Having a blast, but have you noticed these Spyders Take an Effort To Ride?!

[Scott's Handmade Wagons]

Many of us have found that riding a Spyder is different in nearly all respects to riding a 2-wheeler. One difference that I'm finding is the Spyder takes more effort to ride - especially in the twisties. Probably because I find the posted speed is just a suggestion, but keeping the line around a corner requires effort on the handlebars as well as pressure on the floorboards.
I've ridden many snowmobiles over the years and the experience is remarkably similar.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining - just another observation as I get more experience. Totally having a blast riding this thing!!

 

[canamjhb]

I totally agree. Spyders require more rider participation. Except in slow and stop and go traffic.

 

[Woodaddict]

That is certainly true. I rode Tail of the Dragon, 318 curves in 11 miles. I was sweating at the end. It was summer and takes more effort plus you throw in concentration and your sweating. Not complaining but it's the way it is. And I was solo doing spirited riding, that takes work!!

 

[Redbeard]

Suggestion. Check out Coach Bob 3 over on youtube. He has posts videos regarding spyder ryding and are helpful. Here is the first one I just pulled up.

 

[Snoking1127]

The Spyder is this 82 year old's upper body workout and riding my bicycle is my lower body work out.

 

[Will W]

Hang in there because it'll get better the more you ride it. The first couple of weeks on my 26 Sea to Sky I had my doubts about paying out over 34 grand for it and thought I would rather have the money back in my bank account but after over 1800 miles on it I have no regrets. I've spent a lot of money on add-ons, the first being the Baja Ron Ultra sway bar which made it handle much better especially in tight curves, followed by an LED grill light, a 1&1/4" bar riser, bar end weights, leather like foam grips, adjustable rider pegs, arm rests for the wife, a top trunk organizer pouch, then I changed the oil and put hex head drain plugs in. I'm 72 and have been riding something with 2 wheels since I was 10, so yes, the Spyder is different, but once you get used to it, the more you're gonna love it. I kept my Harley and KLR Kow in order to continue enjoying motorcycles, but I know if I live much longer that I will eventually have to give them up and the Spyder will keep me in the wind.

 

[Mikey]

When you get in the twisties it's almost an art of brake and gas, leaning and pushing, it's fun as heck when you get it right and you find yourself clipping along the road! After I spent two weeks in the hills of Tenn, it was a letdown running the roads in Maine!

 

[mecsw500]

My Spyder is more upper body physical effort to be sure than my bikes I had in the past, but the mental load is about the same.

I ride two up and very much in the Dave Moss "Two Clicks Out" style of brake, turn, power out, on tighter corners.

Riding two up with my wife so I don't do anything silly like lifting the inside wheel a lot or hanging off to the inside. I'm not riding ultra quick, but I don't hang about either. Dave's style of braking or downshifting into the tighter corners, carrying less corner speed perhaps, then powering out seems to suit two up riding. For more open corners it's just perhaps a downshift to settle the suspension and then pull through on the throttle.

Like you say, when you get it all right intuitively, and the thinking is just for looking ahead and anticipating, it all flows nicely and you can push on remarkably quickly all things considered. Well it feels quick, quite possibly isn't, but it's fun anyway.

 

[RogerC60]

Like you say, when you get it all right intuitively, and the thinking is just for looking ahead and anticipating, it all flows nicely and you can push on remarkably quickly all things considered. Well it feels quick, quite possibly isn't, but it's fun anyway.

It is quick. I took my Spyder on a ride with the Cleveland BMW owners club down into WV. We like to ride the curvy roads in a "spirited" fashion. I didn't have much trouble keeping up with them. I was very new to my Spyder at the time, and it had (and still has) the OEM tires and anti-sway bar. With improved skills and machinery, who knows? I might actually outrun them.

 

[JayBros]

I liken it sometimes to motorcycle sidecar racing with the exception being you're your own monkey.

 

[mecsw500]

When I was I young lad in the 1980's I was in a motorcycle club in the UK. All the old farts (not understanding I was going to be an old fart one day) rode various BMW R100's. The older these guys were, the faster they were. We even had an old guy with one working eye and no depth perception and he was difficult to keep up with. I don't think he could see well enough to be scared. Eventually I bought an R100, this was the old air cooled ones, but darn it, most of them were still faster. I wasn't as keen on scraping the rocker covers as they were.

My Spyder is still riding on the new OEM XPS Kendas and the stock sway bar (I have the Baja Ron Ultra Sway Bar I bought the other day, but at 100F in my garage I haven't gotten round to fitting it yet).

It's still fun to ride, but I don't have much of a benchmark nowadays, though I'm way past the days of worrying how quick or slow I am. I probably think I'm quicker than I really am, but that's OK. I don't want to go faster than my wife is happy with as the last thing I want to do is put her off riding. I'm not into lifting the inside wheel or getting the nanny to cut in with her on the back lest I get punched in the kidneys.

 

[Raven]

When I stopped comparing the Ryker to my bikes, things got better.
Just like when I stopped comparing my XR Sportster to the Buell and stopped comparing the Buell to the KTM supermoto.
They are all the same, but different.