On the fence.

[Dib52]

Don't be on the fence any longer. After much consideration, we pulled the trigger on a leftover 2011 RT A&C SE5 on Saturday morning. Only regret, not doing it sooner. Put on 150 miles in less than a day and a half. Loving it so far...

 

[CyncySpyder]

Good Times as you can SEE on our faces, for sure

No question, Holly perfers your comfy RT Dave, I can't dispute that one bit !!!nojoke

I love that photo of the two of you. She really enjoyed you taking her for a ride. You are the only other person she has ever ridin with beside me. :thumbup:

:yes:Awwwww, I feel special hyea:​

 

[Paulf10]

Thank you for all the honest replies! I didn't really expect people to give such objective viewpoints! Usually I would expect the standard "I have one, so it's great" reply! Certainly not the case on this forum. I'm greatful my friend referred me here, and as I said, I'm really greatful for the honesty of all the people that replied.

What I walk away with from this thread, is that there may or may not be issues or problems with my new purchase, and that the dealer choice is important. However, even more than that, the general consensus seems to be that problems or not, the fun of the Spyder, far out ways the issues that could arise.

With that in mind I have gone to a dealer today and made a deal for a 2012 RT Limited ( brown w/ tan seat) and will be trading in my Goldwing. Which as I have said is the best motorcycle I have ever owned. But since I'm leaving the world of motorcycles, I don't think I'll miss it!
At least I'm hoping not to.

Thanks again!!!!!!!

 

[SPYD1]

....by the way my Spyder was perfect today....couldn't resist.

 

[arntufun]

Paulf10,

Your more than welcome to ride with us anytime. 5 of us will be riding about an hour away from your where you live tomorrow.

If you can make it, try to come to SITA in Lake placid NY in August.

 

[CyncySpyder]

Congrats on your decision & keep coming back here for your future addictions

:congrats: & :welcome:

You do realize,
the purchase price of your New 2012 LMTD
is only the Down-Payment on ALL the mods
your gonna be making to truly make her yours,
right?
:yes: Another Victim has been bitten :yes: ​

 

[soaring hawk]

Jump over th fence!!!!!!!!!!!!

We sold the goldwing bought a rt-s. 6k miles and no major problems. I dropped it off for the 6k check and had to ride my adventure bike I had spyder withdrawals :gaah: The dealer called and said it was done, went rite away to pick it up getting back on it I had to wipe the grin off my face so get off the fence and jump on a spyder:thumbup:

 

[jos]

I am very new to the whole spyder experience and to bike riding in general, I have a RT LTD 2012 and have now 1000 miles on it. Nothing but praise for this invention.
It took me two years of reading this forum to make the call...but the end result is GREAT:firstplace:
Jos
p.s. even Kathy loves it..!:yes:

 

[BentGamer]

....by the way my Spyder was perfect today....couldn't resist.

+1 Yup mine too. LOL

 

[Bob Denman]

Don't be on the fence any longer. After much consideration, we pulled the trigger on a leftover 2011 RT A&C SE5 on Saturday morning. Only regret, not doing it sooner. Put on 150 miles in less than a day and a half. Loving it so far...

:congrats:

 

[Paulf10]

Paulf10,

Your more than welcome to ride with us anytime. 5 of us will be riding about an hour away from your where you live tomorrow.

If you can make it, try to come to SITA in Lake placid NY in August.

Thank you for the offer! I love the ride from Western MA to Lake Placid on my bike. I can only imagine what a hoot it would be on the Spyder! I take all back roads, sometimes through Vermont and other times along the VT/NY border and go over on the little ferry to Ticonderoga. I think that will be my first weekend trip!

Thanks again for the offer. I'll be looking into August when the time comes!

Just curious. Where are you riding tomorrow? The Catskills?

 

[arntufun]

Thank you for the offer! I love the ride from Western MA to Lake Placid on my bike. I can only imagine what a hoot it would be on the Spyder! I take all back roads, sometimes through Vermont and other times along the VT/NY border and go over on the little ferry to Ticonderoga. I think that will be my first weekend trip!

Thanks again for the offer. I'll be looking into August when the time comes!

Just curious. Where are you riding tomorrow? The Catskills?

We started near Chatham NY then we did a loop through CT and came into Mass (Sheffield I think). We were on RT 203, 22, 41, 23, and a few others. I just followed and had no idea where we were going, but the roads are awesome over there.

 

[BajaRon]

Getting a good dealer is important with the Spyder. Probably more so than with other machines. Initial setup being done correctly is also important.

But I think that the way the owner rides their Spyder can have a great deal to do with at least some of the problems. The Rotax engine is designed to spin up. Some riders have a hard time getting used to that and they shift too early, don't downshift soon enough and basically lug the engine.

I'm not saying riding style accounts for all the issues, but my feeling is it accounts for a number of clutch, spark plug fouling and SE shifting problems which can cause limp mode and other unwanted situations.

The harder you ride the Spyder the less issues seem to occur (not counting Doc and Seth-O! :yikes

 

[Paulf10]

But I think that the way the owner rides their Spyder can have a great deal to do with at least some of the problems. The Rotax engine is designed to spin up. Some riders have a hard time getting used to that and they shift too early, don't downshift soon enough and basically lug the engine.

I'm not saying riding style accounts for all the issues, but my feeling is it accounts for a number of clutch, spark plug fouling and SE shifting problems which can cause limp mode and other unwanted situations.

The harder you ride the Spyder the less issues seem to occur (not counting Doc and Seth-O! :yikes

I appreciate all and any tips, suggestions, and opinions. I certainly don't mean to start a debate, but is this the general consensus? If so, it's really good to know.
Regardless of how long, how far, how many miles, etc, etc, I've been riding motorcycles, I am a newbie to the unique world of Spiders. All my experiance on a bike, means nothing on a Spider! At least thats what I got out of the 15 mile demo ride I took on the Spider.
With that said, something as simple as knowing when to shift with the semi auto SE5 left me clueless! So is it generally accepted that riding the Spyder harder is better?
Thanks,

Paul

 

[Arr MiHardies]

The rotax engine does like to rev higher than most machines. I find my Spyder happiest around 5k rpm. That's right about when what little vibration there is goes away completely and things feel as smooth as silk.

And you're not really riding it "harder" if that's where it's designed to be run. It just "harder" in comparison to most machines that run aroun 2.5-3k rpm.

Also, be sure to keep your foot completely off the brake unless, you know, you are actually braking. Don't ride the brake, in other words.

 

[gmcgarrity]

I agree with Bajaron.
Coming off a Wing I was used to running low rpm's without issue
Old blue likes to to be pushed
only go int 5th on the highway, with the Wing I would ride 5th through town
now I am in 2nd maybe 3rd.

 

[Paulf10]

Thanks guys! This is really good stuff to know! Especially for me! I fear I have many old habits to break. But I'm going to have a blast doing it!

 

[spyderrock]

Hey Paul I have a 2011 rt limited and love it But last year it was in the shop a total of 8 weeks out of a 5 month riding season. Most of the time the bike was in the shop we were waiting on BRP to ship the parts(I live in western Canada) still takes time to get them here. There was a recall with the parking break and that took 3 weeks to get fixed while it was in the shop the tech spilled break fluid on the left saddle bag and it left a nice stain on the vegas white paint. it took another 13 days to get that replaced and installed. I agree with most everyone here chose your dealer wisely. I have no choice there is only one here. I plan on spending a fair amount of money on this bike so I hope all the bugs are worked out, if not trade it for a 2012 lol. Good luck and welcome to the SPYDER WORLD:2thumbs::2thumbs: you made an-excellent choice.

 

[Kagey_98]

Welcome to the SpyderHood Paul. This is the BEST site on the WWW for anything & EVERYTHING Spyder related. Coming from first hand experience, initial dealer set-up will either make your experience a good one or a bad one. I didn't know about this forum or much about the Spyder in general when we purchased our 2010 RT-S. All I knew then, was that I was hooked & would do what I had to do to get one. Long story short, that byke was in the shop more than I had it & it left me VERY Frustrated & I had lost ALL faith in that particular unit. From learning as much as I could from this forum, I had heard nothing but great things about Len & the Cowtown USA dealership in Cuba MO, host of SpyderFest 2012, which SteveMac rightfully reccommended that you attend to see what I'm talking about first hand.

Len posted on here that he was going to build 5 Limited Edition 2011 SpyderFest RT-S Spyders from his dealership with the 5 most popular after-market mods already installed on the bykes & at a price better than you could get if you did all the mods yourself. When I read about this, I had planned to get 4 of the mods he had listed, on my 2010 RT-S, but there was no way I was going to sink more money into a byke that wasn't even in my pocession, because of problem after problem, being at a dealership (no longer a Spyder Dealer now) that didn't know what they were doing.

So, even tho I live in Cincinnati, Ohio & am 450 miles from Cowtown, I made the deal with Len & traded my 2010 RT-S for our 2011 RT-S & of course, I took a loss, but it has been worth every penny. I can't explain well enough how great this experience has been compared to our original experience. If I hadn't had back surgery last Friday, I'm sure we would have over 30,000 miles on our new Spyder in less than 11 months, but I've not been able to ryde for almost a month really, so we're sit'n at about 24,000 miles & besides having the Throttle Body recall done, its been pretty much trouble free & an ABSOLUTE BLAST. So much so, its our ONLY vehicle, year round. I found another local dealer that is good & have done needed Warranty work their, but with all the knowledge on this forum, with how-to videos & just about as much free advice as you can handle, I do much of the routine maintenance myself.

Find a good dealer in your area or call and talk to Len, as that initial dealer set-up will make or break your Spyder. Good Luck, & even tho I had a rough start myself, I couldn't imagine my life now without having the Spyder in it. Hope to see you at one of the rallys soon, you won't regret it:thumbup:

Being from Greater Cincinnati (Milford), and am looking to purchase a Spyder RT in the near future... I am interested in knowing who your "bad" dealer was, and who you now use.

Thanks,
Kagey

 

[CyncySpyder]

Highly reccommend Middletown Cycle in Franklin, Ohio*PVM lost their Spyder franchise

Being from Greater Cincinnati (Milford), and am looking to purchase a Spyder RT in the neat future... I am interested in knowing who your "bad" dealer was, and who you now use.

Thanks,
Kagey

The BAD dealer was Pleasant Valley Marine (PVM) located here in NKY in Florence. Thanfully, they are NO-LONGER A LICENSED SPYDER dealer:thumbup: & now, our closest dealer for the Metro-Cincy area is located in Franklin, Ohio at Middletown Cycle & I Do reccommend them, not a huge dealership, but they will do what they can to take care of you. Aarron is the Owner, younger guy, but he's really involved in the business on a daily basis & is well aware of good & bad word of mouth advertising (like this) can make or break any dealership. Anytime you want to ryde, just let us know, our Spyder is our only mode of transportation so we ryde every day :yes: Good Luck on your future Spyder Addiction :thumbup: