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San Antonio Texas

C

Chiefburg

Member
Hello all,

Took delivery of my first Spyder a few days ago. It’s a 2013 RT Limited With 7200 miles. The wife won’t ride unless I’m on three wheels so it seemed the natural thing to buy. And, my balance isn’t as keen as it was 50 years ago. A few observations:
- This thing is big compared to a Regular bike....it’s massive.
- It is as stable as can be and it’s nice not to worry about balance or if the wife will topple off.
- It is beautiful - didn’t imagine it would look this nice!
- Happy the tank is bigger than my other bikes.
- The first short ride was awkward....no hand brakes, single brake peddle, massive power, wanted to lean into corners but it felt wrong, the steering is wayyyyy different.

I know I will get used to it and plan on enjoying my time riding.

Is there any Spyder clubs in the San Antonio area?

Thanks. Jerry
2013 Spyder RT SE5 Limited
 
I'm not in SA, but I have a non riding cousin who lives there - does that count for anything? As a long time motorcyclist who switched to a Spyder, I can give you some tips that will make the conversion easier for you. Yeah, the bike leaning to the right when turning left really spooked me and was the hardest and last thing to overcome. When you've ridden it 1,000 miles, you will feel a lot more confident and at 2K miles, you'll be tossing around curves like the 19 year old you think you are.
+ Open hands on the grips and loosy goosy arms. My bike was twitchy until I learned that.
+ Ride as you would an ATV or snowmobile by pushing the outside foot hard on the peg and leaning your body to the inside of a curve. Have passengers do that too.
+ These engines love to rev, so stay above 3K and shift at even higher revs.
+ Unlike a MC, hold the throttle perfectly still when shifting, the system does the rev matching for you. If your shifts are clunky, you are moving the throttle.
+ With few miles on it, the original Kenda tires might still be there. If they are, they are too old, especially in SA weather. Switch them for car tires - there's a ton of tire info here for the looking.
+ Tire pressure is critical and unusual for one coming from MCs. Under 20 psi front and under 30 psi rear.
+ A Bajaron sway bar helps the handling a lot, especially older RTs. To tell if your bike might have one, check the links; OEM links are plastic, aftermarket are metal.
 
Look for Southern Cruisers Riding Club. There is a chapter in SA and a few in smaller towns around the area. We ride with SCRC Conroe chapter and they are very accepting of Spyders. Our chapter is about 50% trikes these days. A mix of various brands with Spyders the most common trike, HD the most common 2 wheeler.
 
Great advice and I will try it out. I felt more comfortable this morning on the way to the inspection station so I know it will take some getting used to. Yes, I need to try the loosey goosey on the handlebars....thus steering is twitchy and I tend to jerk a little bit.

Yes, the tires are the Kenda’s and original. I already searched the forum for “tires” and the thoughts are all over the board...even some angry ones. Who changes these tires? I’m guessing it needs to be a bike shop for the back....the front looks like I could pull them and take them to a regular tire store for mounting....at least it appears that way.

This thing is awesome and look forward to putting some miles on. Thanks for the advice.
 
jcthorne said:
Look for Southern Cruisers Riding Club. There is a chapter in SA and a few in smaller towns around the area. We ride with SCRC Conroe chapter and they are very accepting of Spyders. Our chapter is about 50% trikes these days. A mix of various brands with Spyders the most common trike, HD the most common 2 wheeler.
Click to expand...

I will check them out....thanks!
 
+1 for Southern Cruisers. I'm in a chapter here.
You'll have better luck getting car tires mounted at a regular tire shop, most BRP dealers don;t / won't do it. They need a small enough spindle for the balancing.
 
As for the tires, you would not be the only person to drive from San Antonio to my shop in Houston to get Spyder tires. Shops that can and will install them are few.
 
I love those colors and almost bought one just like it. Then i saw an F3L that begged me to take it home with me. How could I resist?
 
Good day Jerry and welcome from a pair of San Antonio Spyder riders. In reality we're in Schertz, between S. A. and New Braunfels, but it's easier to say San Antonio. Regarding riding groups, US Spyder Riders - Hill Country Chapter has already been mentioned and they seem to be a good group. Neither my wife or I are avid group riders and prefer to strike out on our own and enjoy rides at our pace and our stop and go preferences. If we were to become group riders again we would most likely opt for the Hill Country Chapter.

If you're looking for a decent dealership I can suggest Kent Powersports in Selma (northeast S.A.) If you're on the northwest side of town there is Coyote Powersports on I-10 near Boerne. I've visited their shop several times and they seem to have a good reputation among the Hill Country Chapter group, according to postings on Face Book.

However, when I decided to replace the stock front tires on my RT-S with Vrederstein Quatrac 5s, Coyote informed me they would not mount car tires on a Spyder. It appears to be some manner of liability issue although I can't say with assurance whether it's a BRP edict or something larger. On the plus side Coyote appears to be the only dealership in the area that offers laser wheel alignment.

To return to the front tire replacement, I took them to a small tire shop in N. B. I've used before and they mounted them on a pair of new PPA chrome wheels I bought to replace the stock black spoke wheels then I could simply swap the old tire/wheel combination for the new combination myself. Unfortunately, that little shop didn't have the appropriate size cone to fit the wheels so they couldn't spin balance them.

So, I went to Kent Powersports in Selma - my first choice dealership - where they balanced and mounted them without issue. Why am I writing this? If you search the forum for tire posts you'll find that many owners are not impressed with the quality or performance of the Kenda tires that come stock on Spyder RTs and that one of the favored replacements is the Verderstein. It's a dramatic improvement.

Kent is where we bought both of our new-to-us Spyders and we've found they treat us well and their maintenance work is quality in our opinions. They aren't perfect (what is?) but we've not been disappointed to date.

Having said all that, welcome again and enjoy your good looking RT.

Spyders03m.jpg
 
Hello Jerry, Preston here. I'm a new owner of a 2014 RT and having some of the same experiences, funny isnt it. Looking for riders that get together and cruise through the hill county, and talk spyder.
 
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