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BRP refuses to pay dealer for warranty repair

I have always held in the clutch on all my vehicles. That way I am ready when the light changes. It hurts nothing...it is what they were designed for. If you held it for hours at a time, you could overheat the throwout bearing, but a few minutes, intermittently, does absolutely no harm.

I do not believe that anything you can do at a light really prepares you to avoid an accident. Either way, you're liable to get walloped. If you watch the rearview mirror, to try to avoid a rear-end incident, you won't be watching traffic, and could easily pull into somebody's path when you react to what you see. If you don't react, you can get rear-ended. Either way, you lose.
-Scotty
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:agree:
 
I have always held in the clutch on all my vehicles. That way I am ready when the light changes. It hurts nothing...it is what they were designed for. If you held it for hours at a time, you could overheat the throwout bearing, but a few minutes, intermittently, does absolutely no harm.

I do not believe that anything you can do at a light really prepares you to avoid an accident. Either way, you're liable to get walloped. If you watch the rearview mirror, to try to avoid a rear-end incident, you won't be watching traffic, and could easily pull into somebody's path when you react to what you see. If you don't react, you can get rear-ended. Either way, you lose.
-Scotty
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Good points...in a car, you want to have your foot on the brake if you're going to get rear-ended...trying to move to get out of the way creates more damage to you...law of physics and transfer of energy. You want the vehicle to absorb the crash, not your body...if you are moving when hit, you are much worse off. Let the car crumple...better than the shockwave to your body from the impact.

As far as being on a bike, I'm with you...I leave the bike in first gear and use the clutch...why sit in neutral is beyond me...you don't have to put your foot on the ground so staying in a ready position in first gear (with the clutch) is fine...I can understand with a two-wheeler you might want to push off first, but this is unnecessary with the spyder...in addition, you can use the brake if on a hill to get the bike under power before letting go and accelerating...
 
As far as the SE5 goes, I recommend to everyone to get the SM5...less problems and more fun hittin' the clutch and changing gears...save the money and put it into modifications...

JMHO...
 
Not to diminish 4dogmom's ligitmate issues in this case. But my dealings so far with BRP (the company, not necessarily dealerships) has been a great experience.

I attended the Spyder homecoming in Canada last summer and had the chance to interact with several BRP employees from test riders to upper management to the head honcho. These guys are the real deal and I was very impressed. Not a bunch of stuffed suits, swolen heads or detached money managers.

These people live and love the Spyder. Of course they have to meet the bottom line or there won't be any product or pay check. Reality is what it is. But within that framework there are a great bunch of people who make BRP what it is.

We don't live in a perfect world. Still, problems like 4dogmom describes are not justifiable from our point of view, and may not be justifiable from any perspective.

My 2 cents? In the big picture the Spyder is a well thought out, fantastic, leading edge machine at a great price. When is the last time such an "Outside the Box" truely one of a kind machine has come out with as few issues as the Spyder?

My feeling is that BRP will take care of it. Maybe not as smoothly and quickly as we might prefer, but I just can't see the dedicated people I met at every level of the company allowing something like the issue 4dogmom is having to stand as it is now.
 
I have always held in the clutch on all my vehicles. That way I am ready when the light changes. It hurts nothing...it is what they were designed for. -Scotty
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I leave my bikes in 1st gear, holding the clutch in. Having served a number of years in the fire department and seeing my share of accidents I'm all about options.

NancysToy is right, holding the clutch in on a bike does not hurt anything. Where people get the wrong idea is from car clutches. It is not good to hold a car clutch in for long periods because they have a throwout bearing that is not designed to take more than intermittent duty. But a bike clutch is completly different. You'll get more wear on a bike clutch engaging and disingaging it a few times than you will by holding it in on 100 intersections.

If you put your bike into neutral you have just 2 options in a real situation. Trust me, you won't have time to put the bike in gear and do anything. So your options at this point are to sit on your bike and take it like a man or jump and run (good luck on either of these).

If you leave the bike in gear (and enough room in front of you which you should always do anyway) then you have more options. And you do not give up the 2 options of a neutral gear selection.

One of the biggest dangers for anyone at an intersection and especially for a motorcycle rider is stalling when the light turns green. Believe me, I've seen it more than once. When that light turns green cars are going to go forward, especially if there are cars approaching at speed and trying to time the light.

It is amazing what a driver can overlook, like you frantically trying to hit 1st gear and get out of the way. If you are like me there have been times when that 1st gear was illusive.

Just my 2 cents.
 
NancysToy is right, holding the clutch in on a bike does not hurt anything. Where people get the wrong idea is from car clutches. It is not good to hold a car clutch in for long periods because they have a throwout bearing that is not designed to take more than intermittent duty. But a bike clutch is completly different. You'll get more wear on a bike clutch engaging and disingaging it a few times than you will by holding it in on 100 intersections.
Use of a car clutch at numerous and repeated intersections will not normally hurt the throwout bearing. The only throwout bearing failures I have ever seen were from eithe a person who left their foot resting on the pedal while driving and "rode the clutch", or from clutch disc failure, which caused dust and debris to contaminate the throwout bearing. Beyond that they are generally good for at least 100,000 miles...or a couple of clutch discs. Just the voice my experience. I believe most auto and cycle throwout bearings or release mechanism are as tough or tougher than the clutches themselves, and any cables or hydraulics (seals) that operate them.
-Scotty
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Use of a car clutch at numerous and repeated intersections will not normally hurt the throwout bearing. The only throwout bearing failures I have ever seen were from eithe a person who left their foot resting on the pedal while driving and "rode the clutch", or from clutch disc failure, which caused dust and debris to contaminate the throwout bearing. Beyond that they are generally good for at least 100,000 miles...or a couple of clutch discs. Just the voice my experience. I believe most auto and cycle throwout bearings or release mechanism are as tough or tougher than the clutches themselves, and any cables or hydraulics (seals) that operate them.
-Scotty
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I would tend to agree with you. In the old days the throwout bearing could get worn out with excessive use. Todays sealed bearings probably don't care like the older ones did. Plus automakers are getting better clutch friction with less spring pressure making the T/O bearings life that much easier.

Bottom line, put your bike in neutral at stop lights if you wish, but don't do it to save the clutch because you aren't. Your hand will wear out long before the clutch does.
 
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Bottom line, put your bike in neutral at stop lights if you wish, but don't do it to save the clutch because you aren't. Your hand will wear out long before the clutch does.


:agree:
If I'm at a long light, I might put the Spyder in neutral to save my hand. Most of the time I just shift to first and keep the clutch in.
 
Had the same problem with the spider sticking in gear. Word from BRP was that the oil pump was not suppling enough pressure to the clutch and shimmed a spring in the pump. It still creeps forward at a stop light and have had issues with not showing the right gear. Waiting to here back on how they intend to complete the repair, 2500 miles on the bike now.

Ed
 
Oil leak

I still have the problem with the bike going forward without throttle. I have about 2400 miles on it. It has been in the shop for about two weeks now for an oil leak. I told the tech oil is in the air box. After 2 weeks, he tells me oil is in the air box and he doesn't know why. I already knew that. I am contacting BRP customer service again. I've owned this bike since October 31,2008, roughly 3 months, it has been in the shop for about 1 month of this time. The dealer I purchased this bike from has since lost their dealership, so no help from them. I hope BRP customer service is helpful. Last contact with them I was told they had no record of contact from the repair tech. I have a receipt from the repair shop showing reasons and length of time the bike was there. I was so excited to get this bike but I'm quickly becoming disappointed with the quality and service.
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Maybe the dealer snowballed you on the first repair seeing BRP have no record of it. Dealer is not likely to invest their time and money if they aren't assured that they will get paid for their warrenty work. Something sounds fishy here.
 
Customer is ALWAYS right. A dealer should never treat customers based on the customer's attitude. It's the customer who is spending the money and provide dealer with their bread and butter. As a customer I would demand top of the line service no matter what my attitude is or I will take my business else where.
:agree:
 
Do you think that some of the serious issues could be addressed at the BRP Tent in Daytona? Or would that be a lost cause?
 
Do you think that some of the serious issues could be addressed at the BRP Tent in Daytona? Or would that be a lost cause?

I think that depends on the setup that they have. When I went to bikeweek last year it wasn't a huge setup and was more geared towards getting people on the Spyder. It was basically just a demo tent. Hopefully since the Spyders been around for awhile now it will be more than just the demo team. If so I know I've got a few comments for them.
 
Do you think that some of the serious issues could be addressed at the BRP Tent in Daytona? Or would that be a lost cause?

I think that depends on the setup that they have. When I went to bikeweek last year it wasn't a huge setup and was more geared towards getting people on the Spyder. It was basically just a demo tent. Hopefully since the Spyders been around for awhile now it will be more than just the demo team. If so I know I've got a few comments for them.

At some BRP events, the BRP employees there are just some people they hired to familiarize people with the Spyder and provide test rides. They don't actually have anything to do with manufacturing or repairs. Sure wouldn't hurt to ask though. Maybe a big shooter from BRP will be in attendance.
 
I purchased 08 SE5 on 10-31-08 in Alabama. I'm having problems with the bike going forward quickly when I take my foot off brake in 1st. I've taken it to dealer in Pearl, MS. They have identified the problem but BRP refuses to pay the dealer for the repair under the warranty, saying there will be a fix coming later and they will not pay for the repair now and again later. I have talked to the selling dealer in AL but am having little success. I am pursuing this issue with the Attorney General of Alabama. I am also having a shifting issue that has not been addressed. This bike has about 1000 miles on it and has been in the shop for 11 days.:mad: Very disappointed with BRP. This is a safety issue they know about and refuse to address.

Since writing this message, I picked up my Spyder and was told this time that BRP did not refuse to pay for the repair but that there was no fix for this issue. I am getting conflicting information. The technician told me the rollers are sticking in the clutch. If he replaced the clutch and sent the old one back to BRP and they said nothing was wrong with it, he would not be paid.

One question I have is "How fast is fast". From my experience with our SE5, there is a "Fix" from BRP that the dealer performs at no cost to you. That is available "Now", not in the future. I don't know if you have had that done yet and still experience this problem. Next, I used to put the Spyder in neutral, then back to first when it happened, before the fix. Then one day in stop-and-go traffic, it wanted to crawl too much so I put it in neutral and it got stuck. My wife got off and pushed about 2 feet and it decided to go back to 1st, so I don't recommend that to anyone anymore. I now use the "pop the throttle while applying the brakes firmly" to completely release the clutch. Seems like from reading other posts, this happens mostly in stop-and-go traffic. Knowing how to control the situation gives you a greater margine of safety. Your automatic transmission in your car requires you to maintain brake pressure when stopped in "Drive".
 
I still have the problem with the bike going forward without throttle. I have about 2400 miles on it. It has been in the shop for about two weeks now for an oil leak. I told the tech oil is in the air box. After 2 weeks, he tells me oil is in the air box and he doesn't know why. I already knew that. I am contacting BRP customer service again. I've owned this bike since October 31,2008, roughly 3 months, it has been in the shop for about 1 month of this time. The dealer I purchased this bike from has since lost their dealership, so no help from them. I hope BRP customer service is helpful. Last contact with them I was told they had no record of contact from the repair tech. I have a receipt from the repair shop showing reasons and length of time the bike was there. I was so excited to get this bike but I'm quickly becoming disappointed with the quality and service.
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If the oil leak is the one where the oil drips on the black plastic scoop on the right side, that's a given. I think we are all experiencing that, at least every rider I have ever met. It is nothing to worry about, and it does come from your breather box. Your tech should know this.
 
Your automatic transmission in your car requires you to maintain brake pressure when stopped in "Drive".

Good point. Not sure exactly how the SE5 tranny is supposed to operate at stops but I think it sounds logical to keep the brakes on when at a stop.
 
Good point. Not sure exactly how the SE5 tranny is supposed to operate at stops but I think it sounds logical to keep the brakes on when at a stop.

Am not sure either, but it seems that an auto-clutch disengages first gear and prevents the spyder from pulling forward. Sometimes however, especially in slow traffic, first gear remains engaged. Just today, I was shifting in neutral at each stop to prevent spyder from overheating. While answering questions to somebody in the next lane, light turned green and spyder refused to go back into gear. Another embarrassing episode of pushing spyder out of traffic :mad:.

My service manager in conjunction with BRP has not been able to isolate a cure. I did finally talk him into ordering the 'oil pressure spring', as this seems to have fixed similar problems for others. Will report back when it comes in whether it has any positive effect.
 
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