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First ride today

R

RealWing

Member
Picked up the RTL from the dealer today and rode about 200km home. Lots of fun!! Great riding machine.
It was missing one part- the heated passenger arm rests. Will install when available. Only surprise was when passing. The trike darts to the left when crossing the centre hump , plus adding passing power makes it drive more to the left - interesting!!
One question- should the drive belt be hard against the inside flange at the rear wheel??
Jim
 

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Congrats!
Maybe holding on too tight?
The belt should be credit card gap from the flange. Needs adjustment.
Check your air pressures up front and be within 1/2 lb between them.
Get a laser alignment.
 
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RealWing said:
Picked up the RTL from the dealer today and rode about 200km home. Lots of fun!! Great riding machine.
It was missing one part- the heated passenger arm rests. Will install when available. Only surprise was when passing. The trike darts to the left when crossing the centre hump , plus adding passing power makes it drive more to the left - interesting!!
One question- should the drive belt be hard against the inside flange at the rear wheel??
Jim
Click to expand...

It depends on how " hard " against that flange it is . ..... Mine is about 2 cc away .... but the Total range is about 3.5 mm ..... good luck .... Mike :thumbup:
 
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:congrats: On the new Spyder RTL, Nice looking machine!! The belt will move a little from side to side so check it a few times to see where it runs to be sure. Getting a laser alignment has helped a lot of times, but you just need to get use to the way the Spyder handles if you have not ridden one before. Give yourself time to adjust to the machine. Then look for ways to make it better for you if you have too.
 
RealWing, that jerking to the left under heavy acceleration is possibly a subconscious forward movement of the right hand when you quickly twist the throttle. It doe not take much to be noticeable. Different things like this catch first time spyder riders off guard. I think it's worse for folks that have lots of 2 wheel miles. I was ready to sell mine during the first interstate ride. Now I think nothing of just using one hand and swapping out every 10 miles or so. Take your time, get used to it. Relax the grip a bit.
 
Also when you check the belt placement, make sure that you have went in a straight line for a short distance. The belt moves when you turn either left or right and takes a bit to get back in place
 
Lower the front tire pressures to 18 cold. To me the owners manual recommendation of 20 in the front makes for squirrely and bouncy handling. As already stated, keep the front tire pressures with no more than 1/2 psi between the two.
I find the rear tire owners manual recommended cold pressure of 28 to be ok.. but 1 psi or 2 lower is pretty nice too.
 
K80Shooter said:
Also when you check the belt placement, make sure that you have went in a straight line for a short distance. The belt moves when you turn either left or right and takes a bit to get back in place
Click to expand...
Good suggestion. I had just turned into the driveway and parked it. I’ll check after driving straight.
 
Forgot to add that my Spyder was shipped without the heated passenger grips. I was not aware they came that way. Will be installed when available
 
Checked tire pressures tonight. Outside temp was 21C or 70F

LF 18.3
RF 17.3
Rear 22.7

I'll check again in AM when it is cooler and I'll equalize the front pressures.
 
Congrats! Blue and Red are my favorites. When moving to the left when passing a lot will depend on the crown of the road also. Where I live in Nevada a lot of the hiways and roads are what I would call rutted for heavy trucks/etc. Good luck and have fun.
 
RealWing said:
Forgot to add that my Spyder was shipped without the heated passenger grips. I was not aware they came that way. Will be installed when available
Click to expand...

That's the story I got when I picked up my '22. Dealer said BRP will contact me when they're available.
 
RealWing said:
Picked up the RTL from the dealer today and rode about 200km home. Lots of fun!! Great riding machine.
It was missing one part- the heated passenger arm rests. Will install when available. Only surprise was when passing. The trike darts to the left when crossing the centre hump , plus adding passing power makes it drive more to the left - interesting!!
One question- should the drive belt be hard against the inside flange at the rear wheel??
Jim
Click to expand...

Let me add to my original answer ..... " Belt is hard against the Flange " it's easy to check this drive straight for at least 50 feet ....stop... shut engine off and slowly roll it backwards ( also straight ) and see if the belt comes off the Flange .... If it does I doubt it's really HARD against the flange ..... If it doesn't I think you need to align that belt ..... good luck .... Mike :thumbup:
 
BLUEKNIGHT911 said:
Let me add to my original answer ..... " Belt is hard against the Flange " it's easy to check this drive straight for at least 50 feet ....stop... shut engine off and slowly roll it backwards ( also straight ) and see if the belt comes off the Flange .... If it does I doubt it's really HARD against the flange ..... If it doesn't I think you need to align that belt ..... good luck .... Mike :thumbup:
Click to expand...

I did that and it did not come off the flange. I would have expected that check to be part of the pdi??
 
Contacted the dealer today about the belt alignment and they want me to bring it in (400 Km/250 miles round trip!!) I checked the belt alignment on the front pulley and it looked ok.
Also told them about the steering instability going over the crown in the road and they will also do a laser alignment at the same time. The service manual toe specs appear to be +/-2 deg, but I thought there would be a preferred setting?
 
RealWing said:
Contacted the dealer today about the belt alignment and they want me to bring it in (400 Km/250 miles round trip!!) I checked the belt alignment on the front pulley and it looked ok.
Also told them about the steering instability going over the crown in the road and they will also do a laser alignment at the same time. The service manual toe specs appear to be +/-2 deg, but I thought there would be a preferred setting?
Click to expand...

If you would drop the psi in the front tires to about 18psi it will steer a lot better. Thats what I run in my stock Kendas (Krapendas)
 
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