Yes, I've thought the steering seemed heavy a few times even with the old tires. But since I have nothing to compare it to I figured it was just me.
I rode in this morning and hit the "S" curves and on ramps pretty hard. Nanny got me a couple times, but the tires seems to be doing better. The rear isn't sliding and doesn't seem prone to spin off the line. (wish I'd gotten the manual trans) On the fronts, it almost felt like the tires were trying to "fold under" in really hard cornering. Made it hard to hold a line.
Also, maybe it's just me, but it seems the tryke rides a bit higher. Also, what does the 205/55 rear do for the speedo? I hit... I was very quick on the on ramp and just wondered how accurate.
Firstly, you
DID get the manual trans, doesn't matter if it's an SM or an SE, these 2014 & on Spyders all come with the same 6 speed manual trans, it's just that if you got an
SE you also got a smarter clutch & some high tech/much faster flappy paddle initiated shifting with some computer controlled 'fail-safes' built in!
hyea:
However, the '
steering seemed heavy a few times' thing does sorta sound like you might have a battery/charge problem or a problem with the DPS &/or steering torque/angle sensor - the DPS is
REALLY power hungry, so a poor earth or dodgy/die-ing battery can mean the electric steering assist cuts out as its power demand increases & exceeds the available limit, then cuts back in as the demand drops & there's enough juice to run it at the lesser load, with your steering becoming noticeably heavier every time it cuts out & lighter as it cuts back in.... If it's actually just the steering torque/angle sensor that's the one doing that or if it's just that getting tired, then you can get the same result.... And running a slightly wider tire (like 175/55's) up front than you used to
WILL be putting a little more of a load on the DPS too, so that might be increasing what used to be an occasional minor problem into a more often felt bigger problem!! :shocked:
As for the front tires feeling as tho they are 'folding under', bearing in mind that it's extremely difficult 'diagnosing' this sorta stuff 'over the internet' like this, and even harder explaining the complexities of it all without writing an entire thesis...
While what you're feeling could well be something that a poor power supply &/or dodgy DPS or steering torque/angle sensor might make worse; it could also be just that the former tires you had on simply started sliding a little bit at that stage rather than gripping quite so much (wider tires too!) So instead of getting 'understeer' that you now notice, maybe you just didn't notice it before cos the fronts were sliding juuuust a little instead.... If your former tires were the OE spec Kendas then that will almost certainly have something to do with it!! OR, it could be that now you've got 'better' tires, you are pushing just a little harder/going just a little faster & the tires actually
ARE 'folding under' a bit more than they used to (wider tires will also flex a little more too) - but the Nanny is almost certainly gonna jump in
WELL BEFORE that becomes an issue that the Spyder/Nanny can't handle! It might help to reduce that if you brace hard with your outside foot; get all your weight across the seat & down low on the inside (kiss your wrist on the inside handlebar!); and only
PULL on the inside grip when cornering - pushing on the outside grip might 'feel' a little better at low speeds, but it's transferring weight out onto the wrong side of the bike, doing it up high where it exerts a LOT of leverage, and the faster you go the greater the impact of that leverage on the outside bar so the more it increases the Spyder's tendency to body roll towards the outside, actually making it feel
even more like the Spyder is trying to throw you off onto the outside of the corner! And all that 'up high leverage' also puts more force onto the outside wheel, making the 'lean out' effect
AND the 'tire rolling under' feel even worse! So get your weight
In & Down, & PULL on the Inside grip to reduce that feel!! :thumbup:
Then again, if you've been running the tires on your Spyder even
just a little (technically) over-inflated (ie, very likely anything much more than 16-18 psi up front in an auto tire) then it could just be that you've become used to the 'feel' of the (supposedly) 'more direct steering' that imparts, except it's not actually 'more direct' so much as 'easier turning' because there's less grip and you've actually been reducing the tire's cornering grip even more by lifting the inner edge of the tread in the contact patch area right off the road surface & possibly even causing that 'Kenda slide' with the 'better' auto tires
despite their potential for better traction if run at a bit lower pressure because more of the tread/contact patch would actually remain
ON the road surface during cornering! Even for drivers who are very practiced and well trained at 'feeling' all these little variations in ride & handling etc and reporting the slightest little change back to the boffins, then suggest possible causes, recommend changes/improvements etc, it's very easy to confuse your 'feel' & the 'bum dyno', which is why we make so much use of all the electronics & hi-speed cameras & other hi-techery stuff whilever we're testing tires these days! :sour:
Buut still, there
IS a good chance that at your new rear tire actually
IS a little larger in rolling dia than the OE spec Kenda (which are a fairly small tire for their nominal size anyway!) so that your Speedo is probably a little more accurate now than it used to be - which means that
NOW, when your speedo
SAYS you're doing
60mph, you are probably doing something pretty close to that, maybe 57-58 mph-ish; where-as before, when you were still on the Kenda, if your speedo
said you were doing 60, you weren't, you were probably only doing something closer to 54 or 55 mph!! So now, you may well be going 5 or so mph faster than before, and feeling the difference!! :thumbup:
But I still think it's pretty likely you've got a battery/charging issue &/or a DPS/Steering torque sensor issue.... maybe that's ALL the problem is, or maybe it's just one part of all those things combined giving you 'the perfect storm' for having the issues you are when others haven't?! :dontknow:
Over to you... :thumbup:
