and bolt it to the brackets instead of welding it. That worked out great and now I have it shimmed out perfect and I put almost 1700 miles on this mod with no issues and it looks pretty cool too. I was very pleased after I rode over a 100 miles in some heavy rain that there was very little spray on the trailer or the back of the RT.
I had a great ride down and was able to hookup with Reggie while I was down there and had some lunch. It's pretty cool to know that I can go pretty much anywhere in the country now and hookup with a SpyderLover. :doorag:
The meeting was at 1pm but the guy didn't show up till 2pm and the meeting went to 5pm so that kind of screwed up my plans for riding back home on Monday. I made it just south of Jacksonville and got a room. Took off early in the morning to try and get home just after noon. When looking at the weather on my iphone I knew I was going to get hammered with rain so I did something I almost never do, I put on my rain gear before I got wet. :thumbup: I was wearing the new boots, jacket and pants that I got from BRP and I got to tell you they worked great. I love the boots and they kept my feet nice and dry and the jacket worked great and so did the pants. For the first time in a long time I was dry after riding over 100 miles in heavy rain.
The Garmin 665 worked great too and it was nice to see where I was at in the storm as I was driving. I'm pretty much have the best setup you can have for the long haul.
As I was going down the road I got to thinking about all the bikes I've owned through the years and how I would pretty much jump on any of them and go cross country and the Spyder is no different. If I had one complaint is I had to stop too many times for fuel. I would stop about every 120 miles or so and I wish I could go 180-200, that would be perfect for me. Anyway I'm ready for Durango and can't wait to get back on the road again. See you there :doorag:
pps: I have to admit that I couldn't see it either. With my eyeballs, I just figured that it's just me... :gaah:
