New 2013 RT owner and not happy at all.

[kentuckyguy]

My 2011 RT was doing the same thing.. I know that mine is a different year then yours but everyone kept telling me to get the Elka shocks.. Well after 1 year of fighting that beast I broke down an bought them.. WOW was I please.. Never would I have thought that the shocks would have made that kind of difference... Good luck with it...

 

[bhfromme]

My 2011 RT was doing the same thing.. I know that mine is a different year then yours but everyone kept telling me to get the Elka shocks.. Well after 1 year of fighting that beast I broke down an bought them.. WOW was I please.. Never would I have thought that the shocks would have made that kind of difference... Good luck with it...

Kentuckyguy,
My bike is the same as yours and maybe I'm missing something but what do you mean by fighting that beast? My 2011 RT is smooth as a kitten and it's all stock. What am I missing?

Bill

 

[Bob Denman]

Rabtech,
You've sure got some SWEET rides! :thumbup:
And please; I didn't want to come off heavy-nanded... :shocked: I think I just wasn't seeing what I thought should be there, and got bothered...
BRP has been working diligently to find the source of this issue.
I was contacted by one of their Reps; she asked me to find the threads concerning it in here, so I sent her links to all of them.
(She probably figured that I'm in here more than I should be; I might as well be useful! )
This problem stemmed from a supplier of some of the front suspension components...
Finding a bad part on what is pretty much a good bike isn't as easy as looking for the oil stain under the engine. :shocked:
It's not as if all of the bal-joints were bad either; just some of them! :gaah:
Now try to figure out where they went, and which bikes got them.
BRP is shipping out the new parts as quickly as possible, and the dealers will be jumping; trying to get the bikes made right.
I realize that being patient stinks; it was never anything that I was good at... :sour:
But if you can just give them some room to operate; I know that you'll love the bike! :clap:
And again; I apologize for jumping too hard, too quickly! pps:

 

[dave01]

Glad to see BRP is working hard on this issue. What I wonder is...With a stop sales order, why are units still going out of the dealers doors?
They did good in replacing the DPS units in the past so I am sure this will all get resloved, but it seems to be leaving an unpleasent feeling in SOME newer owners with thier 2013 units. Just my 01.5 cents, after sequester

 

[Bob Denman]

...which is actually worth how much in Chinese currency? :shocked: :roflblack: :joke:

 

[boborgera]

...With a stop sales order, why are units still going out of the dealers doors?

$$Dollars$$
Some dealers don't want to lose a sale, There's never enough time to do the job right , But there's always enough time to do it over.!

 

[Lamonster]

Or this one.....View attachment 63345

We seem to have to same taste in rides. :doorag: I understand your frustration and I can only reassure you that BRP is just as unhappy about this as you are, more so I would say. They have a fix and it's not near of a big deal as the DPS problems we had when the Spyder first came out and they took care of it. That took a lot longer to figure out so if there's any bright side to this you can be happy they do have a fix now.

 

[BajaRon]

Sounds to me like the original issue was bad ball joints from their supplier. All of the prototype Spyders had rave reviews on handling. Unfortunately, when you go into production and you're getting train loads of the same part it can be problematic if the supplier does not hold the line on quality control.

I know that it is still BRP's responsibility for sending out product that isn't up to standard. But I do feel for BRP on this one. I'm sure that ball joint supplier has had a phone call or two from BRP.

To BRP's credit they stepped up to the plate big time and have done everything possible (short of taking over each individual dealership) to get this fixed. The breakdown here is the dealership that was more interested in getting a sale out the door than following BRP's instructions or caring about the customer's experience.

IMHO the dealership messed up big time. I don't see why the added expense and inconvenience should fall on the customer's shoulders. He's already losing the use of a brand new, supposed to be perfect product. The dealership should take care of pick-up and delivery. It's a shame that this does not appear to be the case.

Short term this is a big negative for all concerned. Long term, if the OP hangs in there, it should be sunny skies and smooth sailing with a happy ending. I'm hoping it goes this way. When a Spyder is right it's one of the best rides on the planet.

 

[MouthPiece]

First, I'm very lucky in that I live just about 10 minutes walking distance from my dealer. I don't have the distance problem that many have.

With respect to the ball joint. The tech showed me the two ball joints that were on my spyder when I first bought it. One of the ball joints would move freely and with very little, if any, resistance. The other ball joint did not. When you went to try and move it back and forth, there was much more resistance even to the point that you felt a "click" or a stubborn rub. There was a marked difference between the two.

All I can say is that since I've had mine changed out, my spyder is performing top notch.

Chris

 

[spyderpoop]

sale before service

sorry your finding out like myself all BRP is concerned is the sale first and service or lack of service is their last concern after all why did the dealership release the bike with out it serviced for the steering problem they knew about it but they should come get it and fix it but like mine they wont all my dealership says is bring it in and leave it a week to get looked at Good Luck but your on your own I,am affraid to get it back to the dealership but hope it gets fixed before the warmer weather arrives Rich

 

[ARtraveler]

sorry your finding out like myself all BRP is concerned is the sale first and service or lack of service is their last concern after all why did the dealership release the bike with out it serviced for the steering problem they knew about it but they should come get it and fix it but like mine they wont all my dealership says is bring it in and leave it a week to get looked at Good Luck but your on your own I,am affraid to get it back to the dealership but hope it gets fixed before the warmer weather arrives Rich

Welcome Back: It appears you still have not had your problems solved. Have you tried another dealer, or talking directly with customer service? Can't help noticing the same theme in all your postings.

 

[spyderpoop]

repair

thanks for your kind way of asking I,am gonna take it to another dealership as soon as it warms up some more and I get the a day off being a trucker I,am not home all the time so Thanks again for asking Rich

 

[BajaRon]

sorry your finding out like myself all BRP is concerned is the sale first and service or lack of service is their last concern after all why did the dealership release the bike with out it serviced for the steering problem they knew about it but they should come get it and fix it but like mine they wont all my dealership says is bring it in and leave it a week to get looked at Good Luck but your on your own I,am affraid to get it back to the dealership but hope it gets fixed before the warmer weather arrives Rich

BRP is the manufacturer, not the dealership. Dealerships are independently owned. While BRP does share some responsibility for allowing a dealership to represent them. It isn't necessarily fair to lump them together. BRP did everything they could to rectify this problem once they discovered there was a problem and what the fix was. But some units were already at or had been shipped to the dealership.

BRP told dealerships not to release these problem Spyders until the ball joints were replaced. Some dealerships honored this and others did not. You can't blame BRP for a dealership not doing what they should have done.

 

[twain]

Maybe BRP should look at these dealers who are not representing their best interest or rider safety and pull their products out of the dealerships. This makes for bad business and could be considered a direct reflection of BRP's own priorities.

 

[rabtech]

I dropped my spyder off today at Big Number 1.

The service writer noticed that the handlebars have at least 1/2 inch play in them and you can visually see the tow of the wheels out.

They took pictures of the underside where the plate underneath had scraped the road when I was coming back from Decatur.

And they wrote up the vibration at that is coming from the rear of the bike at road speeds.

They said the special tool would be there on Thursday and they would get it back to me on Friday.

Im not sure what all they will do but we shall soon see. I am being optimistic and hope it all works out. I am not sure how they will stiffen up the front shocks. That will have to be done I'm sure.



OK here are the pictures of the front end. I had to load it this morning at 4AM. My phone was trying to fog up. But I think you can see the problem and believe everybody can see how bad it is. I didnt touch the handlebar between pictures and I took all three at the same height and I made sure I gave everyone a shot of the center. Do yall think this should have left the dealer?

 

[rabtech]

Also wanted to say thanks to all the member that have showed interest in this. I am a 1 post newbie here and I am more impressed in how people have not flamed me for coming on here and starting off with a complaint. I hope to be on the board for a while and contribute to it in the future. I just had a lot of issues with the vibration and the steering slack and the alignment and the ball joints. All that gave me a really bad taste.

I do all my own wrenching and have installed a supercharger on my Rocket 3 Triumph and turbo kit on my Hayabusa and have rebuilt R1 engines in half a day at my shop. I have installed trike kits and built custom air shifters for diabetic people that can't feel their feet. I have even fashioned and CNC cut my own brackets to mount Harley forward controls on a Honda VTX 1800. I also do all my own paint and power coating.

I guess I want people to know that I am my own mechanic and leaving stuff up to the dealer to repair is not easy. I am sure there is someone reading that can relate. But I guess sometime you have let them do what they do. Ill try to upload pictures of my bikes and some of the work that I have done on them. I think they have a photo gallery here. If they do ill edit this post and put a link in it.

 

[Bob Denman]

From what I can see, (Lousy eyeballs from Diabetes...), even a blind mechanic should have been able to see that something wasn't quite right up front... :shocked:
I think that Ron said it best: the Spyder is made by BRP; the dealers are independent franchise operations... It's just an unfortunate fact that they can't control what the dealers do; that's actually our jobs as consumers when we walk out and go elsewhere. :thumbup:

 

[weapon]

Except for the toe issue, that first photo is cool.:thumbup:
I'm sure you will get a result. Sometimes I think it is easier to just fix it yourself, but that is not what you paid for.
Give them a chance to make it right.

 

[ARtraveler]

Agree with Bob. How could the dealer have sent the :spyder2: out with the front end alignment that far off. I am far from being a mechanic and it looks pretty obvious that something is not right.

 

[BajaRon]

Maybe BRP should look at these dealers who are not representing their best interest or rider safety and pull their products out of the dealerships. This makes for bad business and could be considered a direct reflection of BRP's own priorities.

I agree, and I am sure BRP will pull their product out of a dealership, but as a last resort. Looking at the big picture, there are not an overabundance of Spyder dealers. I think BRP's approach (and I think a very wise one) is to work to bring dealerships along and get them up to our (and BRP's) standards rather than throwing them under the bus when they do something like this.

If BRP started pulling Spyders out of dealerships every time they make a bone head move things would be getting worse rather than better. I think BRP and Spyder dealerships are moving in the right direction. I also think one of the main reasons for improvement is right here on Spyderlovers.

Informed and educated customers are the sharpest tool for getting things corrected. When you stick around here for awhile you are likely to know more about your ride than the 'Experts' at your dealership. And if you run into a snag, where can you go to get the information you need?

I mean think about it... Who else has BOB!?! :yikes: Our most Punctual and Prolific Poster, Precisely Postulating on every Premise, Processing Problems, Proscribing Plans and Presenting People with Positive Phrases!