Proper turning on a Spyder RT

[bluestratos]

I have become more and more comfortable in the turns but that being said, I take the turn at the speed that feels right/safe. I ride now and then with a small group of two wheelers that like to push it hard in the twisties. I just keep the tunes up and drive cautiously where it feels right for the conditions. I have nothing to prove to anyone and we all get there as they will tend to take a stop now and then for a drink or cigarette.

If you feel uncomfortable in the turns than go easy, it may be you need a bit of experience on the Spyder or it may be that you are pushing the envelope but in any case, if its not fun, its too fast.

Good luck with it,

Randy

 

[hrbeta]

So basically I'm doing it right, but I'm not trusting the Nanny to do her job? Which makes sense. Out of pure curosity, how fast can a turn be taken without the Nanny jumping in to do her job? I do take the turns (bit slower) with the others but Lord my heart races until we straighted out

Thank you guys..........I truly appreciate your quick feedback!!!

I believe you are on the right path. Try following all the good advise given here, I bet there is millennia of accumulated riding experience in this thread. LOL
Also, I'd recommend that you follow the correct method to choose and follow a travel line when cornering. This is crucial to gain confidence and competence in corners.
I don't think we can outperform a sports two wheeler in the corners but we can keep up with cruisers.
In my limited experience, I find that my Spyder will match most cages in a curve, specially after I installed the Elka shocks and the EVO sway bar.

 

[GeoffCee]

Last March when I took delivery of my Spyder RT I was surprised by the amount of time it took me to lose the habits of 40+ years of 2-wheeled riding. Like everyone who has a history of motorcycling, it was necessary to come to terms with the altogether different charcteristics of a 3-wheeled vehicle.

Funny, but as I took my place aboard the Spyder for my first ride I had on waterproof padded clothing, a full-face helmet and gloves and I plugged myself into the intercom in order to listen to my sat-nav's instuctions, so I felt like a biker because I was still dressing exactly like one!

But my first corner taken at speed on the Spyder turned out to be a disaster for my confidence. The Spyder's handling really scared me. It felt as though it was trying its best to throw me off the machine; to dump me onto the road at the outside of every bend. I was alone for that first ride of 40 miles from the dealership to home and I was aware that my speed had dropped to a crawl at each curve. I was riding so slowly I felt sorry for following traffic. I was sure right then that buying the Spyder had been a huge, expensive mistake. How would I ever learn to ride with confidence at normal road speeds when I was feeling so ill at ease?

This forum came to my rescue. It turned out I was not alone, there were plenty of new Spyder riders having exactly the same difficulties as me and plenty of "old hands" to advise on how to deal with them. It was a white-knuckle ride home. But the advice was to give the Spyder its head, to trust it and to keep a soft touch on the bars, not to grip the bars tightly or put in too many control tweaks. It took a while to commit to this but for me that was the one single piece of advice that changed my mind about the Spyder. Once I had learned to trust it I found myself enjoying the ride at least as much as any of the bikes I have owned. I never thought it would be this good. :thumbup:

 

[ARtraveler]

All good advice above. Always ride within your comfort zone. I am never comfortable trying to keep up with any other riders that are going faster then I wish to.

When on the twisties, I am pretty comfortable with exceeding the posted speed on most curves by 15 to 20 mph. It is important that you do not cross or even get to close to the center line. If you are crossing the center line on these turns--you are going faster than your ability.

I also find that planting the foot on the outside peg and a little lean works when you are riding more agressively. I never exceed posted limits on curves unless I am familiar with the road. When driving a twisty for the first time--I never exceed posted more than 5 mph.

 

[napper39]

dont worry your doing better than me i had too many bikes 53,and i thought what the hell this beast wants to throw me off .so ill tell you it took me 600 miles to go over 45 mph that thing scared me crazy,and i buld ulter light aircraft and fly them and it never scared me this much.so time in the saddle and you will be fine ,you might want to set your shocks up all the way that helped me in the cruves.soon you will be riding like the wind,and have full control of that:thumbup::chat: beast.:clap:

 

[Bob Denman]

All good advice above. Always ride within your comfort zone.

