DickB
Active member
I picked up a new project yesterday - a 2014 Can Am Spyder RSS SE5. As you can see from the photo, the whole front end is missing. The owner's father ran into the back of a car and smashed the plastics. Aside from the missing front trunk, pretty much everything else missing are cosmetic plastic panels. Other than a bent front metal inner bumper, there was no damage to the frame or suspension; in fact it runs and drives. I took it for a moderate speed test drive last week.
I got the motorcycle for a good price, $3K less than asking price. I think the seller understood that the market for a project motorcycle is pretty small.
I ordered a bunch of parts last night, about half new and half used. I am spending a bit over $1K on parts, but I think it is still going to be a bargain as I'm spending much less than average book value. It has only 1962 miles!
I did complete a few minor repairs today.
The two vertical posts in the photos are part of a cast aluminum support and housing for the headlights and instrument cluster, so all of that was loose. There was a part of the casting that spanned the bottom of the posts and had snapped off. I cut the remainder off flush and used some angle aluminum to repair. It's at least as sturdy as the original. A used part would have been $180. Interestingly, 2 out of 3 used parts on ebay are also broken - this may be a weak point.
One of the plastic headlight frames was cracked, so I mounted an aluminum back plate with silicone sealer and a couple of screws to secure it.
The seller had put a bunch of underglow LEDs on, but the controller was damaged and he didn't give me the remote controller. Underglow LEDs are not really my thing anyway, so I've been ripping them out. I also removed a cheap amp and volume control - he had already removed the rest. I will be adding a decent Bluetooth stereo.
With so few miles on it, the seller must have indulged in burnouts, because the rear tire is shot. I need to remove the wheel and see if a local tire shop can mount and balance a new tire; I see on the forum that others have done this.
The rest of the job is just bolting on parts when they arrive.
I got the motorcycle for a good price, $3K less than asking price. I think the seller understood that the market for a project motorcycle is pretty small.
I ordered a bunch of parts last night, about half new and half used. I am spending a bit over $1K on parts, but I think it is still going to be a bargain as I'm spending much less than average book value. It has only 1962 miles!
I did complete a few minor repairs today.
The two vertical posts in the photos are part of a cast aluminum support and housing for the headlights and instrument cluster, so all of that was loose. There was a part of the casting that spanned the bottom of the posts and had snapped off. I cut the remainder off flush and used some angle aluminum to repair. It's at least as sturdy as the original. A used part would have been $180. Interestingly, 2 out of 3 used parts on ebay are also broken - this may be a weak point.
One of the plastic headlight frames was cracked, so I mounted an aluminum back plate with silicone sealer and a couple of screws to secure it.
The seller had put a bunch of underglow LEDs on, but the controller was damaged and he didn't give me the remote controller. Underglow LEDs are not really my thing anyway, so I've been ripping them out. I also removed a cheap amp and volume control - he had already removed the rest. I will be adding a decent Bluetooth stereo.
With so few miles on it, the seller must have indulged in burnouts, because the rear tire is shot. I need to remove the wheel and see if a local tire shop can mount and balance a new tire; I see on the forum that others have done this.
The rest of the job is just bolting on parts when they arrive.
hyea: And please, do keep us updated with progress. :thumbup:
) Very few Spyder Owners got too much in the way of miles out of them, they pretty much just wore out even if you only LOOKED at them, and even with the kindest of riding, 4-5000 miles was an achievement - IF the tires were even capable of going that far, cos many had manufacturing &/or Quality Control 'shortfalls' that meant they didn't even last that long!:banghead: 
) there was a big change at their manufacturing plant, maybe in specs for the tire too, but certainly bringing an improvement in their Quality Control, and the tread compound was again varied, possibly even reverted; and it has apparently been changed a few times since, with some gradual improvements in both over the years since... but altho it's much better now, neither the Quality Control nor the tread compound in the current Kendas is consistently 'good' - I just pulled a Kenda off a 2023 Spyder, a tire with a date code for Jan '23, that had poorly aligned steel belts in the tread layers, so it's still happening, even if not quite so often as it was back then! 
