Improved handling

[Roadster Renovations]

It is made out of some substantial steel. The OEM is the size of your little finger and Ron's is the size of your thumb. Ron's is also thick wall steel and the OEM is thin wall. After I pulled mine off I was surprised that the OEM does not twist up like a pretzel. Well worth the investment!

 

[ahh-cool]

In another thread, I mentioned that I had a lot of scraping from "heaves" and cracks in the tarmac last fall, with my new 2014.

This winter, I have installed Baja Ron's sway bar, and Doc's spring stiffeners. My RT no longer scrapes on bad roads, and has added 5-10mph to its cornering ability - these were the perfect fixes for my RT - affordable, and reasonably easy to accomplish.

I had no desire to replace the shocks, like I did on my 2010 RT, or even the springs. Now I won't have to consider it.

What I have noticed, is that it is easier to lift a wheel in the corners - or perhaps I'm just running that much faster??

I doubt it's actually more that a "lightening" of the outside corner, as the bike is stiffer on it's axis - if it was an actual lift, I would feel the Nanny kick in and bring it down. The RT feels like it responds better, and you don't feel like it's going to toss you off in a hard corner.

I do not have the Baja Ron swaybar, But I did replace my springs with stiffer springs and I can tell you that one wheel will come up in a corner. It did not leave the ground because I straightened it out before that happened, but it came up and I was riding 2 up both times. I can also tell you that with all the mods that I made on my bike, this one, gave me the most dramatic improvement in ride comfort, besides the heat issue.
I started taking corners a little bit slower and do not have that problem any more.

 

[Dragonrider]

The 990s amd 1330s are different animals. I changed my shocks on my 2010 to get the handling I wanted, and I don't need more that the stiffeners for my 2014. Saved me $1800 I didn't want to spend......

 

[jaherbst]

No settings there - perhaps air pressure...

He has the base RT. No rear suspension adjustment on this base model.

Jack

 

[BajaRon]

I do not have the Baja Ron swaybar, But I did replace my springs with stiffer springs and I can tell you that one wheel will come up in a corner. It did not leave the ground because I straightened it out before that happened, but it came up and I was riding 2 up both times. I can also tell you that with all the mods that I made on my bike, this one, gave me the most dramatic improvement in ride comfort, besides the heat issue.
I started taking corners a little bit slower and do not have that problem any more.

You can reduce, to a great extent, wheel lift in the Spyder. But you cannot (nor do you want to) eliminate it completely.

The sense of wheel lift on the Spyder is greatly exaggerated to the rider. If you were able to get a picture of it you would likely be very surprised at how small a distance the wheel has come off the ground. In some cases you may think the wheel has left the ground and it actually has not.

Depending on the circumstances, wheel lift on the Spyder is really not that much of a problem. I don't mean that you should ride without regard to the conditions. But in a smooth, controlled turn, if 1 wheel lifts, the other tire is more than adequate to maintain your line and exit the turn safely.

Even in quick, emergency avoidance maneuvers you are almost always going to be fine.

 

[Professor]

OK, I just picked up my RT with it's new Bajaron anti-sway bar. I won't have time to try it out on some curves until tomorrow, but I can feel the difference just driving home. I found myself turning corners faster without even thinking about it. I'm looking forward to tomorrow.

 

[jimnsusie]

Added to the RT's "Road Trip" app on my iPhone.

I searched for this app with no results. Must be called something else?

 

[jimnsusie]

Also I installed the new sway bar and think it is great. Not sure I understand about the spring things that are being talked about here. Think will wait awhile and see if I need something in addition to the great bar. I should add it took me a day and a half to install the bar but it was fun. Laying on the ground out in cold weather and drizzle, constantly getting up and down for this or that and then forgetting what I was after. Still fun for this old guy.

 

[BLACK SPYDERRT]

QUESTION ABOUT THE SPRING STIFFENERS

WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE ADDING THE SPRING STIFFENERS AND ADJUSTING THE PRELOAD?

 

[Professor]

WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE ADDING THE SPRING STIFFENERS AND ADJUSTING THE PRELOAD?

Did you know that typing in all caps is considered to be YELLING!!

 

[MRH]

On the spring stiffeners, what effect does it have in terms of adding smoothness to a bumpy road, if any? I upgraded the shocks on 2010 RT A&C and it helped a lot, but the cost is considerable. My 2014 RT-S has the adjustments, but it still is bumpier than I'd like.

 

[Dragonrider]

The 2014s and 2015s don't have preload adjusters...

About the Apps - the main one I use is "Road Trips", but also have "Spyder Codes", which also allows data logging.

 

[BajaRon]

WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE ADDING THE SPRING STIFFENERS AND ADJUSTING THE PRELOAD?

Any adjustment that you make to the springs IS 'Adjusting the Pre-Load'. There are different products offered to do this. As always, each has advantages and disadvantages. But they are all attempting to accomplish this same task. To compensate for different weight loading on the Spyder.

The springs are constantly holding up your Spyder. 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Whether you're riding it or not.

You start with the weight of your Spyder. Then you add YOU, a possible passenger, luggage, etc. Going around a corner also adds 'Weight' to the outside wheel. So you can see there are many variables. The shock spring needs to deal with all of it.

The more weight you add, the lower your Spyder settles as the springs are not able to carry more weight at the same ride height.

Setting the spring Pre-Load higher allows the springs to carry additional weight in the same way that a lower setting allows the springs to carry less weight.