Future Spyder Owner Inquiry

[jbarrett85]

About to get my first spyder this Saturday, not the first in the family, but the first for me. Any good recommendations on some "Need to Have" Accessories and add-ons, and some that I should resist temptation on? I am a 15 year motorcycle rider so I am familiar with that side of it, but this is a new world to me as far as the equipment goes.

Purchasing the 2018 RT-Limited Char-Grey Dark.

Thank You In Advance!!!!

 

[bhern]

6 months ahead of you on the Spyder...

...but light-years behind you in terms of riding experience. I decided that I wanted to leave the major aspects of the bike alone for a few months while I gained some experience on the bike to the point where I felt I could even have an opinion about aspects of the ride/experience that needed to change. So my first accessories/enhancements were pretty much all peripherals:

- Travel cover -- I commute with my Spyder, and unfortunately don't have covered parking at work
- Sena 20s Bluetooth headsets for my wife and me
- TechGripper + mount -- for my iPhone, which is my source of tunes and directions
- Fobo Bike for Trike tire valve monitoring system -- I just wasn't taking the time to make sure everything was properly inflated; now I have no excuse!

In the coming weeks, however, I'm planning to dive into some more significant improvements:

- The BajaRon anti-sway bar + Heim links -- I've got enough miles to believe it will make a difference, and you'll see many posts and threads on here that concur. I will leave that in place for awhile, and will probably return to that well for his shock adjusters a bit later.
- Lights! The first thing my wife said when she trailed me home from the dealer after picking up our Spyder: "You need to get a better brake light. I could barely see when you were slowing down." I'm going to be adding at least an LED bar for the top case (I have an RT as well) to serve as the third brake light, and plan also to add a lighted bumpskid and various other more farklesque lights. (I also am eagerly waiting for a new product, the BrakeFree rear-facing helmet light that will, if it ever arrives, detect deceleration and light up as an additional brake light. Now scheduled for delivery in December.)
- Added USB power source on the front panel -- I like the idea and the look of the dual USB charger at canamspyderaccessories.com.

I spent a long time lurking here to sift through the insights and opinions shared here on these and other topics, and I hope you'll find this forum as helpful as I have. Have fun!

 

[ARtraveler]

:congrats: and :welcome: to the party.

If you have to farkelize--that's what we call accessories--start with the pretty stuff--such as lights.

Hold off on the big ticket items that modify the operation of the :spyder2: until you have 500 to 1000 miles on it. Give the OEM goodies a chance.

Let us know what you do decide on.

 

[Bob Denman]

:congrats: on your upcoming purchase, and the start of a great new adventure! :thumbup:
The bike will be able to carry you for years; without adding anything to it... nojoke
Why not just put some miles on it, and decide what YOU want to do to it?

 

[MikeT]

About to get my first spyder this Saturday, not the first in the family, but the first for me. Any good recommendations on some "Need to Have" Accessories and add-ons, and some that I should resist temptation on? I am a 15 year motorcycle rider so I am familiar with that side of it, but this is a new world to me as far as the equipment goes.

Purchasing the 2018 RT-Limited Char-Grey Dark.

Thank You In Advance!!!!

Welcome to the Spyder World. I saw that same color @my local shop. One of the more unique colors.
Mike

 

[Boilermaker]

:congrats: on your upcoming purchase, and the start of a great new adventure! :thumbup:
The bike will be able to carry you for years; without adding anything to it... nojoke
Why not just put some miles on it, and decide what YOU want to do to it?

:agree:

Besides some sort of cover to keep the dust off, you will decide what you need as you ride it more and more. Then come back here and read about the different options to fill the needs that you identify.

 

[Arion]

Excelllent advice from those who have replied. I like the approach of taking some time to accustom yourself to the machine before piling on farkles. We've had our pair of RTs for a few years now and have slowly added things that make sense to us.

First, and one of the best to date, was turn signal telltale LED lighting strips on the mirrors (there are several available). The turn signal arrows on the dash are, in our experience, virtually useless. We both agree with the more lighting approach, and have added LED strips to the upper A arms (very nice too) and we replaced the fender marker lights on my wife's 2012 RT Limited with LED lamps (another impressive improvement).

We've no doubt that there are more hafta-have things on the horizon but we're not in a hurry - so far. Wait a moment, I forgot to mention Sena S20 headsets and travel covers you spoke of. Both are worth every cent of their cost and we wouldn't be without them.

 

[Navydad]

First was a few lights to make the RT more visible to others. Second was the wiring and connectors for our heated jackets because we ride until the ice and salt hits the road. Third was a set of highway pegs for the Nova Scotia trip. As others have said, ride it for a bit and see what changes you want. We found that the RT is comfy for us in stock form. A couple of 600 mile days back to back confirmed that for us. I do have an Airhawk R and wife has an Alaska Sheepskin. Probably the best change I made was going to car tires when the stock rear Kenda was gone at 6000 miles. Fronts were still good, but I swapped them all at the same time anyway.

 

[Ron2andia]

:spyder::welcome::congrats:

 

[UtahPete]

About to get my first spyder this Saturday, not the first in the family, but the first for me. Any good recommendations on some "Need to Have" Accessories and add-ons, and some that I should resist temptation on? I am a 15 year motorcycle rider so I am familiar with that side of it, but this is a new world to me as far as the equipment goes. Purchasing the 2018 RT-Limited Char-Grey Dark. Thank You In Advance!!!!

Are you asking about BRP accessories to be installed by the dealer?

 

[UtahPete]

:congrats: on your upcoming purchase, and the start of a great new adventure! :thumbup:
The bike will be able to carry you for years; without adding anything to it... nojoke
Why not just put some miles on it, and decide what YOU want to do to it?

:agree:

 

[JayBros]

Congratulations on your upcoming purchase! Do yourself a huge favor and read your operator's guide thoroughly, cover to cover, at least twice -- real soon!

 

[Kiry]

Congrats!!!! Like some of the others said, LED lights were my first purchase. Safety (and coolness) all wrapped in one. Then put some miles on the bike to see what I "needed" next for me.
In my case (F3) I did a windshield for comfort, but I didn't know that until I rode it on a decent sized ride over 45 mph.

So in my opinion safety > comfort > other cool stuff

 

[CA-SPYDR]

Congratulations!

I got my 2018 RT Limited in March, and have a little over 3000 miles on it now. During this time I was able to figure out what were the most important things to do.

I think one of the best investments I made was the BajaRon anti-sway bar. Really stabilized my ride. I also added wide-vu mirrors to avoid the blind spots. It is amazing and highly recommended. And of course a RAM mount for my phone - how can you go without one?

I then added a cramp master to help me with the throttle because I noticed I'm getting a little numb in my fingers, especially when I do twisty roads that require a lot of twisting on the throttle. for highway I just use the cruise control - it's amazing.

After doing a couple thousand miles, I realized it will be so much easier on my back if I added a backrest. I added a Can-am backrest and never looked back. It took some adjustment to the backrest to get it right for my height but once I got it right it is amazing.

A couple of thousand miles also alerted me to the fact that My butt needs a softer surface to sit on so I added a butt pad by Alaska Leather.

Also looking for safety measures with my breaking lights, I installed a Vololight license plate frame. It recognized deceleration and flashes even before I hit the brakes (I like to slow down using the engine and gears). I am also adding some break/turn/stop LED lights to my rear trunk soon.

On my recent trip (about 1100 miles), I noticed that the belt vibrates around 70 mph. At first I thought there was something wrong with the bike but friends on one of the Facebook groups helped me realize what it was and I ordered a vibration dampener which one of the group members will install for me shortly.

I also installed Leadlox because when you travel with a lot of luggage, there is no room for your helmet in the Frunk and you do want it secured.

As you can see, the list is endless and there are so many things you can add. This was just my current list. I know it will grow as I put more miles on Polar Bear.

 

[jbarrett85]

...but light-years behind you in terms of riding experience. I decided that I wanted to leave the major aspects of the bike alone for a few months while I gained some experience on the bike to the point where I felt I could even have an opinion about aspects of the ride/experience that needed to change. So my first accessories/enhancements were pretty much all peripherals:

- Travel cover -- I commute with my Spyder, and unfortunately don't have covered parking at work
- Sena 20s Bluetooth headsets for my wife and me
- TechGripper + mount -- for my iPhone, which is my source of tunes and directions
- Fobo Bike for Trike tire valve monitoring system -- I just wasn't taking the time to make sure everything was properly inflated; now I have no excuse!

