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Drive By Wire? Really?

Elembytes

Member
Hi:

I read a review somewhere today that said the Can-Am Spyder RT- throttle was controlled by "DRIVE BY WIRE" Technologies. Is this true?

I have this on my 2011 Honda Civic and HATE IT. When you need to MOVE evasively (SP?) or quickly the car like sits there and thinks for a moment and then decides "Oh he is mashing the accelerator so I need to speed up"!

If this is the case on the Spyder--how responsive is it and does it "hang" or "pause" a moment to decide what you are wanting it to do?

Thanks!

Reid
 
An electronic pulse travels faster than yanking on a cable.
On your Civic I'll bet it's the transmission that's thinking [pausing] of what to do.:dontknow:
 
There is no lag in the Spyder fly-by-wire throttle. It is quick and responsive. If there is a lag, it is usually in the engine response...because the rider is not up on the torque curve (too low of rpm).
 
I've had 2 vehicles that were fly by wire, and both would get you to an illegal speed quicker than you know. Comparing the spyder to a civic is like comparing a mustang GT to a prius..
 
I've had that lag with every econo box I've owned with auto trans. The civic engine is actually pretty responsive with stick. The RT gets up to speed way faster than my brain can keep up.

Sent from my Xoom using Tapatalk 2
 
I had the '08 RS and now have the RT-S
I don't know if it is the Fly by Wire or the HP difference, weight etc, but i DO notice that the respose was quicker on the RS than on the RT-S. Don't get me wrong. I think that the comfort difference is well worth the responce difference, but I am just saying that I notice a difference.
 
Hi:

I read a review somewhere today that said the Can-Am Spyder RT- throttle was controlled by "DRIVE BY WIRE" Technologies. Is this true?

I have this on my 2011 Honda Civic and HATE IT. When you need to MOVE evasively (SP?) or quickly the car like sits there and thinks for a moment and then decides "Oh he is mashing the accelerator so I need to speed up"!

If this is the case on the Spyder--how responsive is it and does it "hang" or "pause" a moment to decide what you are wanting it to do?

Thanks!

Reid

Works great.. more reliable than cables..... HD has been doing fly-by-wire for quite awhile now.......
 
Works great.. more reliable than cables..... HD has been doing fly-by-wire for quite awhile now.......
Really more reliable than cables I think not a cable has nothing to go wrong except getting stiff from rust or wearing and breaking way down the road as opposed to a multitude of sensors talking to a brain that is open and closing throttle body's for several minutes after shut down so the little throttle butterfly's won't stick the throttle body problems are well documented on here 100 to 1 rt drive by wire to the rs's old unproved unreliable cable set up
 
I had the '08 RS and now have the RT-S
I don't know if it is the Fly by Wire or the HP difference, weight etc, but i DO notice that the respose was quicker on the RS than on the RT-S. Don't get me wrong. I think that the comfort difference is well worth the responce difference, but I am just saying that I notice a difference.

The RS is not fly by wore. The rt is. The difference you are seeing however, is not due to throttle, but because the RS is a sports bike and its engine is tuned differently than that of the rt.

Honestly though, you would not know the rt is fly by wire if you weren't a mechanic or weren't told. You don't notice it, and you can go from zero to 80 in a matter of seconds, including manual shifting.
 
Having had a 2009 RS SE5 and now a 2012 RT-S SE5, here are my impressions. The RS was tunes to be quicker than the RT-S so that has to be factored out first. The throttle spring tension on the RS was somewhat firm and, for me with injury and injury issues, quite tiring after a long 4-5 hour ride. The RT-S tension is much less and quite satisfactory. While there is no discernable throttle lag I find the RT's throttle response time a little slower but much more controllable with small movements of the throttle. In other words you have a longer degree arc on the RT-S than on the RS to get the same acceleration. I actually perfere this as I get less banging in the back of the head from my wife's helmet this way. To sum up both are fine for their respective applications, sport versus touring. Reliability would be about the same from the lack of any issues reported on the forum. The Trottle Body issues reported here in the past appear to be software related and not hardware.
 
Hi:

I read a review somewhere today that said the Can-Am Spyder RT- throttle was controlled by "DRIVE BY WIRE" Technologies. Is this true?

I have this on my 2011 Honda Civic and HATE IT. When you need to MOVE evasively (SP?) or quickly the car like sits there and thinks for a moment and then decides "Oh he is mashing the accelerator so I need to speed up"!

If this is the case on the Spyder--how responsive is it and does it "hang" or "pause" a moment to decide what you are wanting it to do?

Thanks!

Reid

I don't think it is the DBW tech that is causing the lag. The Chevrolet Corvette and many other high performance vehicles are all DBW. I would venture to guess that 90% or more of the vehicles made in the last 5 years use the technology, hell HD switched all their bikes to that in '08 or '09.
 
Another thing to remember is that the RS weighs quite a bit less than the RT which accounts for most of its better performance.

Also, DBW is here to stay.

Carl
 
I found the switch from RS and RT concerning the throttle was pretty easy. I had concerns I wouldn't like the FBW..... But I've loved it from day one. Less problems with hand numbness, etc on the RT. yes the RT has 'lag' compared to an RS..... But this is mainly due to :
RT is 200 lbs heavier
RT is geared differently
RT has less horsepower

The fly by wire has very little to do with lag. It's the wave of the future folks....... Better get used to it.... Soon everything (even steering) will be fly by wire.......
 
The fly by wire has very little to do with lag. It's the wave of the future folks....... Better get used to it.... Soon everything (even steering) will be fly by wire.......

I'm actually surprised it took this long... Many aircraft have used it for decades now.
 
The fly-by-wire throttle was one of the things that really sold me on the RT. It doesn't take long at all to get real used to the light spring, which doesn't fight back against you like a cable throttle. It makes working the throttle for long periods with the cruise off, effortless. It is smoothly integrated to the cruise control, which is the best I have ever had in any vehicle. It is smooth and responsive. I would suggest a test ride to prove how it works for yourself, before you throw up your hands and walk away. This is not your Honda Civic! I suspect your Honda has a problem that could be solved, BTW, either an error in use or a mechanical or electrical/electronic problem. I'd have it looked at.
 
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