First round of Road tests of BajaRon's prototype Anti-Swaybar
Today I rode a little over 80 miles testing Ron's new bar on N.Ga, 2-lane backroads. These roads are not as extreme as the Dragon or the Snake but there are plenty of twisty, hilly curves, plus surprise dips, bad pavement, off-banked corners, you name it. I did not do any testing on Interstate Hwys or riding 2-up today.
Right up front, I will tell you this bar performed like an all out Champ in every situation! There were no vague or bad results whatsoever.
Note that my RT is configured as follows:
2012 RT Ltd SE5 with Elka Stage 1 shocks that are set slightly tighter than many riders prefer. I use about 20 psi in the front tires.
The roads I was riding are all rural areas, mostly with 35 to 55 mph limits, but I did manage to get one test at 90+ !
I tried to push the cornering performance in a variety of situations and speeds to see how this bar handles vs the stock bar (and an Evo bar I previously used on this same RT).
I did several test swerves, such as you might be forced to do in an emergency situation. Most of these were done at 35-50 mph but I also did a couple of mild swerves at 80mph. In every case, the feeling of control was noticeably better and leaning was less than with the oem bar.
Almost any kind of quick and unexpected maneuver seemed to be much safer. Testing on the Interstate Hwys for lane changes to be done later should look good based on what I saw today.
I concentrated on pushing the RT on the curves and even some poorly banked and off-camber corners. I regularly ride these same roads and today I was able to push the speeds higher in many corners. In fact,
I found that the longer I rode, the more confident I felt in pushing the limits and even in the most extreme cases,
the RT was much more flat and level in the corners than I had seen before on these same roads.
One of the best tests I did was going down a hill that had an unbanked lefthand curve at the bottom and a surprise dip that has always given me trouble. I rode this section several times today and was able to increase the speed a little every time.
I also found there was noticeable reduction in leaning & handling at
lower speeds as Ron mentioned from the earlier tests of this bar. But,
I can say emphatically that the harder you push it, the better this bar performs. I expect that a more agressive rider than me could really wring out one of these!
I will try to edit and expand this report as I recall more details and get more test results, but for now, here are some conclusions based on what I have seen so far:
- A reasonably agressive rider will see significant improvement in cornering with this bar on almost any RT. An RT that had oem bar & shocks is likely to see dramatic results. An RT with Elkas will also see significant improvement but moreso in extreme cornering.
- This bar is significantly better than the oem bar, but it is also stiffer than the discontinued Evo bar (which was the same diameter as the oem bar). If you change from either of them to this bar, I think you will quickly agree.
- The thought that hit me several times today was, the performance of the RT with this bar approaches the feeling of riding a GoCart!
Do I have any concerns at all ? None at all with the performance, but I have always felt the oem SwayBar connector links seemed pretty lightweight considering the amount of stress they are subjected to. There were some vague reports in the past of these links developing cracks or failing. Now, with a much larger and stronger bar, I have to wonder if there is even more need for better links. Seems I heard that someone was developing improved aftermarket links and I hope that materializes.
It will be interesting to see how the new 2013 RT suspension feels, but I have trouble believing it could be much better than an RT with this bar coupled with Elka shocks.
As a disclaimer, Let me emphasize, I am not a paid or professional tester and did this evaluation only as a fun project. Some aggressive riders with a lot more miles of Spyder experience could likely do a better test & report, but I am confident they would be just as impressed as I was.
I am not an engineer or in any way associated or employed by any vendor, sponsor or mfg of these products, and in no way vouch for or endorse the design, specs, compatibility, safety, or otherwise of this product, including the color!
Questions regarding this new Anti-Swaybar should be referred to
BajaRon!
Jack (Chattanooga TN)
View attachment 54498
Edited 10/1/2012 to add:
Today I rode the RT 70 mi on I-75 from Chattanooga to my dealer near Atlanta, wet & raining all the way. This was the first time using the new bar on Interstate Hwys. It was way to risky today to mess around much but during lane changes and encounters with semis & wind buffeting the RT seemed even more rock steady than before. Everyone that has upgraded to Elkas knows just how much more steady and safe the spyder is on Interstates but it seemed to feel even better today. I am getting really attached to this bar!
:bowdown: :thumbup:
opcorn:
