Magic Man
Registered User
Well with the holiday weekend is here, and some of the best record breaking weather is coming to the NE. So, I thought it might be nice to finally ride the RT.
Our RT went from the dealers shop, to our trailer, into the R&D center, and until now had only 1 mile showing on it's speedo.
Literally within moments of being in the R&D center it came apart, and has been in different stages of "apart" ever since.
Finally, yesterday I put "Humpty Dumpty back together again" and cleaned her all up.
This is the first real chance I have had to give our RT a workout, and work it out we did.
We rode the bike about 150 miles last night and here is what I noticed.
I LOVE the electronic transmission! I always ride the SM5 not our SE5, but I like the auto shift much more than I ever thought. The only thing I miss is the "burnout" feature our SE5 has when you really grab it, but that would be kind of out of place on this bike. LOL
The other thing that hit me was, that for a "brand new tight big twin motor" this thing really reved very freely and was pulling more RPMs before I really knew it.
Now this machine has the Green Filter in it, and at least IMHO seems to help this thing pull much better than others I have ridden.
We really gave it a workout, as we had myself, Patti and the trailer with us to see how it would go.
Now I'm not exactly "tiny" as you can see in my pictures, and (as a gentleman would never say otherwise) Patti is not quite at her "bikini weight" yet this season. :shocked:
The first thing I noticed is, how well the trailer pulls and that I really did not "notice it back there" at all. It tracked straight and true and never gave any "pulses" back to the bike through the hitch, nor wandered at all.
I really like the "trailer mode" setting and found it really kept a long time "low RPM HD motor" rider like myself from lugging the RT, which was a good thing.
I do understand why some people might feel the RT is down on power, but I think it has more to do with the clutching from a start than actual power.
The RT's auto clutch gives a very smooth seemless take off from a start. But I think the "fly by wire" and this clutch combo "hold back" the throttle from a start a bit to allow all this weight to get moving before it put the coals to it. I think it is this computer controled "tame take off" that might have some people not understanding what it is, and thinking "low power" is the reason.
I found for pulling, me, Patti and the trailer it goes really well, and has more than enough power to do the job it was built for. I think one of the biggest things is to keep the bike in "the power band" and not "lug it" then everything is very happy.
I have to say the ride is good and bad.
The good
This is hands down the best riding over bumps bike I have ever been on in my life! That was also with the shocks on setting 5 in the front and the back set all the way up too.
The bad...
All this comfort especially with all this weight and the trailer really showed how the sway bar and shocks are IMHO way too soft.
With all this weight up so high there is quite a bit of body roll, and almost an over steering feeling when entering a corner at speed.
What I am almost 100 % sure is happening is just like in cars.
You enter the turn and then all the "soft or squish" in the suspension starts to compress and the body begins to roll and not really respond quickly. Then once all this "squish" is compressed (shocks and sway bar) the bike then seems to "quickly grab" from that point on.
At first it almost feels like not much is happen turning wise with the first few degrees of steering, then all of a sudden wham, it turns very quickly.
I am almost 100% sure a set of higher quality shocks and stiffer sway bar would make a night and day differance in the ride, and help stop this "squish delay" feeling to the ride.
After a short time, I became aware what this "squish amount" was and where it would finally begin to turn with some real responce and adjusted my driving accordingly. Althouigh feeling a bit weird at first, it never caused any real problems.
I could see how riders who are easily un-nerved could at first not like this feeling. However, I never found it was dangerious and a kin it to driving a big luxury car in the twisties after you're used to driving a Porsche.
As far as the other part of the ride.
I found that although the wind does try to move this around more (it was windy here last night) it never was more than I could control, and found just like on the other Spyders you have to relax and NOT OVER-DRIVE the bike and it will do fine.
I went in behind and along side several big rigs to see how it would do. Although I could feel the wind off the trucks, it never really was a problem keeping it where I wanted it. Just relax, don't over-drive it, and it does fine.
I also feard I would really miss my hand brake, as my SM5 has our brake set up on it. But I was surprised on how like Lamont told me, that without a clutch on the left I would not seem to miss the brake lever on the right nearly as much.
He was right! With the the auto shift is was a much more natural feeling using only the rear pedal, and I never really had a problem all night long.
I even had some jerk pull out in front of me at about 50mph (Day Runners and all) and had to get all over the brakes. Even with all this weight and the trailer. I found it stopped great! I was even was able to make the ABS just start to engage (which means tire traction was the then limiting factor not brake power) and even with the trailer it stopped quickly, straight and true.
During our ride I never found it to be more pedal pressure that I could apply, and never felt like it was not going to stop short enough at any point last night.
As far as the other features this bike has....
