WANTED..Tips for Better riding on a spyder

[bone crusher]

we do have a speed limit (80mph) on the carways .. most don`t care
to ride in the alps is not a question of speed limit - on a weekend there are 1000ends of bikes in the mountains .. so they wait to see (my) spyder and try to follow .. difference to a bike is:
you can brake/push in the middle of a curve (no biker would do that)
the same if the street is wet or durty
also my girl found out BY HERSELVE how to lean in a curve .. you do it automatically if a wheel is rising & thats happening on each curve if you drive a mountain road
there is no other vehicle which is "faster" downhill - an austrian car-magazin wrote after a spyder/sportcar test

80mph...I'm jealous! Wish we could go that fast legally here!

 

[bone crusher]

Car and Drver did a mini roadtest on a Spyder a while back and they ran it on the skid pad- got only .65g which is worse than almost any automobile.
I don't find handling to be their strong suit, but that doesn't mean it is not fun to groove one in a corner.

Part of the problem for me is that I am very tall, heavy too, so I can make it want to tip sooner than most folks.
Half the time when I corner it feels great- like it might go into a slide if I pushed it, but no danger of a high side, other times, like when the road has a lot of camber, and you are going left, it feels like it wants to roll over- a little scary but the stability system does a nice job of keeping you out of trouble if you are reasonable in your driving.

The result is that I drive it a lot like my old Ford 428 - charge up to the corner, brake hard to get slow, go (somewhat) slow around the corner then nail it and use the excellent power to keep you speed average up. I don't think you can carry a lot of speed through a corner.

I actually keep the speed or increase a little around the curve...that will keep your bike down and gripping the road better...whether on a bike, car, or spyder, you don't want to brake as you go around the curve...better to keep speed or increase it a little...if the road is dry, no concerns...if it's wet, definitely go slow!

 

[boborgera]

The result is that I drive it a lot like my old Ford 428 - charge up to the corner, brake hard to get slow, go (somewhat) slow around the corner then nail it and use the excellent power to keep you speed average up. I don't think you can carry a lot of speed through a corner.

I had a 67 Merc. P/lane 428 [semi hemi] If i drove that like i do my Spyder
i wouldn't be around too spend my kids inheritance.:roflblack:

They don't make them like that any more [good thing]

 

[txknight67]

Hi all, Having had the spyder now for close to 3 months now, im now starting to get a fair bit of confidence in riding "her" fairly hard.
Lots of you good people have had yours a lot longer and go pretty hard.
How about putting down some tips on riding harder but safer, body position and that sort of thing..
Also do they race them yet in the states??
look forward to reading and trying out some of your ideas..:chat:

It took me a bit to get used to the bike as well, but what I found that works is ride it almost like you see the crotch rocket racer's doing. In other words, if I am taking a right hand turn, I slide off the seat to the right (the inside of the turn) and basically hook my left knee on the seat while pushing down hard with my left foot (sounds counter intuitive, but it keeps me planted on the bike better and seems to push the tail wider than trying to keep my weight on the inside foot peg) and, as others said, almost kiss the right hand handle bar. Found it keeps the inside wheel on the ground and will push the rear wheel around without waking up the nanny. If I hit gravel in the middle of a turn like that I would be :cus:, but it sure is fun pushing it like that. For me anyway.hyea: I took a run down a road that I have to slow down to almost 50 - 55 in the corners in either of my cages, but on the :spyder: I was doing 70 plus. Talk about a rush.

Ya think that has anything to do with why my back tire only lasted 8k?:roflblack:

 

[bone crusher]

It took me a bit to get used to the bike as well, but what I found that works is ride it almost like you see the crotch rocket racer's doing. In other words, if I am taking a right hand turn, I slide off the seat to the right (the inside of the turn) and basically hook my left knee on the seat while pushing down hard with my left foot (sounds counter intuitive, but it keeps me planted on the bike better and seems to push the tail wider than trying to keep my weight on the inside foot peg) and, as others said, almost kiss the right hand handle bar. Found it keeps the inside wheel on the ground and will push the rear wheel around without waking up the nanny. If I hit gravel in the middle of a turn like that I would be :cus:, but it sure is fun pushing it like that. For me anyway.hyea: I took a run down a road that I have to slow down to almost 50 - 55 in the corners in either of my cages, but on the :spyder: I was doing 70 plus. Talk about a rush.

Ya think that has anything to do with why my back tire only lasted 8k?:roflblack:

I agree with the outside foot pushing down hard on the peg to keep the bike down (if that really does anything)...lean hard, slide a bit, and keep your feet pushed to the ground with plenty of force...

 

[txknight67]

I agree with the outside foot pushing down hard on the peg to keep the bike down (if that really does anything)...lean hard, slide a bit, and keep your feet pushed to the ground with plenty of force...

If nothing else it keeps ya on the bike.

Tried pushing with the inside foot a few times just to experiment and noted a few things. When fighting against centrifugal force the outside leg works better, ones inside leg is bent to much to get much force behind it, and the more "natural" way to fight against the forces is to push with the outside leg. Think about a running back in football making a quick cut, the force of the movement comes from the outside leg.

 

[txknight67]

By the way, IMHO, C&D didn't lean with the test they did, you gotta use body english to enjoy it.

john

I thought the same thing when I read the C&D test results. Their mostly car guys. I think maybe only one or two of their reviewers/editors are bike guys and not many more have even been on two wheels, much less three. And the :spyder: is a whole 'nother animal.

 

[jgwoods]

I thought the same thing when I read the C&D test results. Their mostly car guys. I think maybe only one or two of their reviewers/editors are bike guys and not many more have even been on two wheels, much less three. And the :spyder: is a whole 'nother animal.

How the rider behaved during the skidpad test is just guessing- we don't know if they leaned in a manner to improve handling or not. Not all car guys are lost on 2 wheels- Peter Egan writes for car and bike mags.

One point this makes is that rider position makes a difference, putting pressure on the pegs does as well- something I notice very much because I am so tall and there is a definite decrease in lean angle as I weight the pegs and it flattens out. I'm pretty sure that weighting the inside peg would be best but with leaning that leg is really at a tight angle which makes it far easier to put weight on the outside peg.

 

[aubierules]

when i come to a turn i lean forward and into the turn and the spyder turns great.....if i dont lean forward i cant turn nearly as fast