I figured I'd start this thread in case someone else has a similar experience. Hopefully they may avoid the same frustration.
I'd previously mentioned the beginning of this, and what I initially thought was resolution, over in: https://www.spyderlovers.com/forums/showthread.php?140564-Who-has-or-has-not-had-problems-with-their-Ryker/page2
I purchased my 2021 Ryker 900 ACE in late July. Rode it ~5mi home from the dealership on a Saturday, then ~40mi round-trip on Sunday, both times in Eco mode. Then it sat for the next week while I waited for the parking brake lock and windshield to arrive, which I installed over the next weekend.
The following Monday, a crisp 55F sunny morning, I set off to work; this time in Eco Off mode. A few miles away, going ~55mph uphill on the highway, the instrument cluster lit up, gave a long beep and flashed "VSS Fault" and "Limp-Home Mode". Then the engine RPM dropped and I found myself barely able to maintain 40mph with traffic immediately behind; a nasty little "feature" of limp mode, which compounded with the lack of a hazard warning switch and impatient drivers to make for a dicey ride to the nearest exit. I took back roads home, swapped vehicles and went to work. That evening, when I checked the codes from the cluster display, I had both C006C and C0063. A cursory search pointed to the yaw sensor, however I also found an NHTSA report which indicated a number of Rykers had thrown these codes for excessive front end play OR improperly calibrated steering angle sensors (viewable here: https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/tsbs/2020/MC-10181946-0001.pdf ). For funsies I tried disconnecting and reconnecting both the steering angle and yaw sensors, without improvement. I called the dealership the following morning, told them what codes I had, the steps I'd tried and mentioned the report I'd found. The service department promptly had the trike picked up and delivered to their shop. By the next weekend I was told that they had contacted BRP and were instructed to reset the yaw sensor and have me "keep an eye" on it. They test rode it ~5-10 miles, I picked it up and rode it ~20mi home, noticing it seemed to have more pep than I remembered. When I got home, I found that the shop techs had left it in Sport mode, which annoyed me a bit, but I let it go.
The following Monday, another crisp morning in the 50's, I set off to work in Eco Off mode; this time, I made it about half the distance as my previous attempt and the same fault conditions occurred. Again, I limped it home, called the dealership and they picked it up. Fast forward to the end of the week, not having heard anything, I called to see what was going on. I was told that BRP had approved replacement of the yaw sensor, but the part wouldn't arrive for another week. A week later I get a call, the trike is ready to be picked up. Awesome! I check the mode, again left in Sport, switch to Eco Off and start out on the same 20mi route as last time, only making it 2mi before the fault recurred. I limped it back to the shop, pissed, made it clear that I do not want it back until it's fixed, and that this is encroaching on lemon law territory. They asked me to hang around for a bit while they had a tech check it out. Okay, cool. About half an hour later, the shop manager comes out to talk to me and indicates that they'd found excessive resistance in one of the leads to the yaw sensor, and that the sensor was likely never actually bad. They could fix it, but needed time to identify the damaged section of harness.
Now, I've been in the IT industry for over a decade. In addition to many other hats, I troubleshoot hardware and software for a living. What I was being told immediately raised a flag; why weren't the sensor connector leads part of their diagnostics process? When asked, I was told that it is part of the process, but that the initial technician, who magically no longer works there, wasn't very thorough. They assure me they now have their best guy on it and will get back to me once they determine the location of the problem and how much harness has to be replaced. Okay fine.
Early the next week they call to tell me that they located the problem and replaced the section of harness and test rode ~10mi. They wanted me to test ride, and if all was well, take it home. Yay!
Again I notice it's in Sport mode, again I switch to Eco Off, a head out on my test route. Within 2mi, it threw the error again, and I limped back to the shop. Now they're perplexed. They can't understand why it doesn't throw faults when they ride it, but does immediately when I do. I know they're suspicious that I must be doing something to cause this, and I can somewhat understand why. I assured them that I was 100% positive that I'm not riding the brake, wrote down the exact road conditions, location and speed where it had occurred, then headed home.
