Spyder dependability

[Fatcycledaddy]

We just returned from our annual 2 week motorcycle vacation, road a total of 4893 miles, towed a camper trailer for the majority of that, and again the Spyder preformed flawlessly! Now have over 24,000 on the Spyder in 2 years and three riding seasons, all with only or minor problems. Antenna broke, and a slight frunk leak.

We left MI via the Badger car ferry out of Ludington to Manitowoc WI. From there we road all back roads for the trip, which included, Beartooth Highway and its snow banks and frozen lakes at the top. This took us into Yellowstone and all of the wildlife there. We traveled on through up to Glacier National Park and road the going to the sun highway a few times. Then it was back to Yellowstone, and the Grand Tetons National Park for a couple of days.
We wanted to get Squared Away, so we road on into the Black Hills and went to the Deadwood Trike rally. Joe and Ann did a GREAT job on the Spyder and it turns to the left great now.
Then the long uneventful drive home started.

I had put on the Federal formoza front tires and the General AltiMax on the rear, I followed Mike and Peter's recommended tire pressures on front 15# and rear 20# and the two times we were caught in the downpours that happen out west, the wet traction was awesome.

So for all of the ones who worry about the dependability of the Spyder, as Bob always says, "worry less and ride more"!

 

[Fatcycledaddy]

Just a few more pics.
I can't wait until I can retire and take longer trips:yes::yes::yes: West coast and Alaska look out, here we come!!

 

[pegasus1300]

Great pictures,thanks for sharing.

 

[OverHillAndDale]

Glad to hear about your experience in reliability. I'm planning on a 3000+ mile trip next year and I'm looking forward to the same.

 

[Navydad]

Glad to hear good things about Spyders from time to time. We are off to Nova Scotia next month on our 2015 RT and I have the same tire combination on the beast now. We have put 8000 miles on it since our purchase in January and we also have been trouble free.

Ah yes, retiring to ride is a blast. I retired at 56 and took off on a ten day trip to Texas Hill Country. The ten days turned into six weeks and I tossed in Natchez Trace, Key West, Everglades, and the Blue Ridge Parkway for giggles. 6800 miles and less than 400 miles on a freeway. Hit the two lanes and back roads, see the real America and meet great folks.

 

[ARtraveler]

Great pictures. :bowdown::bowdown::firstplace::firstplace:

 

[SteveLaoyster]

Great pictures! Someday I'll make it out there.

 

[Bob Denman]

Those are beautiful p;ictures!! :clap: :firstplace:
Thanks for sharing them!
Where are you going next??? :thumbup:

 

[Fatcycledaddy]

Glad to hear good things about Spyders from time to time. We are off to Nova Scotia next month on our 2015 RT and I have the same tire combination on the beast now. We have put 8000 miles on it since our purchase in January and we also have been trouble free.

Ah yes, retiring to ride is a blast. I retired at 56 and took off on a ten day trip to Texas Hill Country. The ten days turned into six weeks and I tossed in Natchez Trace, Key West, Everglades, and the Blue Ridge Parkway for giggles. 6800 miles and less than 400 miles on a freeway. Hit the two lanes and back roads, see the real America and meet great folks.

I love it when I see people taking their time and enjoying their retirement and the ride!! I'm sooooo jealous.

Our first trip was Novia Scotia the last week of July and first week of August I believe. Be prepared for the fog every morning until about 10, and also for rain. We got rained on 12 out of 14 days, not all day every day, but a good downpour each time. It was still a trip to remember, great times and great views!

 

[Fatcycledaddy]

Those are beautiful p;ictures!! :clap: :firstplace:
Thanks for sharing them!
Where are you going next??? :thumbup:

Not sure on the next trip, wife wants to go on a cruise for our 35th anniversary next year, but I told her we would get board riding around the deck of the ship.
Being limited to 2 weeks vacation sort of puts a bind on next years trip. If I can talk one more week out of the boss I will.
So far on the spyder we have been from MI up through Canada then over to Nova Scotia and back, last year was to Utah, Bryce Canyon, Zion, Arches, Colorado National Monument, and Estes Park.
This year we road beartooth highway because of someones suggestion here, and it was as awesome as they said, so as of now I am open to ideas and suggestions.

Would love to see the giant redwoods and ride the Pacific coast highway, 2 weeks is not enough.
I hear great things about the Texas hill country, New Mexico is intriguing, and the red rocks of Nevada would be great to see.
If I can only take a week next year, it will be Blue ridge Parkway and Skyline drive again. Always a fun ride for a short trip.

 

[Dmetcalf]

Great pics and great to hear about The reliability

Thank you for sharing the pics and the testimony about our great machines..!

 

[cptjam]

Thanks

Glad we could help you enjoy the ride!!

 

[bronzeflex42]

Great glad to hear some good Spyder news...:clap::clap:

 

[quasi]

Wow, what a trip! Fantastic photos. I wouldn't be afraid to hop on my old 2012 RT-S and go about anywhere.

 

[IGETAROUND]

Spyder Dependability

Have to agree with all of the above. Took Hwy 2 from the Big Mac Bridge to the west coast and hwy 101 down through California. Dropped down to do the bear tooth in Montana, had some great mountain sweepers for ~ 200 miles in Idaho, traveled the Columbia river gorge over to 101 in Ca. took that down to San Francisco and over to Freemont, Ca to see my sister. Did I mention that I was also pulling my time out trailer the whole way except bear tooth!!! Over 6000 miles with the only hitch being my stupidity and running out of fuel on I-94 in Montana!!! Spyderfest this spring Went to Vermont, New York, New Hampshire the year before. 43K currently and heading back to SpyderQuest this fall. No hicups just plain fun!!. Looking forward to when I retire so I can actually do some ryding!!!!! :roflblack::roflblack::roflblack::roflblack::yes::yes::yes::thumbup::thumbup::thumbup::thumbup:

 

[Fatcycledaddy]

Have to agree with all of the above. Took Hwy 2 from the Big Mac Bridge to the west coast and hwy 101 down through California. Dropped down to do the bear tooth in Montana, had some great mountain sweepers for ~ 200 miles in Idaho, traveled the Columbia river gorge over to 101 in Ca. took that down to San Francisco and over to Freemont, Ca to see my sister. Did I mention that I was also pulling my time out trailer the whole way except bear tooth!!! Over 6000 miles with the only hitch being my stupidity and running out of fuel on I-94 in Montana!!! Spyderfest this spring Went to Vermont, New York, New Hampshire the year before. 43K currently and heading back to SpyderQuest this fall. No hicups just plain fun!!. Looking forward to when I retire so I can actually do some ryding!!!!! :roflblack::roflblack::roflblack::roflblack::yes::yes::yes::thumbup::thumbup::thumbup::thumbup:

That sounds like an awesome trip to CA. Wish I could get that third week to handle that!!
Up through the up and 2 all the way out to ND a few years ago on the 2 wheeler was a lot of fun. That was my first time of going to Glacier.

Oh the GREAT memories that are created when you get out and enjoy the ride. Even the rain storms give you something to talk and laugh about later...not so funny at the time, but great to look back and talk about how you survived!

 

[jaapkroes]

That sounds like an awesome trip to CA. Wish I could get that third week to handle that!!
Up through the up and 2 all the way out to ND a few years ago on the 2 wheeler was a lot of fun. That was my first time of going to Glacier.

Oh the GREAT memories that are created when you get out and enjoy the ride. Even the rain storms give you something to talk and laugh about later...not so funny at the time, but great to look back and talk about how you survived!

Thanks for the great pictures. I've been fortunate enough that I got to ride Beartooth on 2 occasions. Yellowstone 3 times and Grand Tetons 1 time. It consisted of a combination of Yellowstone and Tetons on 1 trip and Beartooth and Yellowstone on 2 trips. All three of these trips were done on a Gold Wing GL1800. Didn't experience a single hiccup from the bike. I've been riding Gold Wings since 1981 and each and everyone has been nearly totally trouble free. The last bike I owned was a 2009 Harley Davidson Ultra Classic. It too was extremely reliable.

I'm 73 years old and I dropped the Harley on two consecutive Saturdays making me realize that it was time to add a wheel. I got a good deal on a 2010 Spyder RTS SM5. The plan is the take it to the Rockies of Colorado in a couple of weeks. I'm hoping and praying that the Spyder will perform as well as my previous bikes, reliability wise. So far, the Spyder has been great to ride and I certainly enjoy the fact the I don't have to balance 900 lbs of motorcycle at stopsigns and in parking lots.

So I'm not only new to this board, I'm also a newbie to the Can-Am Spyder. So far, I'm enjoying both.

 

[Fatcycledaddy]

Thanks for the great pictures. I've been fortunate enough that I got to ride Beartooth on 2 occasions. Yellowstone 3 times and Grand Tetons 1 time. It consisted of a combination of Yellowstone and Tetons on 1 trip and Beartooth and Yellowstone on 2 trips. All three of these trips were done on a Gold Wing GL1800. Didn't experience a single hiccup from the bike. I've been riding Gold Wings since 1981 and each and everyone has been nearly totally trouble free. The last bike I owned was a 2009 Harley Davidson Ultra Classic. It too was extremely reliable.

I'm 73 years old and I dropped the Harley on two consecutive Saturdays making me realize that it was time to add a wheel. I got a good deal on a 2010 Spyder RTS SM5. The plan is the take it to the Rockies of Colorado in a couple of weeks. I'm hoping and praying that the Spyder will perform as well as my previous bikes, reliability wise. So far, the Spyder has been great to ride and I certainly enjoy the fact the I don't have to balance 900 lbs of motorcycle at stopsigns and in parking lots.

So I'm not only new to this board, I'm also a newbie to the Can-Am Spyder. So far, I'm enjoying both.

:welcome: Glad to have you here. :congrats: on the new purchase.
I have never owned the V twin so I can't give you any first hand experience on how to ride it. I have read here that you need to keep the RPM up on those and that is where most new riders to the v twin suffer.

I think you will love the stability of the Spyder, then you have the fact that yo NEVER have to worry about where to put the kickstand down again. Then if it hot outside you had to put something under the kickstand, which meant bending over and picking it up after you were on the bike. Those days are now gone, now its hit the parking brake and get off to do what you want with no worries about if it will be upright when you get back. :yes:

 

[al0vely]

That sounds like a great vacation - something similar to what I hope to do someday.

I too am longing for retirement in 4 long years so I can go on trips farther and for longer. It would be nice to not have to rush back home for a little thing called work.

 

[dpetrick]

Reliability

Last fall I purchased a 2009 RS SE5 with 21,000 miles. I have put over 3500 trouble free miles on it so far. It has been a fun ride and my wife likes coming along. It is much easier to ride two up than my Nomad, which I still enjoy riding solo.