:agree: And at the risk of re-stating what many of you will already know, but hopefully helping those who haven't learnt this yet, if you can't avoid entirely, it might be smart to aim to
JUST miss whatever is on the road with the inside edge of one of your front tires! Rocks & potholes etc aren't great to hit with your steer wheels, cos not only can the kick on one side create steering havoc, but also the tires are smaller with less volume of air inside them to help the suspension absorb the knock; but by JUST missing them with the inside edge of a front tire you've got a reasonable gap for the object to pass thru before you are likely to hit it with the rear tire!
That said, it helps to be aware that you have a longer swing arm on the rear suspension than the 'A' arms up front & it is aligned with the direction of travel so it's easier for it to absorb hits than it is for the 'A' arms; and besides, the TREAD of your tires are the strongest bit of their construction, so if your rear tire is inflated correctly, then hitting something with the tread of your rear tire will allow the tire & suspension between them to absorb a helluva lot of knock before it becomes a major safety issue! But if your rear tire pressure is too high, you can pop the tire like an over inflated balloon as well as passing more shock load into the suspension; while with the pressure too low, you can pinch the sidewall between the object/tread & the rim & create a blowout, or you could even crack or shatter the rim!! :shocked: And even tho you aren't likely to lift both the front wheels off the ground on your Spyder all that often, you
REALLY want to be
off the brakes when you hit anything - brake hard before the hit if you must, but getting
Off the Whoa and on the Go before hitting will help unload the front suspension & maximise the Spyder's ground clearance.... pulling up on the handle bars & raising your behind off the seat probably won't lift much either, but it too will help unload the front suspension so that it's got the maximum possible travel available to absorb the knock, and with your behind clear of the seat your knees can help absorb any shock transmitted thru the frame from the rear suspension too! Breaking your tailbone thru not lifting off the seat can be embarrassing as well as extremely painful! nojoke
Still, if the object is taller than your ground clearance, you are going to want to try & avoid it entirely if you can do that safely, or you'll really want to have a bumpskid or an alloy Skid-plate fitted underneath your Spyder instead of the flimsy placcy OE tray that is down there from the factory!! But really, it does come down to that 'situational awareness' thing and scanning the road & traffic ahead as far as you can, then ryding to meet the changing circumstances as best you can! Your Spyder is not really at any greater risk of damage from hitting an object on the road than your car or 2-wheel bike, and it's certainly a whole lot more stable & has better braking than your 2-wheel machine, just be sure that your 'situational awareness' includes the cager texting & tailgating behind before you do an all out panic stop on your Spyder - the Spyder will outbrake most other road users significantly but they really don't make for great hood ornaments on the front of some dozy drivers truck!! :yikes:
And others have said,
Ryde More, Worry Less, or you might as well give up on living life!
