Charlotte is Home

[Pegasus1300]

The Spyder is home and as you can guess from the heading her name is Charlotte.She came in and woke me up at 6:00 am Saturday morning to tell me that. All went well at the bank doing the paperwork though since the branch I finalized the purchase at was different from the branch I started with they had to do all the stuff all over again. I was a little intimidated by the Spyder at 1st but the seller spent enough time with me that I felt comfortable in driving her home. Got home about 9:30 last night had to ride quite a bit in the dark.

I love the driving lights but the high beams to me are useless.There is no apparent difference between high and low. Great ride otherwise. I haven't had so much fun since I left the 2 wheel world. I took everybody's advice and let her rev. I never got her into 5th gear until out on the freeway.3rd gear is like on my Royal Star,you can go slow or run it up to 60 and goes just great.I could not remember how to get into reverse. I was at my son in law's house and he googled it for me and then it was easy.I also figured that if I push the parking brake before I turn it off she wont scream at me. My grandkidslove riding with Grandpa and promptly announced that the Spyder was "really cool".

It was supposed to rain today but I had enough space between showers to go over to the Rat Fink reunion in Manti and find a pin striper there to give Charlotte a little character.

Shayne Syx an old line Roth pin striper did the honors .

The rain kept me from getting a finished picture but I'll get one tomorrow.

Here is a pre pin stripe picture and some pin stripe pictures

[Rick Kay]

Your CanAm looks great! Enjoy!

[0pini0nated]

She's a beauty all right ~ brown metallic with contrasting pin stripes is striking What's the little yellow stick figure on your left-side saddlebag?

[Rod69]

Great looking Can Am. Love the color and the pinstriping. You should be proud.

[87Trike1200]

Very nice - great choice of decoration. We just returned from Americade at Lake George, NY. We saw numerous Spyders - yours stands out among the best looking we've seen...

[Sully]

[Gorilla]

very nice enjoy

[Pegasus1300]

She's a beauty all right ~ brown metallic with contrasting pin stripes is striking What's the little yellow stick figure on your left-side saddlebag?

It's a motorcycle version of an Anasazi figure that the PO got down in Moab. I left it as tribute to him, he has Dementia and soon wont even remember owning it

- - - Updated - - -

Thank you all for the very kind words. So I have had it since Friday night (6/6) and now have approx 350 miles on it under my hand. I am getting 30 mpg and I can't get the grin off my face. This the most fun I have had since I quit 2 wheels.

[trikermutha]

They are a blast to ride ...Have Fun

[Zammy]

The striping is really nice, very tasteful, that's a great looking ride.

[napper39]

im on my 2ed spyder and i go up to 62 mph but in 4th gear and then any thing past that i shift to 5th,as long as you are at or over 4000 rpm your ok.i think 60 in 3ed is a little too much.just stay at 4000 in your 3d gear and 4th up to 60 or a little 65 max then shift to 5th.as long as your in the 4000 rpm range your ok.5000 rpm is max hp,and 70 mph.5th feeles good at that rpm .have fun and ride like the wind.

[trikermutha]

I am normally in 6th gear at 3000 RPM or higher..Either way I think the bike is comfortable at whatever RPM it is at..

[FuzzyWuzHe]

Sweeet ride ... ride safe

[Pegasus1300]

I have done a few more things to Charlotte. I bought a gel pad/memory foam cushion from Dave over at motorcycledave.com and installed it. The hardest part was finding the correct staples for the new air staple gun I bought to be able to re attach the seat cover. A hand stapler just wouldn't do it. Dave gives you everything you need to do a great looking factory installation even for this 1st timer. He was also gracious enough to answer my call for help on a Saturday and walk me thru a couple of things I didn't understand from his instructions. I have also added a Sena m 10 dongle and Sena Bluetooth headsets from Dave as well. Before going to Sturgis I wanted to change the rear tire. It had over 11,000 mi on it and looked to be getting thin. My local tire store got me a 215/60 14 Mastercraft and had no trouble mounting and balancing it once I brought him the rim.

I followed finless bob's video from youtube on how to remove and install the rear wheel.

After 2500 mi for the Sturgis ride it seems to ride smooth handle better then the stock and should wear good.

The tire dealer said it had an 80,000 mi warranty,we'll see.

This weekend will be oil change and rear brake pad time. BajaRon is send everything I need for those two jobs except the oil. Walmart is having a sale on Valvoline 10/40 Full Synthetic Motorcycle oil in the 6 pack packages for $35.00. Order on line and pick up at local store no shipping. Next project will be adding the BajaRon sway bar and some highway pegs.

[trikermutha]

sounds like you are a happy camper on the SPYDER and setting it up the way you want..