What did you do to your Spyder today?

[Snoking1127]

Had a LED headlight go out after three years. Such a simple job to replace one! So I put in both new LEDs and saved the working 3 year old one as a spare. I did check the air cleaner while the tupperware was off.

 

[vulkus]

Finally bought a charger/maintainer for the Spyder.
Noco Genius 1 with the 12v plug extension.
Lucky I did, as it was down on the juice. My grand plans for riding every weekend came undone, as I'm working every weekend.

 

[Dasmoetorhead]

I put it up for the Winter again lol. Problem is, we do have a few nice rideable wx days even in the Winter here.

 

[Dasmoetorhead]

Today was sunny and 64° so removed the tarp, checked tire air pressures and road up to Shady Valley TN. Probably shouldn't have though, because the road all the way there still had lots of salt from a few days ago, and up on the "Snake" in the shadows the road was wet and salty. On tbe way back I stopped at a car wash and rinsed it off. Once home I went over the whole machine. Tomorrow I'll detail it a bit. Damm nice ride though.

 

[Poppie65]

I ordered a hand full of items earlier this month, and most of them came in before the holidays. I've got some time to burn before the year end, so my neighbor and I did some installs over the past couple of days.

BRP drivers backrest and passenger armrest. I tapped out the mount holes on the underside of the armrests for future use.

"Double-AA" LED A-arm lights, Bright Ryder trunk light, fender LED side & rear marker/turn signals (non-sequential), Amber mirror marker/turn signal lights. These light kits are going to make the Sypder much more visible to other drivers, I'm quite impressed.

TCBoone & FrogmanDave's turn signal button and shift pad, and a very nice looking double flag mount.

Looking forward to the rear trunk light kit that comes out next month. I'll install saddle bag marker lights with the trunk kit along with a USB port in place of the blank on the console.

We pulled the front tires off to do the fender light kits installations. The bike was on jack-stands, parking brake was set and rear tire was chocked for the duration of all of the light installations. When all the work was wrapped up, we lowered the bike down from the stands and fired it up to back out of the garage. When starting the bike the brake pedal went to the floor, but was back immediately on the next pump of the brake. I was able to start it & back it out of the garage, but then the system flashed "brake failure" and wouldn't let me shift out of reverse. I reset the parking brake, turned off the ignition and restarted the bike and the alarm didn't return. We didn't touch the brake system during any of our work, short of routing the light wiring to the a-arm wiring harnesses and brake lines. I rode around the blocks of my neighborhood a few times and everything felt normal, but I'd sure like to know what caused the brake pedal to act that way.

 

[Peter Aawen]

.....

We pulled the front tires off to do the fender light kits installations. The bike was on jack-stands, parking brake was set and rear tire was chocked for the duration of all of the light installations. When all the work was wrapped up, we lowered the bike down from the stands and fired it up to back out of the garage. When starting the bike the brake pedal went to the floor, but was back immediately on the next pump of the brake. I was able to start it & back it out of the garage, but then the system flashed "brake failure" and wouldn't let me shift out of reverse. I reset the parking brake, turned off the ignition and restarted the bike and the alarm didn't return. We didn't touch the brake system during any of our work, short of routing the light wiring to the a-arm wiring harnesses and brake lines. I rode around the blocks of my neighborhood a few times and everything felt normal, but I'd sure like to know what caused the brake pedal to act that way.

That first Bold bit will probably be the reason for the second!

If you took the front wheels off and leant on or moved the discs and/or calipers in any way while the wheel's were off (maybe you even touched and moved the disc juuust a tad as you took the wheels off? :dontknow: ) then the front pads would've been clear of the discs when you put the Spyder back down and started it up without first applying the brakes a couple of times just to make sure the pads were back in close proximity to the discs!

So that very first application of the brakes after starting the engine would've needed the brake system to push the pads a WHOLE LOT FURTHER than normal/expected just to bring the pads back to the discs, and the Nanny would see that very much longer than usual pedal travel as a critical issue with the brakes, possibly even as complete brake failure, just cos the pedal moved so far before hitting any resistance! Then turning it off and back on again let that 'once off' fault reset (but it's stored in your bike's history now!) when the brakes acted normally didn't have so much free pedal travel, so things are now back to normal. hyea:

No biggie really, and you probably won't have any issues down track either - BUT, if you take any of the wheels off again or play with the brakes in any way, just make sure that you button everything up AND THAT YOU APPLY THE BRAKES A COUPLE OF TIMES BEFORE TURNING THE IGNITION ON, just to make sure the pads are seated properly before any of the sensors start looking for things like looong pedal travel or different braking pressure at one wheel et al BEFORE you let the sensors detect that sorta thing, or your bike may record the next time as a 'repeat failure' and dump the bike into full on limp home mode!! :banghead:

Same sorta thing if you ever lift any of the wheels, especially the rear wheel, into the air and need to spin &/or drive them while working on the bike - it's not a great idea to do that with the ignition on; cos if the ign's on, then the sensors are live, and any one wheel turning at a different rate to the others for long enough might convince the computers that your bike is waaaayyy out of control and spinning madly/dangerously down the road when it's not even moving!! :shocked: Do you really need to know how I found out about all this stuff?! pps:

So, your Note to Self to take away from this particular learning experience - Don't spin any of the wheels at a different rate to the other/s while the ignition is ON; and don't forget to press the brake pedal a couple of times after removing wheels &/or working on brakes & then putting it all back together & on the ground; and do that pedal pressing BEFORE turning the ignition ON just to make sure the pads are seated properly first!! :lecturef_smilie:

Have a Happy New Year! :cheers:

 

[Dasmoetorhead]

Do you have any pictures of the installed lights?

 

[Poppie65]

Thanks Pete, I wouldn't guess that the Nanny would be so particular with wheel rotation, but i thank you for the heads-up. As for the brakes, we were certainly conscious of the rotors and calipers, and as such there wasn't any significant contact with either that we felt could have collapsed the cylinders enough to warrant a full pedal of movement. Are these caliper pistons/hydraulic system softer than the typical automotive brake system?

 

[Poppie65]

Front view from inside the garage showing the AA A-arm lights, mirror mounted lights, and the light mounted under the lip of the frunk:


Front view from outside with engine running and headlights on:


Side view showing the mirror mounted lights, and the fender lights:


Double Flags on rear trunk:


Turn signal and shift paddle mod:

 

[Peter Aawen]

Thanks Pete, I wouldn't guess that the Nanny would be so particular with wheel rotation, but i thank you for the heads-up. As for the brakes, we were certainly conscious of the rotors and calipers, and as such there wasn't any significant contact with either that we felt could have collapsed the cylinders enough to warrant a full pedal of movement. Are these caliper pistons/hydraulic system softer than the typical automotive brake system?

For someone not used to them, Brembo brakes, especially those on our Spyders, do feel a little different to the brakes most are used to with their cars & trucks etc... Some call it a 'softer' feel; some feel it takes a 'longer pedal/lever throw until they start to bite'; some just feel it takes more pedal movement to get any braking action, but then there's little progressive feel, once they grab they just REALLY brake; while others have completely different 'feelings' & terms for them/the way they work, but for most, they do work well and they are widely considered to be a massive shed load better than the previous brakes on the 2012 & earlier Spyders! And when these Brembo Brakes are teamed with a very good Nanny, like that on our Spyders, then largely because of the larger tire footprint area Spyders have over most bikes; the Brembo's excellent braking effectiveness; and the much lighter weight of a Spyder vs that of most things fitted with similar brakes, then if you/the rider knows how to use the pedal to get the best from them, they will pretty much stop your Spyder vastly better/quicker than just about anything else on the road!! :lecturef_smilie:

Regardless of what you call it/how you describe it, it'll take very little disc/pad movement to produce what feels like a much greater 'loss of pedal'! What you've mentioned re the brakes isn't an uncommon thing with Brembo brakes, even if they aren't on Spyders; and it is almost impossible to take the front wheels off a Spyder without moving the discs a little, which means they'll be pushing the pads clear of the discs juuust a tiny amount.... So just that action of removing the wheel is often more than enough to let the pads move away from the discs a seemingly miniscule amount, something that's compounded exponentially if you do happen to noticeably touch &/or drag the disc a bit as the wheel comes off - and even that miniscule amount of additional clearance between disc & pad can give you what feels like a massive loss of pedal!! :gaah:

But if, as is most likely given what you've told us, Poppie, that's all it is in your case, then simply making sure you apply the brakes a couple of times after refitting the wheels and before turning the ignition on will likely mean you never experience a 'brake failure' warning for the same reason again.... hyea: Altho there's still the possibility of the brake fluid level in the reservoir being down juuust a tiny amount thing that can cause similar warnings; or the pressure switch getting a bit of mud on it & not working properly; or your foot touching the pedal as you ride; or the.... pps:

Just Sayin' :thumbup: Ride Safe, & have a Great New Year! :cheers:

 

[Dasmoetorhead]

Front view from inside the garage showing the AA A-arm lights, mirror mounted lights, and the light mounted under the lip of the frunk:
View attachment 206355

Front view from outside with engine running and headlights on:
View attachment 206356

Side view showing the mirror mounted lights, and the fender lights:
View attachment 206357

Double Flags on rear trunk:
View attachment 206360

Turn signal and shift paddle mod:
View attachment 206359

Very nice!

 

[troop]

Front view from inside the garage showing the AA A-arm lights, mirror mounted lights, and the light mounted under the lip of the frunk:
View attachment 206355

Front view from outside with engine running and headlights on:
View attachment 206356

Side view showing the mirror mounted lights, and the fender lights:
View attachment 206357

Double Flags on rear trunk:
View attachment 206360

Turn signal and shift paddle mod:
View attachment 206359

What type of material did you use on your paddle shifter pads?

 

[bikerbillone]

I do like it Poppie, if I only lived closer to Springfield OH.

 

[Poppie65]

What type of material did you use on your paddle shifter pads?

I purchased the products that are discussed in this tread.

https://www.spyderlovers.com/forums...ty-Mod-to-our-2022-RTL-with-a-big-improvement!

 

[Poppie65]

I do like it Poppie, if I only lived closer to Springfield OH.

Thank you sir.
This is the time of year to live in Fla though!

 

[troop]

Got my Lamonster Tail Brighter lights installed today.

 

[CloverHillCrawler]

Got back in from a ride and noticed a rubbing whine from the belt as I was pushing my spyder back into place in the garage.

Looked and noticed the belt was all the way to the left on the rear sprocket. Jacked the rear up off the floor and took a reading off the drive belt with the kricket. 110 FT-lbs.

So I figured the belt was new as my whole rear swing arm had been replaced from the rear end accident and the belt has "stretched" from wear in so I go to adjust the tension and the alignment and find the rear axle nut is tight but not the 166 ft/lbs it should be as I could take two fingers on my 1/2 in ratchet and just spin the nut off.

Got my belt tension back up to 180 ft/lbs and aligned the belt. I got out the ole torque wrench and brought the axle nut up to 160. Hopefully there should be no other issues. Going out for a new years eve ride with some friends during the day tomorrow I'll see how it holds up.

 

[GS1]

Installed stealth taillights look great

 

[Dasmoetorhead]

I tried the Eco mode today on the way to the Liquor store, for a bottle of Champagne. Meh! I guess it'd be OK using that mode in the city maybe, and long stretches of highway with little traffic.
Happy New Year

 

[vulkus]

Finally got a new battery, my old one died, I think it was the original. If so, it was 8 yrs old.
That battery bracket is a real pain though, got it in its home eventually though.