Looking for Advice on Cornering

[sabunim5]

I only have about 500 miles on silver :spyder:#1232 so far and I know there are now a lot of you with way more seat time. My question is cornering technique. On a 2 wheeler the classic strategy is slow in, fast out. On the brakes before turning in and accelerating through the turn. The more I ride this 3 wheeler the less I think this works best for the Spyder. I am beginning to think fast in (relative to a 2 wheeler) and accelerate as soon as you have hit the apex. I'm not sure I'm saying this right. Of course, I'm talking about one-up. My wife likes a brisk ride on a 2 wheeler, but until she gets the backrest and gets used to the new feel of the 3 wheeled Spyder I'm not going to be pushing hard in the corners with her on the back. Thanks in advance to any of you go-fast boys and girls that take the time to respond. :bigthumbsup:
sabunim5 ;D

 

[Director]

I only have about 500 miles on silver :spyder:#1232 so far and I know there are now a lot of you with way more seat time. My question is cornering technique. On a 2 wheeler the classic strategy is slow in, fast out. On the brakes before turning in and accelerating through the turn. The more I ride this 3 wheeler the less I think this works best for the Spyder. I am beginning to think fast in (relative to a 2 wheeler) and accelerate as soon as you have hit the apex. I'm not sure I'm saying this right. Of course, I'm talking about one-up. My wife likes a brisk ride on a 2 wheeler, but until she gets the backrest and gets used to the new feel of the 3 wheeled Spyder I'm not going to be pushing hard in the corners with her on the back. Thanks in advance to any of you go-fast boys and girls that take the time to respond. :bigthumbsup:
sabunim5 ;D

I don't have enough Spyder experience to offer an opinion specifically on proper Spidie cornering techniques, but I will say this - generally speaking no matter what I am riding or driving, I like to rely on the immortal words of champion race car driver Stirling Moss: "It is better to go into the corner slow and come out fast, than to go in fast and come out dead." ;D

Cheers,

Bruce

 

[morgcl]

I have 1490 on my spyder in less than a month. I go in slow and downshift with more gas when i get thru the turn.

If you have time, go to a mall parking lot and play with it. see what it will do when you do certain things. i find that spyder is more forgiving and will trun quicker than i thought it would at higher speeds. in a parking lot you can make mistakes

 

[Lamonster]

The key to going fast is going smooth. You can hit it hard in and hard out but it has to be smooth or the puter kicks in. :spyder:

 

[aubierules]

in a parking lot you can make mistakes
[/quote]

unless of course u wind up on ur head ;D

 

[morgcl]

in a parking lot you can make mistakes


unless of course u wind up on ur head ;D

better than in traffic. i havent been thrown off it yet. but then tomorrow is another day ride safe.

 

[Wijllie]

you and your passenger should push hard on the left footpeg when turning right and vice versa. After my 4th ride I felt more secure and could take any corner by doing this. You never push on a peg with a 2 wheeler to make a corner, just try it; a second before you turn push hard with the foot and lean your opposite knee against the eh tank. The moment you do it right you are driving the machine, not as before like the machine was driving you... A tip; think skiing

 

[morgcl]

you and your passenger should push hard on the left footpeg when turning right and vice versa. After my 4th ride I felt more secure and could take any corner by doing this. You never push on a peg with a 2 wheeler to make a corner, just try it; a second before you turn push hard with the foot and lean your opposite knee against the eh tank. The moment you do it right you are driving the machine, not as before like the machine was driving you... A tip; think skiing

i think i found myself doing this. also i kinda lean into the turn. but still fairly slow. itry to keep the revs up by downshifting to 2nd if i dont have to stop

 

[Wijllie]

You can practice at home with this;

Acts about the same in corners ;D

 

[Director]

You can practice at home with this;

Acts about the same in corners ;D

Hey, isn't that LittleJohn's? ;D

 

[LittleJohn]

Hey, isn't that LittleJohn's? ;D

No, that ones even better!!! Its got a luggage rack!!! LOL

 

[Wijllie]

LOL!