Lets just say they are great! The sound system works very well and even though I left the manual at the shop, I was able to figure how to work the menu screens and make it do whatever I wanted within just a few minutes.
The heated grips for the driver are great! But the passanger ones just are not powerful enough to make any real impact for the passanger. IMHO it's ether not enough coils, or enough AMPs to get the job done.
The storage although large, has problems. All the areas take way too much effort to close! Where as the Frunk on the SM5 just drops and latches, this one has to be pushed to latch (finger prints on paint drive me nuts.) The rear tour pack has to be again pushed to shut, but the amount of "push" to get it to latch is nuts.
As for the side bags.. you just about have to get a running start and drop your shoulder into them to get them to latch. Crazy!
I'm sure there must be adjustments that hopefully will make these better(I'll look next the the tupperware is off) but being so many people have complained about these same problems, it is really kind of lame that the QC at BRP does not have them adjusted properly at deliver of a 30K machine set up like this. Even the trailer covers take way too much to close and latch.
I mean really, you can adjust the hood, trunk and doors on your car too. But if you had to do it "brand new" from the dealer you'd go nuts on them!
With these things costing more than many, many new cars it's time BRP got it's QC up to the same level as their prices. Sometimes it's these stupid little things can really detract for the overall enjoyment of a product.
The bike has been in our shop (which is nowhere as bright as outdoors) since delivered, so getting a "good look" at the paint was not easily seen. Even at the dealer during delivery I showed him things that I saw then. So now after seeing it really good in daylight, I will say that the paint work on the bike, and esp the trailer is not up to a 30K level of QC.
On a black bike things and prep work has to be top notch or every little flaw will stand out! Let's just say it's not! IMHO the paint WAS NOT applied with a 30K level of quality on at least this bike and trailer combo we have here.
I can, and will again speak to my dealer about the areas I just can't live with, and then buff the rest out myself. But on a unit in this price range who really wants to do this? I have never had to buff out even one of my new cars over the years many of which were not this much money.
But, these things (although they drive my OCD streak nuts) are minor, and this machine is a blast to drive! It will be a ton of fun for many, many people this season.
I think overall the one thing that will really give this machine the biggest improvement will be some stiffer shocks and a stronger sway bar. But other than that, I think it is a very good and comfortable touring machine. One I would buy again (just hopefully with better paint)
But for now, come Monday "Humpty Dumpty" will go back into the R&D center and "under the knife" to continue the R&D process for your new parts. :thumbup:
MM
Our RT went from the dealers shop, to our trailer, into the R&D center, and until now had only 1 mile showing on it's speedo.
Literally within moments of being in the R&D center it came apart, and has been in different stages of "apart" ever since.
Finally, yesterday I put "Humpty Dumpty back together again" and cleaned her all up.
This is the first real chance I have had to give our RT a workout, and work it out we did.
We rode the bike about 150 miles last night and here is what I noticed.
I LOVE the electronic transmission! I always ride the SM5 not our SE5, but I like the auto shift much more than I ever thought. The only thing I miss is the "burnout" feature our SE5 has when you really grab it, but that would be kind of out of place on this bike. LOL
The other thing that hit me was, that for a "brand new tight big twin motor" this thing really reved very freely and was pulling more RPMs before I really knew it.
Now this machine has the Green Filter in it, and at least IMHO seems to help this thing pull much better than others I have ridden.
We really gave it a workout, as we had myself, Patti and the trailer with us to see how it would go.
Now I'm not exactly "tiny" as you can see in my pictures, and (as a gentleman would never say otherwise) Patti is not quite at her "bikini weight" yet this season. :shocked:
The first thing I noticed is, how well the trailer pulls and that I really did not "notice it back there" at all. It tracked straight and true and never gave any "pulses" back to the bike through the hitch, nor wandered at all.
I really like the "trailer mode" setting and found it really kept a long time "low RPM HD motor" rider like myself from lugging the RT, which was a good thing.
I do understand why some people might feel the RT is down on power, but I think it has more to do with the clutching from a start than actual power.
The RT's auto clutch gives a very smooth seemless take off from a start. But I think the "fly by wire" and this clutch combo "hold back" the throttle from a start a bit to allow all this weight to get moving before it put the coals to it. I think it is this computer controled "tame take off" that might have some people not understanding what it is, and thinking "low power" is the reason.
I found for pulling, me, Patti and the trailer it goes really well, and has more than enough power to do the job it was built for. I think one of the biggest things is to keep the bike in "the power band" and not "lug it" then everything is very happy.
I have to say the ride is good and bad.
The good
This is hands down the best riding over bumps bike I have ever been on in my life! That was also with the shocks on setting 5 in the front and the back set all the way up too.
The bad...