In the coming weeks, however, I'm planning to dive into some more significant improvements:

- The BajaRon anti-sway bar + Heim links -- I've got enough miles to believe it will make a difference, and you'll see many posts and threads on here that concur. I will leave that in place for awhile, and will probably return to that well for his shock adjusters a bit later.
- Lights! The first thing my wife said when she trailed me home from the dealer after picking up our Spyder: "You need to get a better brake light. I could barely see when you were slowing down." I'm going to be adding at least an LED bar for the top case (I have an RT as well) to serve as the third brake light, and plan also to add a lighted bumpskid and various other more farklesque lights. (I also am eagerly waiting for a new product, the BrakeFree rear-facing helmet light that will, if it ever arrives, detect deceleration and light up as an additional brake light. Now scheduled for delivery in December.)
- Added USB power source on the front panel -- I like the idea and the look of the dual USB charger at canamspyderaccessories.com.

I spent a long time lurking here to sift through the insights and opinions shared here on these and other topics, and I hope you'll find this forum as helpful as I have. Have fun!

Excellent info BHERN, thank you for that. I have read some on the sway bar links, and after driving one last weekend can see where they could make some improvement to the drive. I didn't know that about the brake lights and them being dim, but definitely where I live I need a artificial sun for a brake light to make all the geniuses on their cell phones to look up every once in a while to see me HAHA. I know the '18 has the phone connect, but didnt really get to play with the music portion. Im wondering if I would need the mount for my phone or just use the display. Guess that Ill just have to play with it and see whats easier.
I do want to light it up, not go crazy with it, but enough to been seen at night.

Thank You for your insight, I am definetly gonna look into the stuff you posted.

 

[jbarrett85]

:congrats: and :welcome: to the party.

If you have to farkelize--that's what we call accessories--start with the pretty stuff--such as lights.

Hold off on the big ticket items that modify the operation of the :spyder2: until you have 500 to 1000 miles on it. Give the OEM goodies a chance.

Let us know what you do decide on.

akspyderman,

Yea, Im not trying to go overkill on accessorizeing, but just wondering what the must haves starting off are. Im think some of what BHERN said like the cover, brake lights, and maybe the tire pressure monitor. As far as changing the main equipment Im most likely going to let the 2 year warranty run out first. Knowing my luck it would be "Oh you removed a screw, yea your warranty is void" lol.

Thank You for the advice!!

 

[jbarrett85]

:congrats: on your upcoming purchase, and the start of a great new adventure! :thumbup:
The bike will be able to carry you for years; without adding anything to it... nojoke
Why not just put some miles on it, and decide what YOU want to do to it?

I plan on that for the bigger additions, I just trying to poll for things that people have found out that were must haves earlier in their adventure. Things to make it safer, even more comfy, and so on. Nothing overkill though.

Thank You Tho!!!

 

[jbarrett85]

Welcome to the Spyder World. I saw that same color @my local shop. One of the more unique colors.
Mike

Ive always been drawn to darker color vehicles, the bike I have now it the '09 Yamaha Warrior Midnight which is all blacked out. I figure this one will fit in quiet well.

 

[jbarrett85]

:agree:

Besides some sort of cover to keep the dust off, you will decide what you need as you ride it more and more. Then come back here and read about the different options to fill the needs that you identify.

I will definitely now be getting a cover. I dont want it to get dirty while at work or out and about. Thank You!!

 

[jbarrett85]

Excelllent advice from those who have replied. I like the approach of taking some time to accustom yourself to the machine before piling on farkles. We've had our pair of RTs for a few years now and have slowly added things that make sense to us.

First, and one of the best to date, was turn signal telltale LED lighting strips on the mirrors (there are several available). The turn signal arrows on the dash are, in our experience, virtually useless. We both agree with the more lighting approach, and have added LED strips to the upper A arms (very nice too) and we replaced the fender marker lights on my wife's 2012 RT Limited with LED lamps (another impressive improvement).

We've no doubt that there are more hafta-have things on the horizon but we're not in a hurry - so far. Wait a moment, I forgot to mention Sena S20 headsets and travel covers you spoke of. Both are worth every cent of their cost and we wouldn't be without them.

I have the first gen SENA (forgot model#) and they still work great.. I will keep the mirror signals in mind as I remember when riding last weekend the indicator was not easily seen. Thinking about some rear passenger arm rests and cup holders to start with, but dont know for sure. Gonna ride first.