In my frustration, I overlooked something so completely obvious that hit me like a ton of bricks when I walked in my front door. The mode! The only time it didn't throw faults I was either in Eco or Sport mode, and every time I got it back from them it was in Sport mode. I'd bet money that their techs are hooning around on customer bikes in Sport mode when available and not treating it as a variable for troubleshooting. I called them immediately to suggest this variable and ask whether their techs had ridden in anything other than Sport. They said thanks, they'll keep working on it, and didn't know the answer to my question offhand but would be sure to check with the technician. At this point, assuming they had finally properly tested related sensors, I'm suspecting a computer problem specific to whatever code and/or circuitry change that occurs with relation to VSS and the operating mode.
A week and a day later to today, a couple hours before they close, still not having received word, I called to see what was up. Now, they must have caller ID, because they immediately asked me to hold, a few minutes later when the advisor is back on the line and I requested a status, I am told that he had just gone out to talk to the techs about it. Apparently they'd found the steering angle sensor out of calibration and had calibrated it. They wanted me to come in to test ride again. When I arrived, I ran into the service advisor out in the lot moving a bike. He immediately greeted me and said to let the other advisor inside know that I'm there to test...thanks Capt' Obvious. Seeing that I'd caught him off-guard, I took the opportunity to inquire as to whether he ever found the answer to my questions. He paused, for a while, like people tend to do when fabricating answers, flashing a micro-expression before stating that they had ridden in different modes, that it simply wasn't throwing a fault when they rode it for some unknown reason, unlucky me. I don't have concrete proof, but I'm not buying it. He also states that they tested rode all three modes this time; that I believe. This time, when I saddled up, the trike was in Eco Off...surprise surprise. Took it out for a ~12mi round trip without issue. They'll follow up with BRP, finish their paperwork and I'll pick it up next Tuesday. We'll see if it stays fixed this time.
If it recurs, my next step at this point is to contact BRP and request that they either buy the trike back, or replace it.
With regards to lemon law in my state, I've satisfied the requirements for reasonable repair attempts under warranty and cumulative days out of service. Communicating with the manufacturer is next before requesting arbitration through the state.
I do not think this issue is un-fixable, but it has become clear that I cannot trust the only BRP affiliated shop in my area to be communicative, be honest, or to know and apply basic electronics troubleshooting methodology. I love the trike, but I do think that the way it operates when activating limp mode is extremely dangerous, and I'm less than thrilled to have to rely on this shop for the software required to troubleshoot and clear fault codes, so I can't say that I'd be altogether heartbroken if they end up buying it back.
I'd previously mentioned the beginning of this, and what I initially thought was resolution, over in: https://www.spyderlovers.com/forums/showthread.php?140564-Who-has-or-has-not-had-problems-with-their-Ryker/page2
I purchased my 2021 Ryker 900 ACE in late July. Rode it ~5mi home from the dealership on a Saturday, then ~40mi round-trip on Sunday, both times in Eco mode. Then it sat for the next week while I waited for the parking brake lock and windshield to arrive, which I installed over the next weekend.
The following Monday, a crisp 55F sunny morning, I set off to work; this time in Eco Off mode. A few miles away, going ~55mph uphill on the highway, the instrument cluster lit up, gave a long beep and flashed "VSS Fault" and "Limp-Home Mode". Then the engine RPM dropped and I found myself barely able to maintain 40mph with traffic immediately behind; a nasty little "feature" of limp mode, which compounded with the lack of a hazard warning switch and impatient drivers to make for a dicey ride to the nearest exit. I took back roads home, swapped vehicles and went to work. That evening, when I checked the codes from the cluster display, I had both C006C and C0063. A cursory search pointed to the yaw sensor, however I also found an NHTSA report which indicated a number of Rykers had thrown these codes for excessive front end play OR improperly calibrated steering angle sensors (viewable here: https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/tsbs/2020/MC-10181946-0001.pdf ). For funsies I tried disconnecting and reconnecting both the steering angle and yaw sensors, without improvement. I called the dealership the following morning, told them what codes I had, the steps I'd tried and mentioned the report I'd found. The service department promptly had the trike picked up and delivered to their shop. By the next weekend I was told that they had contacted BRP and were instructed to reset the yaw sensor and have me "keep an eye" on it. They test rode it ~5-10 miles, I picked it up and rode it ~20mi home, noticing it seemed to have more pep than I remembered. When I got home, I found that the shop techs had left it in Sport mode, which annoyed me a bit, but I let it go.
The following Monday, another crisp morning in the 50's, I set off to work in Eco Off mode; this time, I made it about half the distance as my previous attempt and the same fault conditions occurred. Again, I limped it home, called the dealership and they picked it up. Fast forward to the end of the week, not having heard anything, I called to see what was going on. I was told that BRP had approved replacement of the yaw sensor, but the part wouldn't arrive for another week. A week later I get a call, the trike is ready to be picked up. Awesome! I check the mode, again left in Sport, switch to Eco Off and start out on the same 20mi route as last time, only making it 2mi before the fault recurred. I limped it back to the shop, pissed, made it clear that I do not want it back until it's fixed, and that this is encroaching on lemon law territory. They asked me to hang around for a bit while they had a tech check it out. Okay, cool. About half an hour later, the shop manager comes out to talk to me and indicates that they'd found excessive resistance in one of the leads to the yaw sensor, and that the sensor was likely never actually bad. They could fix it, but needed time to identify the damaged section of harness.
Now, I've been in the IT industry for over a decade. In addition to many other hats, I troubleshoot hardware and software for a living. What I was being told immediately raised a flag; why weren't the sensor connector leads part of their diagnostics process? When asked, I was told that it is part of the process, but that the initial technician, who magically no longer works there, wasn't very thorough. They assure me they now have their best guy on it and will get back to me once they determine the location of the problem and how much harness has to be replaced. Okay fine.
Early the next week they call to tell me that they located the problem and replaced the section of harness and test rode ~10mi. They wanted me to test ride, and if all was well, take it home. Yay!
Again I notice it's in Sport mode, again I switch to Eco Off, a head out on my test route. Within 2mi, it threw the error again, and I limped back to the shop. Now they're perplexed. They can't understand why it doesn't throw faults when they ride it, but does immediately when I do. I know they're suspicious that I must be doing something to cause this, and I can somewhat understand why. I assured them that I was 100% positive that I'm not riding the brake, wrote down the exact road conditions, location and speed where it had occurred, then headed home.
In my frustration, I overlooked something so completely obvious that hit me like a ton of bricks when I walked in my front door. The mode! The only time it didn't throw faults I was either in Eco or Sport mode, and every time I got it back from them it was in Sport mode. I'd bet money that their techs are hooning around on customer bikes in Sport mode when available and not treating it as a variable for troubleshooting. I called them immediately to suggest this variable and ask whether their techs had ridden in anything other than Sport. They said thanks, they'll keep working on it, and didn't know the answer to my question offhand but would be sure to check with the technician. At this point, assuming they had finally properly tested related sensors, I'm suspecting a computer problem specific to whatever code and/or circuitry change that occurs with relation to VSS and the operating mode.
A week and a day later to today, a couple hours before they close, still not having received word, I called to see what was up. Now, they must have caller ID, because they immediately asked me to hold, a few minutes later when the advisor is back on the line and I requested a status, I am told that he had just gone out to talk to the techs about it. Apparently they'd found the steering angle sensor out of calibration and had calibrated it. They wanted me to come in to test ride again. When I arrived, I ran into the service advisor out in the lot moving a bike. He immediately greeted me and said to let the other advisor inside know that I'm there to test...thanks Capt' Obvious. Seeing that I'd caught him off-guard, I took the opportunity to inquire as to whether he ever found the answer to my questions. He paused, for a while, like people tend to do when fabricating answers, flashing a micro-expression before stating that they had ridden in different modes, that it simply wasn't throwing a fault when they rode it for some unknown reason, unlucky me. I don't have concrete proof, but I'm not buying it. He also states that they tested rode all three modes this time; that I believe. This time, when I saddled up, the trike was in Eco Off...surprise surprise. Took it out for a ~12mi round trip without issue. They'll follow up with BRP, finish their paperwork and I'll pick it up next Tuesday. We'll see if it stays fixed this time.
If it recurs, my next step at this point is to contact BRP and request that they either buy the trike back, or replace it.
With regards to lemon law in my state, I've satisfied the requirements for reasonable repair attempts under warranty and cumulative days out of service. Communicating with the manufacturer is next before requesting arbitration through the state.
I do not think this issue is un-fixable, but it has become clear that I cannot trust the only BRP affiliated shop in my area to be communicative, be honest, or to know and apply basic electronics troubleshooting methodology. I love the trike, but I do think that the way it operates when activating limp mode is extremely dangerous, and I'm less than thrilled to have to rely on this shop for the software required to troubleshoot and clear fault codes, so I can't say that I'd be altogether heartbroken if they end up buying it back.
