I have done an afternoon of track work on an F3 with just the link upgrade - one of the OEM placcy links broke juuust on half-way thru a full day Tire testing session, and we found just after that the other one was barely more than a limp noodle too!! So since I
already had some experience of how badly any Spyder handles with the OEM placcy links on their way out &/or no functioning sway bar

. I really didn't relish spending the rest of the day arguing with & trying to push a Spyder without any sway bar &/or running on cobbled together busted links around the track at speed, so during the (early due to link failure! :sour: ) lunch break I swapped BajaRon's earlier '
dog bone' style links (not the latest sexy jobbies

) off my RT across onto the F3 & finished the day's session on the F3 running Ron's original style links! :thumbup:
Once that was done, the handling & sway bar control was noticeably better than it had been before the failure, even if not really even 1/2 as good as it would've been with a full sway bar plus heim link upgrade; altho I must also admit that there may have been
juuust a little pre-failure flex occuring shortly before the failure, despite the placcy links, esp the one that broke, showing no sign during the morning's 'pre-flight inspection' of imminent failure/excessive flex... :dontknow: . But then, the F3
did get caned fairly solidly after that inspection for almost 500 miles until the failure occurred

And I hafta admit that
after the failure occurred & the subsequent link transplant, there was
at least some degree of '
Thank the Lord & little Baby Jesus' type extremely emotive/relief response built in as a result of the bum puckering experience of having a placcy sway bar link fail
suddenly & completely half-way thru taking an 11/10th's corner at a substantially higher speed than that generally recommended for normal on-road ryding! :yikes:
However, I hafta say that during the failure, the Nanny really did step in firmly & decisively to bring everything back under control, but then it
still took some minutes afterwards to pry my hands off the handlebars & my sphincter off the seat cos everything was all clenched up so tightly from that moment of '
oh ****!' & abject terror that occurred immediately following the placcy link snapping!!

pps: . Still, in a little under 12 hours all told that day, I completed a smidge over 1000 miles on the test track, the first half on a completely stock F3 apart from the tires & a proper wheel alignment; with the second half happening after installing BajaRon's links, which made it decidedly waaay less work & to a large degree, quite enjoyable, despite the growing fatigue etc.... :thumbup:
That said, I'd still
STRONGLY recommend that you do the full sway bar/heim link upgrade if you can! :lecturef_smilie: . Sure, you'll get
some improvement in handling by only installing the link upgrade; but sticking with that OEM Sway bar is sorta like gagging down spaghetti that's been cooked to within an inch of disolving and then covered with a sauce made from the primal goo scraped off an ancient cow shed floor instead of eating a truly flavoursome full bodied bolognese sauce covering properly cooked al dente spaghetti!

hyea: You
can do it if you
absolutely hafta, but why would you if you had any other choice?!? :barf: . :gaah: . :dontknow:
Just Sayin' :cheers: