Easy Rider
New member
A bit but that's kind of a different thing.
If you turn in too soon and then have to correct for that mid-turn, it doesn't matter what track you intended to take.
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New spyder owner with questions
- Thread starter hollybry
- Start date
A bit but that's kind of a different thing.
If you turn in too soon and then have to correct for that mid-turn, it doesn't matter what track you intended to take.
mark4Jesus
New member
The Spyder has very responsive steering that takes some getting used to. Finesse is the key.
SteveP
New member
First day was bad
Or I should say the ride home from the dealership, thought I made a big mistake . Rush hour in Toronto ( which is actually about 4 hours);didn’t like my Ryde Home but went out on some clear county roads later and immediately got better . It still took a few times to feel comfortable even though I’ve ridden my whole life .... just keep going
Or I should say the ride home from the dealership, thought I made a big mistake . Rush hour in Toronto ( which is actually about 4 hours);didn’t like my Ryde Home but went out on some clear county roads later and immediately got better . It still took a few times to feel comfortable even though I’ve ridden my whole life .... just keep going
blitzkreig
New member
Just wanted to add that until you finally get PO'd enough to spend the few dollars to actually implement the fix we all know about (or should know about) the anti-sway bar is number 1 and the Doc's spring stiffeners is a close 2nd ... and what a bang for the buck. Really just a few hundred dollars ... and way less than a muffler would cost!!!
Anyone interested just needs to run a search on any of the forums there are hundreds of different posts on the topic ...
Roger Nelson
New member
I have had a 2011 RTS for 2 years now and put about 6,000 miles on it since I have owned it. I previously had a 1800 Honda VTX and had a real hard time with the change. I did find doing a laser line up on it helped some and plan to put Baharon sway bar on in hopes the helps even more. I do like many things about the Spyder I have, like the stereo, cruise control, air ride and etc, then the fact my wife will go with me from time to time. But handling and/or power is not what I hoped for, the VTX just is so different, these are hard to get used to and enjoy a relaxed ride. I was hoping it handled more like a sports car.
All that being said don't give up on it just yet, because I have ridden nice Goldwing trikes and they did not trip my trigger either, so?? Speaking for myself only, my Spyder is like driving an older Caddy compared to a Corvette. Don't take me wrong, I like my Spyder, just don't love it!
All that being said don't give up on it just yet, because I have ridden nice Goldwing trikes and they did not trip my trigger either, so?? Speaking for myself only, my Spyder is like driving an older Caddy compared to a Corvette. Don't take me wrong, I like my Spyder, just don't love it!
SpyderJerry
Member
sway bar
Roger
Rreplace the sway bar asap. It will be a night and day difference of handling all around.I am now able to go around corners close to what I did with my Vulcan or Cavalcade. Tail swing in gone and it does not feel titchy anymore.
Roger
Rreplace the sway bar asap. It will be a night and day difference of handling all around.I am now able to go around corners close to what I did with my Vulcan or Cavalcade. Tail swing in gone and it does not feel titchy anymore.
Easy Rider
New member
Would you kindly try to explain to me (us) how a stiffer sway bar is going to reduce the "twitchy-ness" when going down a straight and level smooth road with no noticeable cross winds ???
That is, why will a different sway bar have any effect when there is NO sway occurring ??
Warlock
New member
Remember to hold the handle bars with a soft touch. Think about holding 2 eggs in you hand and squeezing just hard enough without breaking the eggs. I had to learn this after coming off 2 wheels. Relax the grip and enjoy the ride.
David
d.o.spyder-rts
Active member
:congrats
n your spyder purchase and :welcome:to the spyder web. Dale
n your spyder purchase and :welcome:to the spyder web. DaleI see nobody addressed this question. I would suggest looking at the Lamonster Garage web site and check out a cell phone holder. I bought what I thought was the perfect solution, a cell phone holder from them that replaced the top bracket of my handlebar holder, but I see LaMonster has even cooler things now.
In my case what made his solution good (I like his F3 Dual Power Pate with X-Grip more) was that it mounted to the middle of my handlebar holder, which is the perfect placement. I had my dealer run a cable up up to my handlebar with an sae plug for my battery tender (not trickle charge). I then use an sae to usb converter (Walmart and my dealer is cheaper, but one example https://www.amazon.com/Battery-Tend...00DJ5KEF4/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8). I then run a usb cable to my phone.
SpyderJerry
Member
sway bar
Easyrider
If the road is perfectly flat, no dips and no wind, it will handle pretty good. However most roads have dips, cracks, etc. and it will cause the bike to move about because of rocking or body roll. Every time there is a bit of body roll it causes the steering to interact in such a way that it induces feedback to the wheels, which then causes it to weave a little. also body roll causes the rider to move a little and then move the handlebars slightly, also causing the bike to weave slightly. The heavier sway bar just plain stiffens up the side to side movement. All who have put them on have found that out. If you are comfortable with yours as is, then keep it that way. If you want a more stable ride it will help a lot. But as said before, alignment and tires also make a big difference.
Easyrider
If the road is perfectly flat, no dips and no wind, it will handle pretty good. However most roads have dips, cracks, etc. and it will cause the bike to move about because of rocking or body roll. Every time there is a bit of body roll it causes the steering to interact in such a way that it induces feedback to the wheels, which then causes it to weave a little. also body roll causes the rider to move a little and then move the handlebars slightly, also causing the bike to weave slightly. The heavier sway bar just plain stiffens up the side to side movement. All who have put them on have found that out. If you are comfortable with yours as is, then keep it that way. If you want a more stable ride it will help a lot. But as said before, alignment and tires also make a big difference.
I said the exact same thing. It does make a difference. I had put new car tires on, Centrimatic wheel balancers, Doc's belt tension er, and laser alignment. I ride alone and only weight 150 pounds so I said I did not need the sway bar there was no way it would handle any better. I was told different. I had to see so I purchased and installed it. I can not believe how it did improve even on a straight highway. It just seems like the bike is more planted to the road. Where it really helps in in the wind meeting and passing trucks and all cornering. It is worth the money and it is not that hard to install.
As you can see from all of these replies:
1. Your experience is a common "first impression" for anyone coming from another bike/trike platform.
2. You can respond to it in 2 very different ways:
a. Lighten up on the handle bars and push with the outside foot. Keep your knees tucked to the tank (not hard, but don't let them drift out). This is opposite a 2-wheeler and the same as riding quads and snow mobiles.
b. Spend a bunch of time and money on unnecessary after-market replacement parts to make the trike less responsive than it was designed to be.
1. Your experience is a common "first impression" for anyone coming from another bike/trike platform.
2. You can respond to it in 2 very different ways:
a. Lighten up on the handle bars and push with the outside foot. Keep your knees tucked to the tank (not hard, but don't let them drift out). This is opposite a 2-wheeler and the same as riding quads and snow mobiles.
b. Spend a bunch of time and money on unnecessary after-market replacement parts to make the trike less responsive than it was designed to be.
Easy Rider
New member
Your opinion.
Apparently not shared by most Spyder owners.
I don't consider a feeling of darting back and forth from side to side while I want it to go straight as a measure of "responsiveness".
PistonBlown
Active member
Firstly don't worry that it doesn't feel right at first. When I first bought my Spyder I thought I'd made a big mistake. Fortunately I had a long ride home (350km) and that gave me a chance to begin to adapt to this very different machine. Even then things didn't really click together until I'd done 600km or so.
The riding style are very important and its worth trying different approaches to see what works. My personally I move around a lot on my RS, moving into and forward on corners and the RS seat curved shape does help make it easy move around like this. However some other riders prefer to sit still and just use the foot push approach mentioned, its whatever works for you.
I would make no changes to your Spyder until you've got your ride style sorted and have got a feel for how it handles. Once your familiar with the feel you can start making changes and will instantly know if its a positive or negative difference.
The frontend of the Spyder is very sensitive to changes and these can make a big difference to the ride and how in control you feel. Work out a little test route from your home and then...
I'd start with tire pressures as its a the cost-free answer. First thing is to make sure your front tire pressures are identical, even a small difference can make a big difference to the ride. Then try them with 15 and then 18psi. See if there's one pressure that's better than the other you can then try fine tuning it.
Next thing is the front suspension. Check that on both sides the suspension is set the same and the adjusters are not damaged (a common issue). Now jack the front up and adjust so the suspension is on its hardest setting - always adjust the suspension with the front wheels jacked off the ground, people don't which is why the adjusters get damaged. Go for a test ride, then go down a couple of notches and try it again. Use this to work out what works best for you. Initially I had mine on the hardest to stop the sway in corners but then took it down a notch after fitting the sway bar.
I waiting until I'd done 2000km before fitting a sway bar and I'm so pleased I did. This meant I could really appreciate the difference it made because I had a good feel by then on how it handled.
Finally check your front tires and how they are wearing. If you see uneven wear e.g. the insides or outsides more worn then you'll need to get a laser alignment done. On mine I began to see wear on the inside at around 10,000km, the laser guy said it wasn't out by much but after being adjusted it made a big improvement.
The riding style are very important and its worth trying different approaches to see what works. My personally I move around a lot on my RS, moving into and forward on corners and the RS seat curved shape does help make it easy move around like this. However some other riders prefer to sit still and just use the foot push approach mentioned, its whatever works for you.
I would make no changes to your Spyder until you've got your ride style sorted and have got a feel for how it handles. Once your familiar with the feel you can start making changes and will instantly know if its a positive or negative difference.
The frontend of the Spyder is very sensitive to changes and these can make a big difference to the ride and how in control you feel. Work out a little test route from your home and then...
I'd start with tire pressures as its a the cost-free answer. First thing is to make sure your front tire pressures are identical, even a small difference can make a big difference to the ride. Then try them with 15 and then 18psi. See if there's one pressure that's better than the other you can then try fine tuning it.
Next thing is the front suspension. Check that on both sides the suspension is set the same and the adjusters are not damaged (a common issue). Now jack the front up and adjust so the suspension is on its hardest setting - always adjust the suspension with the front wheels jacked off the ground, people don't which is why the adjusters get damaged. Go for a test ride, then go down a couple of notches and try it again. Use this to work out what works best for you. Initially I had mine on the hardest to stop the sway in corners but then took it down a notch after fitting the sway bar.
I waiting until I'd done 2000km before fitting a sway bar and I'm so pleased I did. This meant I could really appreciate the difference it made because I had a good feel by then on how it handled.
Finally check your front tires and how they are wearing. If you see uneven wear e.g. the insides or outsides more worn then you'll need to get a laser alignment done. On mine I began to see wear on the inside at around 10,000km, the laser guy said it wasn't out by much but after being adjusted it made a big improvement.
Netminder
New member
The two things that definitely improved the ride of my 2012 was Elka shocks , Bajaron swaybar. Oh and a laser alignment, so three. The Spyder factory alignment is usually off. Put as most suggest above, relaxing your grip and getting some miles under your belt will help a lot!:thumbup::thumbup:
You will enjoy it more and more with the miles.
You will enjoy it more and more with the miles.
sylvester
New member
Congrats on the new ride Holly good advice from everyone keep in mind that the bike will be a little squirley when there is a high crown in the road it will push you around if the steering is a little hard add 2 lbs to your air pressure on the front it will make it a lot easier in the turns that's what the wife tells me anyway and you will get used to it hang in there
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Everything here is just our opinions. That's what the OP asked for.
My opinion is which to change first, not either-or. I probably wasn't clear about that. I have 1 equipment mod and will add the handle bar riser and floorboards soon.
As for the majority rules principle, I've been teaching/coaching/training physical skills professionally for over 35 years and I am of the opinion that 9 of 10 people would prefer to throw money at problems and blame equipment for them instead of changing the way they do stuff, and that it is just common sense to approach a problem by changing 1 thing at a time, starting from simplest/cheapest and progressing to the most difficult and expensive until the problem is solved.
Easy Rider
New member
And it still is not clear.....at least to me.
Since you don't list it in your signature (only place to do that), what model do you ride ?
And then, what hardware changes DO you recommend, if any ??
And....it's not just a few percentage points sway with the opinions.
It seems to me that the VAST majority of riders seem to think that alignment, sway bar and tires EACH provide an incremental improvement with the ride perception. And in a case like this, perception IS reality......for each individual.
Your opinion seems dangerously close to: "It's not a problem for ME so those who think it is a problem are obviously wrong somehow."
