daveinva
New member
Full sheepish disclosure: I've only ridden in the rain once.
Back during my MSF trike class, my *first day* on the Spyder was in a rainstorm. Fun times.
But, that was just in a parking lot, going 10-20 mph. Since then, I've been meaning to find a nice day to go riding in the rain. Figured I'd like to get it out of the way close to home before I take any big cross-country trips on it-- better to be learn how the Spyder (and me!) reacts in the rain near home than first find out in a downpour halfway across the country.
Only trouble is, rain in the summer around D.C. = afternoon rush-hour thunderstorms with plenty of lightning. Not exactly safe riding weather.
But a hurricane, on a sleepy Saturday morning? Pshaw, whatever!
Grabbed my Frogg Toggs this morning and went riding down to Coleman Powersports in Woodbridge VA. Nothing fancy, just a straight shot down I-395/95. On the way down, before the weather got rough I even tested out my new Throttlemeister cruise control (very nice, albeit pricey for what they are; installation yesterday was straightforward, worst part was having to make a trip to Sears last night along with the rest of hurricane-panicked Northern Virginia in order to get the right size socket adapter for my torque wrench :gaah
.
Verdicts:
-- Frogg Toggs are nice for the price. Wouldn't want to use them for a long haul, but around town, they work great. Plus they let enough air in that they were nowhere near as hot as I thought they'd be when I first put them on. I only wore the pants on the way down, wore my standard mesh jacket up top. That got soaked, which at first felt good, but after 20+ miles started getting a little chilly in the arms at speed. On the way back, I wore the full suit, and was just peachy keen!
-- The Spyder is ROCK SOLID in the rain and gusty winds. I can confidently say, whoever has an RS setup that doesn't want to keep a straight line either needs to tweak their bike (I'm set 18/28, suspension at max 5, and have the Evo anti-swaybar) or tweak their riding style. Seriously-- go talk to your dealer or visit another Spyder owner, mine held the road like there were rails even in 30 mph gusts. My *car* doesn't even want to do that in that kind of weather. In fact, the hardest part was keeping *me* from moving atop the bike in the gusts-- the Spyder stayed straight and true. :thumbup:
I now have total confidence in the Spyder in a moderate rainstorm (the hurricane's now passing us, so the weather is getting worse, so I wouldn't be on the road when it's THIS bad-- but I think that's in large part out of fear of other drivers being unable to handle the weather and/or see me, NOT a verdict on the capability of our three-wheeled friend to ride through weather that makes two-wheelers pucker).
Anyway, I don't know how many here at Spyderlovers can say it, but I now can: I've ridden the Spyder through a hurricane and lived to tell the tale! :doorag:
Back during my MSF trike class, my *first day* on the Spyder was in a rainstorm. Fun times.
But, that was just in a parking lot, going 10-20 mph. Since then, I've been meaning to find a nice day to go riding in the rain. Figured I'd like to get it out of the way close to home before I take any big cross-country trips on it-- better to be learn how the Spyder (and me!) reacts in the rain near home than first find out in a downpour halfway across the country.
Only trouble is, rain in the summer around D.C. = afternoon rush-hour thunderstorms with plenty of lightning. Not exactly safe riding weather.
But a hurricane, on a sleepy Saturday morning? Pshaw, whatever!
Grabbed my Frogg Toggs this morning and went riding down to Coleman Powersports in Woodbridge VA. Nothing fancy, just a straight shot down I-395/95. On the way down, before the weather got rough I even tested out my new Throttlemeister cruise control (very nice, albeit pricey for what they are; installation yesterday was straightforward, worst part was having to make a trip to Sears last night along with the rest of hurricane-panicked Northern Virginia in order to get the right size socket adapter for my torque wrench :gaah
.Verdicts:
-- Frogg Toggs are nice for the price. Wouldn't want to use them for a long haul, but around town, they work great. Plus they let enough air in that they were nowhere near as hot as I thought they'd be when I first put them on. I only wore the pants on the way down, wore my standard mesh jacket up top. That got soaked, which at first felt good, but after 20+ miles started getting a little chilly in the arms at speed. On the way back, I wore the full suit, and was just peachy keen!
-- The Spyder is ROCK SOLID in the rain and gusty winds. I can confidently say, whoever has an RS setup that doesn't want to keep a straight line either needs to tweak their bike (I'm set 18/28, suspension at max 5, and have the Evo anti-swaybar) or tweak their riding style. Seriously-- go talk to your dealer or visit another Spyder owner, mine held the road like there were rails even in 30 mph gusts. My *car* doesn't even want to do that in that kind of weather. In fact, the hardest part was keeping *me* from moving atop the bike in the gusts-- the Spyder stayed straight and true. :thumbup:
I now have total confidence in the Spyder in a moderate rainstorm (the hurricane's now passing us, so the weather is getting worse, so I wouldn't be on the road when it's THIS bad-- but I think that's in large part out of fear of other drivers being unable to handle the weather and/or see me, NOT a verdict on the capability of our three-wheeled friend to ride through weather that makes two-wheelers pucker).
Anyway, I don't know how many here at Spyderlovers can say it, but I now can: I've ridden the Spyder through a hurricane and lived to tell the tale! :doorag:
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