 

[gr8fulgolf]

If you've ever riddn a snowmobile before it's the same idea as that. Hang your inside butt cheek in and push the outside handlebar away from you. The farther you hang on the inside the better it will feel. As far as having a passenger, can't help there I've only had my wife on once or twice. I'm going to try to have some video taken and I'll put up a post on YouTube or something.

 

[Derwin]

I have a guy right down the road from me who is selling his Spyder after only putting a few miles on it. He just can't get used to the cornering. He has it up on ebay now. Here's what he said about it:

The Spyder is absolutely amazing and does everything that BRP
claims. The problem I have, and it is my problem not BRPs is I
have been ridding and racing motorcycles for the last 40 years.
I have been accustomed to and trained to lean and counter steer
when turning, the Spyder has to be steered in the direction of
the turn and you have to lean your body into the turn instead of
the whole bike leaning with you, this isn't a problem but I
personally like to lean into the turns. The other thing that I have
been trained to do is use the front brake and be very gentle with
the application of the rear brake. Because the Spyder has
integrated ABS brakes and you only have the brake pedal to use
there is not a hand brake. I still ride two wheel motorcycles and
even though it is very easy to adapt to the Spyder I don't want to
be switching back and forth and changing my techniques which
in an emergency have to be reactions.

Has anybody else ran into these problems??

Derwin

 

[Wijllie]

I have a guy right down the road from me who is selling his Spyder after only putting a few miles on it. He just can't get used to the cornering. He has it up on ebay now. Here's what he said about it:
Has anybody else ran into these problems??
Derwin

They should keep driving. It is not a motorcycle but acts more as a quad.
Again, push your feet hard on the pegs (left peg when turning right) and you
will feel much better in sharp turns. The more you ride the Spyder the better it will become,
it takes some time and for someone longer then the other. It took me 4 demo drives to make the
"click" and to ride the Spyder. Before that the Spyder was riding me...
Once you learn to handle the machine the REAL fun begins!
Think skiing when you drive.

 

[sabunim5]

Yes Derwin. I too have had these problems. I have 42 yrs. of motorcycling, and my brain and body have lots of learned behaviors that want to occur when a set of handlebars are in my hands. It is a matter of retraining yourself. In some ways those with no motorcycle experience will have an easier time riding the Spyder. I personally want to have both 2 wheel and 3 wheel experiences open to me. So I ride both, and work at learning the new skills that we keep me safe on both. Could I react improperly in an emergency situation? Of course. So for now, I don't ride the Spyder as aggressively as I might after I have had more seat time. :bigthumbsup:
sabunim5 :spyder:

 

[Polack]

It took about 800 miles before I was comfortable doing controled fishtails around corners. It's easy to try to over-control the Spyder, relax, let your body do what it wants to do in the turn. Be patient, un-learning takes time too!

 

[morgcl]

truck car 2 wheek 3 wheel all take different skills.

i can walk and chew gum at the same time :spyder:

 

[trikester]

As you can see from the photo in my avatar I have been riding reverse trikes for several years now. I ride both pavement and dirt. The dirt (and rock) riding is sometimes very "technical" and rough. I have gotten very used to leaning into the turns on both pavement, where speed is a factor, and dirt where I might have to also compensate for off-camber terrain also. When I test rode the Spyder I rode this way because I was used to doing it that way. I noticed others were not leaning into the turns like I was.

However it is more critical to do this on my dual-sport reverse trikes because the front wheel track is only 48" wide, the trike only weighs about 300 lbs, and there is no stability control except for an anti-sway bar (remember I built these myself from Yamaha TW200's and YFZ450's). I have to provide the stability control. Therefore when I get my Spyder (it should come this week) I will continue to ride this way because it would be bad for me to get out of the habit and then ride one of my other trikes.

I have 17 motorcycles and two of those are reverse trikes (tadpole trikes) so I'm used to switching between two and three wheels. That number will go to three reverse trikes when my Spyder arrives.