I am by no means an expert. We have only had the Spyder (2013 STS) for a couple of months. My GF rides it mostly. She has put close to 5000km on it in about 2 months. I still ride my Goldwing. Whenever I take the Spyder for a run I immediately go in Snowmobile Mode. I've been riding sleds my entire life. I call the Spyder a Road Sled. I love taking it and running through the corners. It's nothing like 2 wheels. It won't corner as fast as some bikes for sure, but it comes close in some cases. Enjoy it for what it is. I sure do when she lets me ride it.
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So, how fast can a spyder go and safely make a sharp right turn at an intersection?
- Thread starter VryGryFox
- Start date
FlyingBoat
Member
Thanks for the advice on this thread and others. I have been riding about a month with 1K miles.
To me the muscles pulling seem to have more fine tuning ability than pushing. I feel much more confident pulling now, no over steer back again. Seems much more control pulling.
Just did a google search and saw studies showing pulling strength is higher than pushing strength, so that could have something to do with it as well in maintaining a smooth turn.
To me the muscles pulling seem to have more fine tuning ability than pushing. I feel much more confident pulling now, no over steer back again. Seems much more control pulling.
Just did a google search and saw studies showing pulling strength is higher than pushing strength, so that could have something to do with it as well in maintaining a smooth turn.
ARtraveler
R.I.P. Dwayne
It will go faster than most will dare.
If the "nanny" kicks in, you are trying to over ride the machine. It does not like that.
If the "nanny" kicks in, you are trying to over ride the machine. It does not like that.
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AZrailwhale
New member
I can easily out corner all the Harleys, Indians and Gold Wings I ride with on my base F-3. Stand on the outside peg, lean in and push the handlebar, don’t roll the throttle.
Gwolf
Well-known member
Locate the gravity increase button underneath the left hand grip. Hold that and slowly tap the defy centrifugal force button on the right hand grip. If all else fails go for the magic increase dial just to the left of the key.
Be sure you understand before doing this, you are breaking laws which are not normally enforced by the police, but you may be able to get some assistance from the EMS personnel.
The computer controlled nanny must have a full charge of magic powder in the holding tank or none of the safety measures will work. When this happens you are totally dependent on minimum airlift, or stall speed. Once you are committed, it becomes increasingly difficult to stop any part of the process.
Adding one last final thought here... the computers and the nanny built into the new Spyders do try to keep you from making really bad decisions while riding. There is no magic formula and nothing in the Spyder can cancel or allow you to break the natural laws of gravity, centrifugal force, or any other law of physics. It can do nothing more that attempt to stop you from going beyond the capabilities of machine and rider. In motion, the forces affecting the rider and machine change from second to second, and no matter how good the computer or how fast it reacts, it cannot anticipate what the conditions will be even 3 seconds into the future. It can only read the conditions and forces at the exact moment in the present and try to react accordingly. The engineers have attempted to set the danger zone well below what would result in a crash, but the computer cannot anticipate what is coming next. As with any vehicle, if you break the laws of physics and friction, you will lose the game.
Be sure you understand before doing this, you are breaking laws which are not normally enforced by the police, but you may be able to get some assistance from the EMS personnel.
The computer controlled nanny must have a full charge of magic powder in the holding tank or none of the safety measures will work. When this happens you are totally dependent on minimum airlift, or stall speed. Once you are committed, it becomes increasingly difficult to stop any part of the process.
Adding one last final thought here... the computers and the nanny built into the new Spyders do try to keep you from making really bad decisions while riding. There is no magic formula and nothing in the Spyder can cancel or allow you to break the natural laws of gravity, centrifugal force, or any other law of physics. It can do nothing more that attempt to stop you from going beyond the capabilities of machine and rider. In motion, the forces affecting the rider and machine change from second to second, and no matter how good the computer or how fast it reacts, it cannot anticipate what the conditions will be even 3 seconds into the future. It can only read the conditions and forces at the exact moment in the present and try to react accordingly. The engineers have attempted to set the danger zone well below what would result in a crash, but the computer cannot anticipate what is coming next. As with any vehicle, if you break the laws of physics and friction, you will lose the game.
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BajaRon
Well-known member
An accurate take on the question and the overall area of discussion, Gwolf. The one critical thing that the VSS (Nanny) cannot control is the steering angle or the speed at which that angle is achieved. Some riders seem not to realize that jerking the handlebars is not a good idea. Or that the quickest cure for a lifted wheel is to steer, even slightly, away from it.
While it is possible to manage physics, and even use it to your advantage, you can never beat it. Trying to do so can be expensive and may also leave marks that will never go away.
While it is possible to manage physics, and even use it to your advantage, you can never beat it. Trying to do so can be expensive and may also leave marks that will never go away.
Peacekeeper6
Active member
You CANNOT just sit there upright like a statue when approaching turns at a good clip. There HAS to be some weight shifting involved, otherwise you'll be thrown off like a ragdoll.
The aftermarket sway bar will definitely help in making your bike corner flatter; that is, it won't look as tilted thereby keeping you and your bike more upright during the turn.
The bike's nannies is designed to kick in before it rolls over. Hopefully, you're not going at too high a rate of speed entering the turn. Always, ALWAYS slow down BEFORE the turn and slowly roll the throttle to accelerate out of it.
Hope that helps!!
LongIsland
Active member
In addition to all the valuable advice provided here, please read "Do's and Don'ts for New Spyder Owners" It is a sticky thread in the Spyder General Discussion Forum.
Well here it is almost 10 months from my original post and I am about to enter my late eighties and I still love riding my 2023 RTL, My current mileage is about 6500 miles. I have implemented many of the suggestions from this thread and feel very comfortable with handling my Spyder in turns/straights/quick stops... At 3000 miles I had my local shop install BajaRon's advanced sway bar and shocks and I feel that they made a significant improvement to the overall handling of the Spyder. I recently added the BRP backrest and a Garmin Zumo XT2 ( iPhone poops out in the heat).
Installing the backrest was a tad messy, the rails holding the slider were too close and my neighbor was enlisted to help 'widen' the rails so the slider would properly fit. The backrest does a good job of helping to stave off fatigue!
Installing the Garmin was a bit of adventure. Removing the three right side panels, stripping the Garmin power cable, and fitting them into the waygo circuit connectors, installing the Lamonster harness (testing showed the harness connectors to the waygo were backwards) and finally putting everything back together. Whew!
gillisquad
New member
Can you tell me which tire you're currently driving on?Just a few comments here VryGry, intended to help you come to grips with this Spyder thing you're now riding.
Because of its 'Reverse Trike' configuration and the inherent stability that brings (even if you don't feel it... YET!) your Spyder is really unlike just about anything else on the road, and with its suite of 'safety features' that we all so endearingly call 'the Nanny', your Spyder will 'out-turn' AND 'out-brake' pretty much anything else you've ever even seen driven &/or ridden on the road, IF you learn to use the body-english necessary to counter the centrifugal forces that will seemingly be trying to throw you off to the outside whenever you corner hard &/or fast! Sure, you can plonk yourself down on a Spyder and fairly quickly come to terms with tooling around relatively slowly without scaring yourself or anyone else too much, but it takes a fair bit more effort & involvement on your behalf to punt one of these things hard and fast, and once you start coming to grips with how to do that, you'll REALLY start to see the Miles of Smiles! Your Spyder's nowhere near as intuitive to ride as a 2-wheel bike, since you NEED to actively turn the handlebars to corner; and when cornering, especially if you are cornering hard &/or fast, YOU actively need to counter those centrifugal forces, either by bracing your core (in the low & slow, gentle stuff!) or by leaning your upper body at least as much if not more than you leant your 2-wheeled bike in order to safely make any turn! :lecturef_smilie:
The Spyder does not take just a little counter steering input to initiate a lean & then it'll do the rest, with a couple of dirty great gyroscopic stabilisers keeping you on thru the lean & turn like your 2-wheeled bikes do - you have to hang on and steer it all the way!! And since you don't mention the Nanny kicking in (and believe me, even if you might not notice one, some, or even any of the 'little corrections' that she often does apply when you're truly riding hard, you WILL notice it when the Nanny does an 'emergency intervention' if/when you ever get anywhere NEAR rolling or flipping your Spyder! :lecturef_smilie: ) I can only assume that you really weren't cornering all hard &/or fast at all, BUT BECAUSE you're not yet used to your Spyder &/or how well it CAN actually turn when ridden appropriately, you probably didn't lean IN hard enough/far enough, so the centrifugal forces trying to throw you off the outside felt massive, which made you ease off on your steering, so you ran wide, and basically, your unfamiliarity and lack of confidence in the machine let it all get away from you!! :gaah:
The only real thing to get over this ^ is saddle time! Most new riders take about 1000 miles OR MORE, to really start coming to grips with feeling comfortable on their Spyders, and for many, it takes far more than that to truly start getting the best from their Spyder's unparalleled traction, stability, and braking abilities! So be kind to yourself - 300 miles is nowhere near enough for most to even get comfortable on the seat, so don't expect too much too early, and don't push things too hard too early either! Give yourself the time and miles and gradually work up to going faster, cornering harder, and with coming to grips with the fact that Spyder roll-overs are VERY RARE, and usually as the result of the input of copious quantities of rider stupidity; too much speed & steering input while travelling in reverse; &/or the application of some external force, like being hit by a car or running up a curb! And even then, the Nanny will almost always kick in and do her best to keep your Spyder upright before things get critical, so if you can only hang on...
Once you start trying to corner harder &/or faster, start practicing leaning your upper body in and down toward the inside of the corner - try NOT to push on the outside bar, as that tends to apply down & out forces up high on the bike, ie. with lots of leverage in exactly the wrong place, so it de-stabilises your Spyder far more than is necessary or desirable in tight corners, altho it might feel as tho it's helping you brace yourself better - but that feeling comes at a significant cost to your Spyder's ability to take corners at speed! So instead, PULL with your inside hand on the handlebars, using your outside foot to brace yourself down low & to help you push your body weight across and lean into that pull; then lean in and down as if you were going to kiss your wrist! That'll work far better to counter the centrifugal forces and help keep the Spyder more stable without large inputs from the Nanny, and by doing that, I find most new Spyder riders, especially those with extensive 2-wheel riding experience, come to grips with the greater stability, traction, and cornering capability of their Spyders sooner!
Do all that for at least 1000 miles or so, gradually increasing you speed as your ability and confidence grows, and eventually you'll start finding the factory imposed limits of your Spyder - and I'm not talking about the relatively bendy chassis/frame &/or the deliberate de-tuning and restriction of the engine/driveline either - not YET, anyway!! Once you are feeling more comfortable with pushing a bit harder into the corners, your rear OEM Kenda tire will probably be getting fairly worn, and while your front Kendas will be wearing better, you'll start noticing that the tires AND the sway bar are not really up to the capabilities of the rest of the bike! Personally, I tossed those OEM excuses for black round things to keep the metal off the ground that they call Kenda tires as worn-out wastes of space within the first 5,000 miles, and fitted a real set of tires that far exceeded the Kendas capability in all respects, but then I did have access to brake testing skid pans & tracks that I was running my Spyder on fairly regularly, so the limitations of the tires became critical sooner than most, and only after that did I do a sway bar upgrade, followed by an ECU Upgrade that removed the de-tuning restrictions; but some like to fully wear their front Kendas out first - only I figure that just extends the time it takes to really come to terms with how great these Spyder things can be!hyea:
Sure, not sure that it's likely to help you too much tho, since I'm in Oz, on completely the other side of the World, and we don't always get access to the same tires or even the same tire spec's that you do over there in North America...
I'm running a set of Michelins, 'All Season M&S' types, I think they're labelled XM2's, but I haven't gone out to check. I've got a 205/65R15 on the rear and a pair of 175/60R15's up front; and I've had no problems at all with them, fantastic traction, great wear, and IMHO, faaar better performance, ride, puncture resistance, suspension compliance, and handling et al all round than the lightweight, poor quality, OEM stuff &/or any of their clones could ever provide!
All that said, these tires that I currently have might not ever have been available in your part of the World, and they are now no longer available here Down Under either.
And while the set I have on now are nowhere near worn out yet, despite having run many more 10's of thousands of miles than many Spyders over your way ever seem to do in their life, let alone on a set of tires, I am gonna hafta retire them soon due to their advancing age! 
Even at the 18 psi all round pressure that I generally run in them (the lighter load of a Spyder vs that of a car means they don't need any more air pressure in them than that, and that pressure is just low enough to allow them to properly warm up to their ideal operating temperature) they are beginning to take longer to get up to temp, which is a sign of them hardening with age and losing traction, flexibility, performance, and more... 
We can't readily get Vredesteins here in Oz, so I'm considering a set of Pirelli Verde All Season tires in similar sizes, or maybe I'll go back to a Cooper CS5 Ultra for the rear, which was not quite so good as either the Pirelli or Michelin in the wet, but on the plus side, had scads of traction under the lightweight rear end on dirt and gravel, which I do a lot of riding on?? I guess I'll juuust hafta do some pondering over the next few weeks...
Cheers!
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