All this comfort especially with all this weight and the trailer really showed how the sway bar and shocks are IMHO way too soft.
With all this weight up so high there is quite a bit of body roll, and almost an over steering feeling when entering a corner at speed.
What I am almost 100 % sure is happening is just like in cars.
You enter the turn and then all the "soft or squish" in the suspension starts to compress and the body begins to roll and not really respond quickly. Then once all this "squish" is compressed (shocks and sway bar) the bike then seems to "quickly grab" from that point on.
At first it almost feels like not much is happen turning wise with the first few degrees of steering, then all of a sudden wham, it turns very quickly.
I am almost 100% sure a set of higher quality shocks and stiffer sway bar would make a night and day differance in the ride, and help stop this "squish delay" feeling to the ride.
After a short time, I became aware what this "squish amount" was and where it would finally begin to turn with some real responce and adjusted my driving accordingly. Althouigh feeling a bit weird at first, it never caused any real problems.
I could see how riders who are easily un-nerved could at first not like this feeling. However, I never found it was dangerious and a kin it to driving a big luxury car in the twisties after you're used to driving a Porsche.
As far as the other part of the ride.
I found that although the wind does try to move this around more (it was windy here last night) it never was more than I could control, and found just like on the other Spyders you have to relax and NOT OVER-DRIVE the bike and it will do fine.
I went in behind and along side several big rigs to see how it would do. Although I could feel the wind off the trucks, it never really was a problem keeping it where I wanted it. Just relax, don't over-drive it, and it does fine.
I also feard I would really miss my hand brake, as my SM5 has our brake set up on it. But I was surprised on how like Lamont told me, that without a clutch on the left I would not seem to miss the brake lever on the right nearly as much.
He was right! With the the auto shift is was a much more natural feeling using only the rear pedal, and I never really had a problem all night long.
I even had some jerk pull out in front of me at about 50mph (Day Runners and all) and had to get all over the brakes. Even with all this weight and the trailer. I found it stopped great! I was even was able to make the ABS just start to engage (which means tire traction was the then limiting factor not brake power) and even with the trailer it stopped quickly, straight and true.
During our ride I never found it to be more pedal pressure that I could apply, and never felt like it was not going to stop short enough at any point last night.
As far as the other features this bike has....
Lets just say they are great! The sound system works very well and even though I left the manual at the shop, I was able to figure how to work the menu screens and make it do whatever I wanted within just a few minutes.
The heated grips for the driver are great! But the passanger ones just are not powerful enough to make any real impact for the passanger. IMHO it's ether not enough coils, or enough AMPs to get the job done.
The storage although large, has problems. All the areas take way too much effort to close! Where as the Frunk on the SM5 just drops and latches, this one has to be pushed to latch (finger prints on paint drive me nuts.) The rear tour pack has to be again pushed to shut, but the amount of "push" to get it to latch is nuts.
As for the side bags.. you just about have to get a running start and drop your shoulder into them to get them to latch. Crazy!
I'm sure there must be adjustments that hopefully will make these better(I'll look next the the tupperware is off) but being so many people have complained about these same problems, it is really kind of lame that the QC at BRP does not have them adjusted properly at deliver of a 30K machine set up like this. Even the trailer covers take way too much to close and latch.
I mean really, you can adjust the hood, trunk and doors on your car too. But if you had to do it "brand new" from the dealer you'd go nuts on them!
With these things costing more than many, many new cars it's time BRP got it's QC up to the same level as their prices. Sometimes it's these stupid little things can really detract for the overall enjoyment of a product.
The bike has been in our shop (which is nowhere as bright as outdoors) since delivered, so getting a "good look" at the paint was not easily seen. Even at the dealer during delivery I showed him things that I saw then. So now after seeing it really good in daylight, I will say that the paint work on the bike, and esp the trailer is not up to a 30K level of QC.
On a black bike things and prep work has to be top notch or every little flaw will stand out! Let's just say it's not! IMHO the paint WAS NOT applied with a 30K level of quality on at least this bike and trailer combo we have here.
I can, and will again speak to my dealer about the areas I just can't live with, and then buff the rest out myself. But on a unit in this price range who really wants to do this? I have never had to buff out even one of my new cars over the years many of which were not this much money.
But, these things (although they drive my OCD streak nuts) are minor, and this machine is a blast to drive! It will be a ton of fun for many, many people this season.
I think overall the one thing that will really give this machine the biggest improvement will be some stiffer shocks and a stronger sway bar. But other than that, I think it is a very good and comfortable touring machine. One I would buy again (just hopefully with better paint)
But for now, come Monday "Humpty Dumpty" will go back into the R&D center and "under the knife" to continue the R&D process for your new parts. :thumbup:
MM
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