The year is not over yet but I have passed the 2000 mile mark. This is an accomplishment for me as it is the farthest I have ridden in a year (actually a 6 month period) since I got my BMW R1150GS back in 2002. What this tells me is that the Spyder experiment is a success. I am able to ride almost at will with little ill effect. I have been careful not to ride if I have strained my back. But as long as I get off every hour I seem to be OK.
The bike did suffer another failure. When starting it up one morning it immediately slipped into “limp home mode”. Stopping and restarting did not clear the error as it did the first time. A call to the dealer reveled that they were not at all interested in working on it. After getting passed to three different people I did manage to get a guy that had a solution that I could perform myself. He thought that the error was caused by a fault in the oil pressure sensor. Running the bike at 3000 rpm would clear it. At this point I had grown weary of talking to obvious boobs and fools and thanked the deluded incompetent man and hung up the phone. Thing is I still had the problem to sort out. With nothing else to try I gave his suggestion a whirl. Within 20 seconds the error cleared and has not returned since. Well what do you know? He wasn't a goof after all. I am still a little concerned that there is a real problem that has been masked. Another trick he told me was that you could get the bike to display error codes by simultaneously pressing the Mode, Set and Turn Signal Cancel buttons.
So, what of the bike? Over all I like the styling. I really dislike the windshield. It blocks too much wind thus making it much hotter on even moderately warm days. I'm hopping that it will have a payoff as the weather gets colder.
At first the bike seemed really under powered. It is after all 900 lbs. with only a 1000cc motor. But the power seems to have increased as it gets broken in. Secondly it has become obvious to me that more power could easily out strip the bikes handling.
The steering seems precise enough although I do miss the leaning in corners. Seating position is comfortable for me and the ride is good. The adjustable suspension makes cool hissing noises as it adjusts. It takes some getting used to but the bike handles well. However I can not recommend aggressive riding with a passenger. Even small movements by the passenger can have huge effects on how the bike handles. Spirited solo riding is quite interesting especially when the back end steps out.
Accessories are way over priced even by motorcycle standards. Fortunately the lack of choice is offset by well thought out and integrated options. The only thing missing is a bluetooth option.
Can-Am and the two dealers I dealt with were alright although I felt that the experience was not commensurate with a $25K+ bike. The only real downside is that parts and bikes seem to be difficult to come by.