I also find that planting the foot on the outside peg and a little lean works when you are riding more agressively. I never exceed posted limits on curves unless I am familiar with the road. When driving a twisty for the first time--I never exceed posted more than 5 mph.

:agree: All very good advice...:2thumbs: :clap:
:clap:

 

[Mr. White]

Thank you Big Red 1........by the way, you are standing in one of my favorite places, Luckenbach!!!

Yeah, I live about 30 miles from Luckenbach and go by for a root beer often. Come on down in April.

:spyder2:

 

[DynamoBT]

If your hands hurt after a ride, you are gripping the handlebars too tightly. As others have said, the Spyder takes a soft touch. It doesn't like a lot of input. Smooth is the name of the game.

I too started out slower than I ride now. As my cornering lines improved and I gained confidence in the machine, I go faster than I used to. But, I'm still no speed demon. Stiffening up the suspension is huge. Most of us like it much more stiff than BRP recommended. Start with more air pressue in your tires. I run 20 psi front and 30 psi rear. I put 2011 RT shocks on my RS as well as the Evo swaybar. Everything is set on the most stiff setting. Even the Spyder tech guy where I service it says it's hugely better.

Time in the saddle will bring the confidence you seek. In the meantime, don't scare yourself. That doesn't sound like much fun. Confidence will come with time.

 

[thehawk]

All good advice above. Always ride within your comfort zone. I am never comfortable trying to keep up with any other riders that are going faster then I wish to.

When on the twisties, I am pretty comfortable with exceeding the posted speed on most curves by 15 to 20 mph. It is important that you do not cross or even get to close to the center line. If you are crossing the center line on these turns--you are going faster than your ability.

I also find that planting the foot on the outside peg and a little lean works when you are riding more agressively. I never exceed posted limits on curves unless I am familiar with the road. When driving a twisty for the first time--I never exceed posted more than 5 mph.

I pretty much agree. I am not an aggressive driver ... but after 3000 miles the 20-over is do-able with reasonable comfort ... except for those marked 25 and under ... right-angle and/or hairpins. And I have only had the nanny kick in during a couple of incidents of hydro planing. Hair-raising the first time ... but somewhat comforting the second.

thehawk

 

[SpyderLady]

It took me about 2,000 miles to make a comfortable transition from 2 wheels to my Spyder. While I ride in my own comfort zone I do try to take curves 5-10 mph above the posted curve speed limit. This has helped my confidence. As everyone else has said.....give it time. I am sure it took quite a few miles to get used to the two wheels. Give the Spyder time. Love mine.

 

[Chazzman]

The only thing that I compare the Roadster to a motorcycle is the very light touch on the hand grips and slight steering input. If you hold on tight and steer, the thing will be all over the road and wear you out. I guess I was fortunate to adapt on my first test ride in about 10 miles. Or maybe it's that I haven't really pushed her hard through any twisties, either way remember upper body relaxed like a noodle, no tension in the shoulders, arms and neck, very light grip on the bars, controlled relaxed steering input works for me.

Along with this and ball of the foot pressure gained me 20 MPH at Barber Motorsports on my most difficult turn on 2 wheels.

 

[daveinva]

To synthesize what's been written above to capture what works for *me* on my RS:

1. The pattern I tend to use is shift-lean-shift.

Meaning, making sharp *low-speed* turns, it helps to shift your butt to the inside of the turn at least one cheek-width. Then lean forward towards the inside mirror, grip the body with your knees, and push off the outside peg.

During normal riding at speed, I do the same, but I lean instead of shift.

During *faster* riding, I transition back to my low-speed technique: shift my butt *before* I enter the turn, shift my butt out after the turn.

Still, 90% of the time I can get by with leaning versus shifting. But it's important as a Spyder rider to recognize those times when you *really should* shift your weight.

The worst is when you enter a turn too hot and discover you either have to bleed speed in the turn (yay understeer!) or abandon your lean in order to shift your weight to the inside (upsetting the vehicle more than a little bit). That's why when I go into the twisties, I just make sure I'm focused enough on the road to do the shifting versus leaning, and keep myself out of trouble.

2. Technical upgrades help A LOT. As mentioned above, set your suspension to its stiffest and upgrade the sway bar or shocks if you can. Also, changing your seating position can help your handling: risers, aftermarket seats, footboards versus pegs all can contribue to a very different handling Spyder. The stock RS handlebars and pegs make turning lots of fun, but definitely make you concentrate on it. Adding in risers and footboards extended my "leaning" margin by a great amount (good!) but unfortunately made me have to re-learn that point where I transition from leaning to shifting (bad!).

Again, every time you make a major ergonomic change to a Spyder (or any motorcycle) you should take the opportunity to practice how it handles in a safe environment (big parking lots, empty roads at 6 am, etc.).

 

[Flight Risk]

Today I decided to make some changes due to all the wonderful suggestions made here. I took the front tire pressure from 20 to 17psi, back tire psi is now 28 instead of 20. I manually changed the front shocks from the middle #3 to #2 then automatically softened the suspension to the next softest. After this I took the RT out for a short ride and did a bunch of turns, etc., and am very happy to report a really major difference in performance. I also tried to stop controlling her and just ride. I got down lower in the turns, leanded deeper and pressed down with my outside foot.........OMG, the differences all this is making.

I have a 200 mile trip planned with the riding club on Sunday so that will be the real test.

Just wanted to thank all of you for the tire pressure advice as well as my other post regarding "turning"

 

[rcantrell52]

Proper Turning on a Spyder

Saw the after effects of not having a Spyder with the nanny. My son and 3 friends went motorcycle riding yesterday about 2 hours north of where we live. They went through a curve that had gravel and one of the friends' rear tire broke loose and he went down. Fortunately he was wearing appropriate gear and doing about 35 mph so he wasn't seriously injured, just bumps and bruises. The bike, of course, had damage and had to be trailered back, headed for the dealership Tues. The rider told me on the return trip that Spyders look more appealing than ever & we talked about safety features so there may be another out there soon.
Reese

 

[Star Cruiser]

I didn't ryde as many twp wheelers as many on the reply list. but I did have about 12 or so and have ridden them over the last 42 years.
The huge difference on the Spyder for me was NOT to Push steer. Once I got confortable with letting the power steering do it own thing. NO PROBLEM. Stay horizontal on the bars don't push down at all. You will be far less fatiqued and the counter steer (which is intuitive for us two wheel types) will also disappear. You will find that you are not "fighting" what the Spyder wants to do naturally for you. Over 50,000miles later - I still LOVE my Spyder

 

[SpydherLuv]

I recently installed Seal Floorboards and it has made a huge difference for me in the turns. I am now able to put my feet in more comfortable positions, and they stay flat on the boards, giving me a much more stable feel.

 

[CyncySpyder]

Well, don't keep us in suspense, how'd the long ryde go for ya? R ya luv'n it? ??

Today I decided to make some changes due to all the wonderful suggestions made here. I took the front tire pressure from 20 to 17psi, back tire psi is now 28 instead of 20. I manually changed the front shocks from the middle #3 to #2 then automatically softened the suspension to the next softest. After this I took the RT out for a short ride and did a bunch of turns, etc., and am very happy to report a really major difference in performance. I also tried to stop controlling her and just ride. I got down lower in the turns, leanded deeper and pressed down with my outside foot.........OMG, the differences all this is making.

I have a 200 mile trip planned with the riding club on Sunday so that will be the real test.

Just wanted to thank all of you for the tire pressure advice as well as my other post regarding "turning"

:hun: Just had this descussion the other day with a fellow Spyder Ryder. I remember when I first started ryding the Spyder & the best advice I got was from Scotty about being aggressive in the turns, to which he told me to put my chin over my nuckles leaning into the turn, but keeping a light grip on the bars. Once I started doing this, along with using my knees to grip the seat, well, I'll just say I've heard a few yipes from the Tedster as he's been tossed around a little in his passenger seat, of course, teathered in for his safety & ryde'n pleasure. OMG, I LUV hit'n the TWISTIES :yes::yes: & hope you are too :dontknow: