This Thread
IS BETTER THAN READING THE SUNDAY FUNNY PAPERS! :roflblack::roflblack::roflblack: I love it. Y'all are such a great bunch of folks! I came here to do some research on a couple issues, but wanted to check out the latest posts first. Thank you for such a great laugh.
As most all of you know, I'm a relatively new member, having joined almost a month ago, and a new 2008 Can Am Spyder GS SE-5 owner. I've PM'd with some very thoughtful and patient members here about things that I felt sort of foolish about not knowing. Most of those issues are in the process of being resolved, like "death grip" and the "water skiing" feeling when the wind is blowing, thanks to others who have encountered these issues, mentioned them here in some of the threads, and now I am more knowledgable. As one member advised, "...take baby steps..." and tiny baby steps have been my MO.
I had planned to be on my HRS (Hot RED Spyder) at first light of day today. I planned an earrrrrrly Sunday morning ride in hopes of getting in some 45-55 mph miles on her. I put in over an hour of driving, but unfortunately I was only briefly on a 4 lane hwy with a 45 speed limit a few times, due to very dense fog. There was very little traffic, so I was pretty bold at first until I discovered more than one silly automobile driver driving with no lights, which made them difficult to see, even with the Sun burning through the fog a little. So I practiced trying to maintain a steady 25 mph speed in the neighborhood.
One of the problems I discussed in PM and researched on here is the horrible screeeeeeeeeeech my brakes are making. I am not brave enough, yet, to speed up a lot and tromp on the brakes to get that stuff off of them. So, here is what I discovered that helps some. Knowing that I am going to stop at a stop sign, I let off the throttle, letting the transmition shift down for me, get almost (15-20 ft away) to the stop sign doing 5 mph and hit the brakes hard, causing it to stop abruptly and so very little squeek. It is using the brake to slow down, keeping one's foot on it for a longer period, that makes it squeel so bad. This :spyder2: only had 1523 miles on it when I purchased it, so is it likely that the brake pads are bad already?:yikes:
My main question for the group is: I'll preface the question by saying that I've noticed a squeeling noise seeming to come from the parking brake side. This noise is very much like the squeel that occurs when stopping, only it is making the noise at speeds of 1-20 mph and the pitch of the squeel is fairly constant. I do not hear the noise after higher speed is reached. Fearful that I had damaged the parking brake by pressing to forcefully on it to get the blinking red exclamation signal on the speedometer to go away, I had the clicking mechanism assemble taken apart yesterday and reassembled, but nothing concerning brake pads was touched. The issue was one that has been discussed here and I think it is resolved now. I just would like to know what this less obnoxious squeel might be. It would seem to me that it would get louder at higher speeds, but that is not the case.
Any suggestions or advise will be greatly appreciated. And is there a manual available that shows step by step ways of working on this 2008 SE-5 :spyder2:? I would love to learn to work on it myself. I watched the fella (previous Harley Mechanic) work on it yesterday, fixing the parking brake problem. It took him a couple of minutes to figure out the dismantling of the Tupperware, but after that it seemed to be a slam dunk for him.
Again, "Thank you" to everyone of you who so generously give advise, share methods of working on problems, and solutions to new :spyder2: owners like myself.
Have a safe and fun day!
Sandy aka Sunshyn