Thanks for all of your comments. I have pretty much decided to step out on faith and make the purchase. But I have to say that it's hard to believe that even a new product would have so many problems. Too many owners have had too many different issues. BRP is not a company that just started yesterday. This bike has been in developement for 10 yrs. and tested before production. I have trouble beliveing that none of these issues didn't show up before production and that BRP was not prepared to handle them in a timely manner. As others have said, they are paying to much for the RT to have it sit up in a shop for weeks at a time. I wish everyone a great, trouble free riding experience.:thumbup::thumbup::thumbup:
I hope you get it, you'll love it :thumbup:
That said, about your comments... a sense of proportion will help you feel better about your decision.
There's a saying, "No plan survives contact with the enemy." An equally true statement is, "No product survives contact with the customer." BRP could have done *20* years of testing and some of these things would pop up. It's the nature of a complex machine. Have you ever
seen the recalls that affect even the most popular automobiles manufactured today?
Things break. Some things are designed to tolerances that are unfortunately routinely exceeded by standard operation (not to mention hoonage :doorag
. We have a motorcycle-like vehicle exposed to the elements that has *three* distinct tracks hitting every pothole in the road at times. Things rattle, things come loose (I tore a wire this way on an aftermarket LED upgrade... I was peeved, but stuff happens!).
In my observation, the most serious problem that's affected the Spyder since its release was the Dynamic Power Steering problems-- problems that were identified and solved. Should these have been identified before release? Yes. Were they solved before I bought *my* ride? Yup, just fine. Were the problems excusable? Given that the DPS and VSS
are the most complex and original items on the Spyder, who can be surprised that those were the most problematic issues at release?
No major manufacturer anywhere solves these things on a dime. We all envision a mythical company somewhere that hears of a single problem mentioned by a random poster on a forum and our mythical company solves it by the next week.
The fact is, these things take time to research and understand where the fault lies-- user error (the most common), bad luck (second-most common), dealer problems (likely third), assembly, manufacture, and ultimately, design. The first problem can be solved on this forum; the last problem can take *years* (and lots of $$$ by the the manufacturer) to solve, if ever (it may not be cost-effective to solve it-- which is where you hope aftermarket solutions appear, the "mother of necessity" and all that).
I too share the apprehension over things like a limp mode that seems a little *too* eager to kick in (never yet for me, though :thumbup
. If there's trouble with the engine, or the DPS/VSS (you know, those things
keeping you from flipping over on the road), then yeah, limp mode should kick in. Trouble with brakelights, or stepping on a brake pedal a little too often? That's probably taking it too far. Oh well, nature of the beast.
But the bottom line here is, and others back me up:
the single most important contributor to owner satisfication with their Spyder is a competent and responsive dealer service center. They're the "tip of the spear," and everyone here will agree that dealers vary GREATLY in quality of service. Technician experience, skill, availability (some of these guys are positively swamped), and the support of their parent dealership all come into play. It's a new machine, serviced by technicians new to something this high-tech, often sold by dealers new to something this high-tech, owned by customers often new to something this high-tech. That's a recipe for friction and misunderstandings.
These aren't excuses for poor service and poor BRP responses. They're facts of life that must be accepted by Spyder owners, and probably for some time to come. I'll be honest, I don't expect the Spyder to be as reliable as we all want it until at least the
third generation of bikes are released. That's a shame, especially at this price point, but again, it's reality, whether you're a company as good as BRP or as great as Honda or as insanely awful as some Chinese knock-off. Personally, I think the Hyundai comparisons are apt-- it took them 20 years to put out cars as good, reliable and desirable as the Sonata and Genesis. I think BRP will be able to do it faster than that-- they've succeeded pretty dang well right out of the gate-- but let's not kid ourselves, it'll take years to reach the point we all want the Spyder to be at.
In the meantime, I'll be riding my RS like I stole it :doorag:
i can understand why u would be concerned after reading this forum alot and hearing some of the issues but the majority of people seem to be so happy with it, and the ones who are having problems are getting it addressed and fixed for the most part. Dont be scurred, go get it and enjoy life :thumbup:
