Fatcycledaddy
Active member
After all the negative things I have read about Spyders, I thought I would take the time to post my top 20 things that I like about my 2015 RTL, and why I like them.
The TOP reason I love it is it is just a riot to ride!
1. Three wheels. No longer worry about falling over, never have to put my feet down at stop light.
2. Frunk. Much more storage on my spyder than I was accustomed to on a two wheeler.
3. Handling. Once you get the hang of it, the spyder handles like a very nimble sports car.
4. Smoothness of ride. To give you an idea of smoothness, the pedometer my wife wore on the Venture Royale would register thousands of steps per ride, on the rear of the Spyder she gets less than 100 steps per ride.
5. 1330 Power. The power of the 1330, although not a barn burner, is more than enough to tow my camper anywhere I chose to go without being a traffic hazard because I cant reach the posted speed.
6. Dependability. If you look at my signature you will see the states we have had the Spyder to in just the three short years we have had it. We head out for 2 weeks every year towing the camper, and very seldom put on less than 5000 miles per trip. We have never been let down.
7. Parking brake. I love being able to get off the bike on hot blacktop and not worrying about if the bike will fall over because of a kickstand sinking into the hot blacktop, while I am away from it. Find a spot, touch the switch, and go.
8. The adjustable windshield. I use this on every ride for air flow, rain, blocking air, and as of yet at 31,000 miles I have had no problems with it.
9. Air ride adjusting and adjustable on the fly.. The auto adjusting air ride is an awesome feature. The Venture Royale had to be shut off and put up on its center stand to adjust the air ride. When fully loaded for a trip, this required two people to try to get it on the center stand and was not always a successful operation without unloading some of the things packed on the bike. Yes my compressor failed at about 25,000 miles, and I had a leaking air hose. This was all replaced free of charge ans is quieter than the original compressor ever was.
10. electronic shift transmission. I still have all the control of up and down shifting as the road requires, without having to pull in a clutch.
11. Tire replacement cost. I replaced the tires with car tires at a MUCH reduced cost. The Venture Royale was over $300.00 for a rear tire change. I replaced all the tires on the Spyder for less than that.
13. The nanny. There are times I would like to doe a few things that the nanny blocks (still a little hot dog left in me). However when towing the camper down a hill and water running over the road at the bottom blocked from my view by the truck in front of me, I hit the water and hydroplaned, the rear got loose, the nanny kicked in, straightened it out, and kept us straight on the road. All of this happened before I could have responded other than letting off the throttle.
14. A true reverse. No more pushing a bike and trailer backwards to back out of a parking space. No more unhooking the camper and pushing it backwards by hand to get into the camping spot. I back in, unhook, and set up with a smile.
15. Fuel injection. No more fussing with a choke to start on the cold mornings, no more noticing a drop in performance on those hi elevation rides in the mountains.
16. A power outlet in the truck to keep the phones charged as we ride. Allows me to share our location with the kids as we ride when we are on a long trip. They know where we are at all times, and if something were to happen would know our exact location.
17. A true alternator for electrical power. With the 1991 Venture Royale I was afraid to run heated clothing along with the lights that I had on the bike, the charging system was notoriously week. Now I run heated clothing with both me and my wife with no problems.
18. Front and rear speakers. Although we listen to most music on the headsets, it is nice to be able to have the rear boosted so my wife can hear when we are running with the speakers.
19. Fuel range. I have never had a bike that I could consistently get 200 miles per tank on.
20. low required maintenance. No more changing oil ever 3,000 miles, spark plugs every year, having valves adjusted, having carbs cleaned, having carbs diaphragms replaced, and replacing front fork seals.
This does not mean that there is not room for improvement on several items, and I see that some of these things were improved in the 2017 and 2018 models. But just as every other motorcycle out there improves each year that it is manufactured, I think the Spyder will too.
GREAT job designing a fun machine BRP, my hats off to you!
The TOP reason I love it is it is just a riot to ride!
1. Three wheels. No longer worry about falling over, never have to put my feet down at stop light.
2. Frunk. Much more storage on my spyder than I was accustomed to on a two wheeler.
3. Handling. Once you get the hang of it, the spyder handles like a very nimble sports car.
4. Smoothness of ride. To give you an idea of smoothness, the pedometer my wife wore on the Venture Royale would register thousands of steps per ride, on the rear of the Spyder she gets less than 100 steps per ride.
5. 1330 Power. The power of the 1330, although not a barn burner, is more than enough to tow my camper anywhere I chose to go without being a traffic hazard because I cant reach the posted speed.
6. Dependability. If you look at my signature you will see the states we have had the Spyder to in just the three short years we have had it. We head out for 2 weeks every year towing the camper, and very seldom put on less than 5000 miles per trip. We have never been let down.
7. Parking brake. I love being able to get off the bike on hot blacktop and not worrying about if the bike will fall over because of a kickstand sinking into the hot blacktop, while I am away from it. Find a spot, touch the switch, and go.
8. The adjustable windshield. I use this on every ride for air flow, rain, blocking air, and as of yet at 31,000 miles I have had no problems with it.
9. Air ride adjusting and adjustable on the fly.. The auto adjusting air ride is an awesome feature. The Venture Royale had to be shut off and put up on its center stand to adjust the air ride. When fully loaded for a trip, this required two people to try to get it on the center stand and was not always a successful operation without unloading some of the things packed on the bike. Yes my compressor failed at about 25,000 miles, and I had a leaking air hose. This was all replaced free of charge ans is quieter than the original compressor ever was.
10. electronic shift transmission. I still have all the control of up and down shifting as the road requires, without having to pull in a clutch.
11. Tire replacement cost. I replaced the tires with car tires at a MUCH reduced cost. The Venture Royale was over $300.00 for a rear tire change. I replaced all the tires on the Spyder for less than that.
13. The nanny. There are times I would like to doe a few things that the nanny blocks (still a little hot dog left in me). However when towing the camper down a hill and water running over the road at the bottom blocked from my view by the truck in front of me, I hit the water and hydroplaned, the rear got loose, the nanny kicked in, straightened it out, and kept us straight on the road. All of this happened before I could have responded other than letting off the throttle.
14. A true reverse. No more pushing a bike and trailer backwards to back out of a parking space. No more unhooking the camper and pushing it backwards by hand to get into the camping spot. I back in, unhook, and set up with a smile.
15. Fuel injection. No more fussing with a choke to start on the cold mornings, no more noticing a drop in performance on those hi elevation rides in the mountains.
16. A power outlet in the truck to keep the phones charged as we ride. Allows me to share our location with the kids as we ride when we are on a long trip. They know where we are at all times, and if something were to happen would know our exact location.
17. A true alternator for electrical power. With the 1991 Venture Royale I was afraid to run heated clothing along with the lights that I had on the bike, the charging system was notoriously week. Now I run heated clothing with both me and my wife with no problems.
18. Front and rear speakers. Although we listen to most music on the headsets, it is nice to be able to have the rear boosted so my wife can hear when we are running with the speakers.
19. Fuel range. I have never had a bike that I could consistently get 200 miles per tank on.
20. low required maintenance. No more changing oil ever 3,000 miles, spark plugs every year, having valves adjusted, having carbs cleaned, having carbs diaphragms replaced, and replacing front fork seals.
This does not mean that there is not room for improvement on several items, and I see that some of these things were improved in the 2017 and 2018 models. But just as every other motorcycle out there improves each year that it is manufactured, I think the Spyder will too.
GREAT job designing a fun machine BRP, my hats off to you!
hyea:
opcorn:
