Another overheated Spyder

[Spanky]

I took my truck into the local mountains with my wife (BlackWidow) and our dog.

We saw a few Spyders pulled off to the side looking like they were resting. Well it seems Ken5517/Wish Again was broke down waiting for a trailer, he had an electrical problem.

We also found out that another Spyder in the group caught on fire and was stranded down the road. We left Ken and others (who names I already forgot:dontknow with some water and continued down the road to see if we could lend a hand.

We found them a 1/2 mile further. Sure enough there was a red spyder that caught on fire. My wife know his name. It seemed to have caught left side in front of the gas tank. The fire started while he was making a uturn. Fortunately there was a convenient spot for him to pull out and to try and dowse the flames. I took pictures but I have them at home and I will post them later.

We left him with a Sprite and went. A couple of hours we returned by the area and they were are gone. So I hope that at least everyone got home safe.

This is the first I heard of them catching fire while riding. I wonder if altitude had was a factor. It happend at about the 7000 ft level.

Stay Safe.

 

[adohring]

Wow... I hope this doesnt start a trend. I wonder if these were all part of the same run and perhaps there was just a defective component. :dontknow:

That was a long ride they were doing on Saturday, I wish I could have gone. Aside from the troubles, I bet it was really nice.

 

[Lamonster]

Hope we get more details on the fire. :shocked:
I'm surprised it was started of the left side.

 

[smokster]

Pictures?
I almost went on this trip, what a bummer.
Fire concerns me...don't like fires.
Hope to find out more soon, have a call in with Spyder Ken (aka 5517/wish again)

 

[spy1166]

Solvang Trip

Saturday ride to Solvang was very nice. Weather was awesome and we all had a great time. :yes: Nobody had reported an overheating issues.
Anyways, the incident could have happened yesterday and I hope all is well with everyone and the same thing with their :spyder:'s.

Wow... I hope this doesnt start a trend. I wonder if these were all part of the same run and perhaps there was just a defective component. :dontknow:

That was a long ride they were doing on Saturday, I wish I could have gone. Aside from the troubles, I bet it was really nice.

 

[wyliec]

Hope we get more details on the fire. :shocked:
I'm surprised it was started of the left side.

Why do you say that? Tonight after parking the spyder and getting off I happened to touch the panel on the left side just below the 'Y' and I could barely keep my hand on it. The right side was warm, but not hot. That was only after a 7 mile ride home from work. I've never noticed this before because I never touched the panels when getting off.

 

[Firefly]

Wow... I hope this doesnt start a trend. I wonder if these were all part of the same run and perhaps there was just a defective component. :dontknow:

That was a long ride they were doing on Saturday, I wish I could have gone. Aside from the troubles, I bet it was really nice.

I'm afraid there is already a trend. This makes 5 Spyders now that have ignited - that we know of.

My dealer did a quote for Progressive Insurance on one that had burned - they told them that it was crazy to try and rebuild - but Progressive wanted the numbers. $6,000 or so in parts and 50-60 hours labor.

I believe they decided to just total it.

 

[Spanky]

Hope we get more details on the fire. :shocked:
I'm surprised it was started of the left side.

The flames came up on the left side. Maybe it was from the wind while turning. That's when the flame was noticed. The right side had suffered fire damage as well.

Lamont, you may know who it is. He is carrying a banner to be signed. Fortunately no one was hurt and the banner survived but I don't want to minimize his loss on his Spyder :spyder:.

 

[Spanky]

Pictures?
I almost went on this trip, what a bummer.
Fire concerns me...don't like fires.
Hope to find out more soon, have a call in with Spyder Ken (aka 5517/wish again)

I have a few pictures that I will post later when I get home.

 

[Tripod]

Does anybody here know definitively if BRP and the Feds have been contacted by any of the "overheat/fire" victims todate? Has there been any feedback?

I got my SE-5 early in June and have been very busy spending dough on it, getting the recalls resolved and waiting on stuff to be delivered. What I haven't done is ride it a lot. And I gotta be honest...I'm getting leery.
This all seems more than a vocal few voicing their gripes. :dontknow:

Concerned in CA.

Tripod :joke:

 

[WackyDan]

Alright... I'm not sure how many spyders have been sold worldwide, but I believe I saw a figure of 13,000 at one time.

Considering that there have been at least 5 confirmed spyder fires, it still works out to a very low percentage.

Works out to 0.038461538461538464 Percent. May be a lower percentage if more than 13000 have been sold.

I'm not saying the fires are not a big deal, but just want to keep things in perspective. I work in an industry that sells 10's of thousands of computer systems. We are constantly working percentages for named customers to determine if we have a pervasive issue or not.

That said, the first time one of our batteries caught fire was all we needed to swing into action and investigate. Our safety office had the system in front of them in just two days after the incident for a full tear down.

I guess I'm torn on the issue.

I think what we are all torn up about at this point is not the fires anymore, but the fact that there has been no report (that I know of) from any of the owners that BRP is actually looking into this.

Have there been any confirmations that BRP has taken possession of any of these toasted Spyders? Have they sent anyone to look at them? Have they even contacted the owners of the burned Spyders?

Is anyone here tracking how many miles were on all of these and how many were 08's vs 09's???

I digress... All I know is my spyder stays outside until it cools off regardless of how low a chance there is for a fire.

 

[Mo Lee]

Why do you say that? Tonight after parking the spyder and getting off I happened to touch the panel on the left side just below the 'Y' and I could barely keep my hand on it. The right side was warm, but not hot. That was only after a 7 mile ride home from work. I've never noticed this before because I never touched the panels when getting off.

I believe if there is a problem it is on the left side. I took my panels off a couple of weeks ago and posted my suspicions in another thread. There is foam rubber glued to the backs of the panels that will ignite easy, because I burned some up with my lighter. I'm considering wrapping the exhaust in this area however I,m concerned it might move the heat to another area.

 

[Spanky]

.......Is anyone here tracking how many miles were on all of these and how many were 08's vs 09's???...................

This one is Red so I believe that makes it '09 and is claimed to have around 15,000 miles on the clock.

 

[Mo Lee]

Another thing I would like to know is if the bikes that caught fire were running stock exhaust or not. If they were running aftermarket exhaust could it be a lean condition causing extra heat in the exhaust. I did not notice how hot mine was getting till after changing muffler.

 

[adohring]

This one is Red so I believe that makes it '09 and is claimed to have around 15,000 miles on the clock.

Mine is red and an 08 so they must have made a leasts a few red ones prior to 09. It would be good to know if there was a year or manufacturer run that the 5 were linked to.

 

[Firefly]

There is only one fire that was reported to the NHTSA. The others have yet to file a report. I know I begged a couple of them to please take the time and file a report online www.nhtsa.gov.

It only took a handful (8 on the NHTSA site) of us reporting steering issues to get an official recall. BTW - I know that BRP says in their recall letters that it is 'voluntary' - but actually it was mandated by the NHTSA that they do so.

With only one being officially reported to the NHTSA - not much will happen. Reports directly to BRP will be handled differently. BRP had some problems a few years ago with fires on some of their sleds.

I hate to use the word here--- but Pinto comes to mind.

This is a serious issue and BRP needs to be aware of it. I downloaded all the photos of known Spyder fires and saved them in a folder. I'll add these ones to it and will gladly send copies off to BRP asking for them to look into this. I would think they are aware of some of them.

I believe this has happened to both 08 and 09, SM5 and SE5 - and those with stock and aftermarket exhausts. Pretty sure among the 5 there was a good mix - including a pretty much stock Spyder.

This is no longer just a 'freak' accident in my opinion.

I now let my Spyder cool down before pulling into my garage - at home and at work.

 

[Bersquack]

Wow, i seriously this does not happen to me. I'm leaving Friday on a 3000 miles round trip and do not want to get stranded.

I hope it is a mod turned wrong issue and not a fabrication problem.

 

[bone crusher]

There is only one fire that was reported to the NHTSA. The others have yet to file a report. I know I begged a couple of them to please take the time and file a report online www.nhtsa.gov.

It only took a handful (8 on the NHTSA site) of us reporting steering issues to get an official recall. BTW - I know that BRP says in their recall letters that it is 'voluntary' - but actually it was mandated by the NHTSA that they do so.

With only one being officially reported to the NHTSA - not much will happen. Reports directly to BRP will be handled differently. BRP had some problems a few years ago with fires on some of their sleds.

I hate to use the word here--- but Pinto comes to mind.

This is a serious issue and BRP needs to be aware of it. I downloaded all the photos of known Spyder fires and saved them in a folder. I'll add these ones to it and will gladly send copies off to BRP asking for them to look into this. I would think they are aware of some of them.

I believe this has happened to both 08 and 09, SM5 and SE5 - and those with stock and aftermarket exhausts. Pretty sure among the 5 there was a good mix - including a pretty much stock Spyder.

This is no longer just a 'freak' accident in my opinion.

I now let my Spyder cool down before pulling into my garage - at home and at work.

Good work fire...

I don't worry about letting my bike cool down. I usually shut it off in the garage and fiddle around for a few minutes anyway...I actually have a laser temp gauge and checked the pipe parts one time...pretty cool to see how hot it gets on a long ride....

 

[capt.jim]

there are roughly 13,000 spyders out there now, and five that we know of out of 3000? on this forum, how many of the other 10,000 caught fire that we didn't hear about?

 

[bone crusher]

there are roughly 13,000 spyders out there now, and five that we know of out of 3000? on this forum, how many of the other 10,000 caught fire that we didn't hear about?

I guess we have to figure all of them being they're not here on spyderlovers! :shocked::yikes: