[dicko]

Took delivery of my Spyder last Friday (May 2) in the land downunder (Australia).

There seem to be 2 different fuel tank sizes quoted - 27 litres in spec sheets but 25 in the handbook. Also the octance seems to range from 87 to 89 thru 92. Australia has 91, 95 and 98 so I'm sticking to the 91.

A couple of questions:
1. Anyone know what the real capacity is?
2. What is left when the fuel light comes on?
3. Is the Handbook available on-line in .pdf format?

Regards,
Dicko Downunder

 

[floto612]

fuel...how much/ octane....how much

Hi Dicko,

Just wanted to share my observations.

The light comes on when you have two fuel bars left on the indicator(crap my memory, maybe its only one bar). At that point I have roughly 230km on the bike. Running with light one and this one bar for about 10 more km to hit a fuel station, I put in 20 litres. A little below my expectations, but my wheelchair hanging off the side may cause some depreciated fuel mileage.

This happened to me twice....and my readings suggest that there would be another 5 litres in reserve after this point.

Octane, I only use 91.......highest I can get at a Sunoco would be 94. My thinking is that there would be knock sensor for timing on the Sypder and higher octane, less knock, more fun.......to a point. Hyper fuels may burn too fast for the Spyder. Canadian octane of 91 runs fine for me.

Hope this helps, floto612

 

[2333]

My owners manual says 6.6 gallons (U.S. model). I have filled up just after the low fuel light came on, and put in 4.5 gallons, so that means the light comes on at 2 gallons which seems like a lot of fuel left to me to be lighting the low fuel light. As far as octane goes, higher is not always better. Octane does not help fuel burn, it helps fuel NOT burn. On a stock engine, there is no need or advantage to a higher octane number than the minimum the manual says.

 

[thecoast]

Miles per gallon found out the hard way

Well, I happen to have found out today, first-hand, how many miles per gallon a 2008 Spyder, fully broken-in (1050 miles) goes on a full tank of gas. I use 87 octane in California. (BTW, I called BRP and asked which was the correct fuel tank capacity: they said that the manual was correct.)

Well, I say that neither the manual nor the spec sheet is correct. I had put in 5 gallons of fuel (the most I'd ever been able to put in after getting NO bars on the dash), so I had a FULL tank. It went 147 miles when suddenly it started dying in the car pool lane. Fortunately, there's a huge car pool lane shoulder to the left and I was able to get off safely and stay safe till a good Samaritan in the guise of a U.S. Air Force sergeant on a motorcycle stopped and advised me against trying to push the roadster across a four-lane freeway to get to the far right lane and the next exit. Anyway, he went and got me 2 gallons and charged me nothing. God bless him and his family.

Anyway, what got me into the predicament was that I figured after no bars I should have at least a gallon and a half of fuel (based on the 5 gallons I pumped and the 6.6 gallons total). That 1.6 gallons should take me AT LEAST 40 more miles. My home was about 24 miles away. I stopped short about maybe 6 or 7 miles at most. So 147 divided by 6.6 (a full tank) is 22.27 miles per gallon. That is awful!!

If that's the case, I'm probably going to sell the Spyder. Even though I bought it because it was way, way cool, I also bought it thinking about the price of gas. At this rate, my 1994 Camry does better by far: at least 30 miles per gallon, freeway or street.

I'm thinking the 6.6 gallons is wrong unless there is a reserve tank switch somewhere I don't know about and somewhere the manual doesn't mention.

I'm sure that BRP got all kinds of bad press with the thousands of cars that saw me on the side of the road. That, or thousands of people thought, "Who's the idiot with the three-wheeled yellow thingy wearing a yellow helmet in 100 degree (Farenheit) weather?"

Yeah.

 

[mrfilovirus]

I've been following a lot of forums, and there seems to be a large discrepancy on what kind of millage people are getting. Yours listed seems to be on the low end, but the average out of a small sample (more than 100 but less than 150) is 31 - 35 mpg.

Below is a list of every tank so far from another rider:

------------
Here is what i got so far for gas milage.
1. 29.6---First tank when I took delivery
2. 32.4
3. 33.6
4. 35.39
5. 38.8
6. 34.1
7. 32.9
8. 36.0
9. 36.7
10. 33.5
11. 42.5 must of been a tail wind
12. 35.6
13. 34.9
14. 35.8
15. 35.0
16. 35.5
17. 36.7
18. 36.0
19. 33.8
20. 35.7
Thats it so far. Does seem to get a little better with a few miles on it. Thats filling it up till it's at top of filler hole.
------------

A lot will depend on how you ride it, where you are physically located, etc. - but 35 is about the best you will get with this engine unless you are really conscious of gas consumption.

 

[thecoast]

Mountain driving maybe? I don't think so.

I just remembered that I took the Spyder for a little--and I do mean a little--mountain riding in a community area where there are stop signs. However, when the bars were gone, I had just gotten onto a freeway. So 99% of the trip was going to be on the freeway at an average speed of 73 mph. Maybe doing 65 to 70 will be better. I'll have to see.

Could a little mountain driving have affected the mileage so much? I don't think so.

Anyway, thanks for data. It'll be useful.

BTW, what's the story behind "mrfilovirus"?

 

[vnmous1]

Hi folks. A noob here. Picked it up yesterday in Detroit and drove it home to Chicago. Lots of 55/60/70 mph along the interstate. As a motorcyclist for 40-some years (and racer of both bikes and cars) the dynamics of the ride made the pucker factor kinda high when I took the first on ramp with a tight curve. I just kept thinking that there's no leaning, no counter-steering. Well, I found out quickly that leaning was a must! My "daily" is a 2005 GL1800 Goldwing and the Spyder is actually for my wife (she's a gear head...I'm a lucky guy!) She may have a very hard time prying the keys to the Spyder from my hands. It's a hoot. I had it out this morning and took it to a parking lot to see just how hard I could push it without getting front wheel lift. I never pushed it hard enough to get it to do so. I just kept thinking about the early days on the ATC90s and having a couple of those wrestle me into submission!

Oh....I got a little over 31 on the first leg and 32.5 on the second leg during my trip.

And since I'm the noob, I'll ask a noob question.....does anyone have and quickie tips for adjusting the rear shock? I read the book, but my assumption would be that someone has learned a thing or two in the process.

Thanks, and I look forward to learning a lot from all of you.

BJ

 

[mrfilovirus]

.....does anyone have and quickie tips for adjusting the rear shock? I read the book, but my assumption would be that someone has learned a thing or two in the process.


BJ

Welcome to the spyder club.

for the rear shock:

• Jack up the rear, using a standard car jack. Don't forget toblock the front tires.
• Lube the spring and adjuster. This tip is very important - the shock can get "stuck" and you can damage it during the adjustment if it isn't lubed.
• Get a 3/8" socket wrench with the longest extension you can find.... 12" or so. The square end of the extension (where you normally attach your socket) fits into the square holes on that black tab at the bottom of the shock spring.

 

[vnmous1]

Welcome to the spyder club.

for the rear shock:

• Jack up the rear, using a standard car jack. Don't forget toblock the front tires.
• Lube the spring and adjuster. This tip is very important - the shock can get "stuck" and you can damage it during the adjustment if it isn't lubed.
• Get a 3/8" socket wrench with the longest extension you can find.... 12" or so. The square end of the extension (where you normally attach your socket) fits into the square holes on that black tab at the bottom of the shock spring.

Lube with anything in particular? I have some waterproof/resistant Mobil 1 grease that I use on the lower control arms of my Mustang. Are you talking about just dabbing some grease along the cam/steps?

And thanks for the welcome.

bj

 

[LittleJohn]

Lube with anything in particular? I have some waterproof/resistant Mobil 1 grease that I use on the lower control arms of my Mustang. Are you talking about just dabbing some grease along the cam/steps?

And thanks for the welcome.

bj

I believe the owners manual calls for LPS spray on lube on the lobe steps and the general area. I would imagine an equivalent lube would work just as well (wd40, etc)

 

[thecoast]

Fuel again

Well, I've been much more cautious about letting the tank get empty.

I'm consistently getting about 32 mpg when I fill the tank with 4 to 4.5 gallons after the warning light comes on. The greater the speed over 65 mph I go, the less it looks like 32 mpg. But it's still up there over 30 mpg.

However, I still stand by my claim (based on my less than wonderful stranding experience) that this machine does NOT have a 6.6 gallon tank.

Peace.

---Luis

 

[Spyderman]

Funny, here was the BRP SpyderRyder Question of the week:

Q: What is the fuel capacity of the Spyder roadster?


A: The Spyder roadster’s fuel tank is 7.13 US gallons (27 liters).

 

[thecoast]

That is funny. There are two figures given: one in the brochure (7.13 gal.) and another in the owner's manual (6.6 gal.) Which one is right?

 

[Konich]

All my friends ask me how big the motor is and how big is the gas tank. Funny how it says 990 but in the manual it says something like 998.6 and as far as fuel who knows but I doubt its over 5.5 gallons.

 

[MrCanaM]

please tell me that by putting high octane, im not damaging my spyder!
i wasnt sure what type of gas to use so i was using 93 octane

 

[WINTER1942]

Milage and fuel tank

Well, I happen to have found out today, first-hand, how many miles per gallon a 2008 Spyder, fully broken-in (1050 miles) goes on a full tank of gas. I use 87 octane in California. (BTW, I called BRP and asked which was the correct fuel tank capacity: they said that the manual was correct.)

Well, I say that neither the manual nor the spec sheet is correct. I had put in 5 gallons of fuel (the most I'd ever been able to put in after getting NO bars on the dash), so I had a FULL tank. It went 147 miles when suddenly it started dying in the car pool lane. Fortunately, there's a huge car pool lane shoulder to the left and I was able to get off safely and stay safe till a good Samaritan in the guise of a U.S. Air Force sergeant on a motorcycle stopped and advised me against trying to push the roadster across a four-lane freeway to get to the far right lane and the next exit. Anyway, he went and got me 2 gallons and charged me nothing. God bless him and his family.

Anyway, what got me into the predicament was that I figured after no bars I should have at least a gallon and a half of fuel (based on the 5 gallons I pumped and the 6.6 gallons total). That 1.6 gallons should take me AT LEAST 40 more miles. My home was about 24 miles away. I stopped short about maybe 6 or 7 miles at most. So 147 divided by 6.6 (a full tank) is 22.27 miles per gallon. That is awful!!

If that's the case, I'm probably going to sell the Spyder. Even though I bought it because it was way, way cool, I also bought it thinking about the price of gas. At this rate, my 1994 Camry does better by far: at least 30 miles per gallon, freeway or street.

I'm thinking the 6.6 gallons is wrong unless there is a reserve tank switch somewhere I don't know about and somewhere the manual doesn't mention.

I'm sure that BRP got all kinds of bad press with the thousands of cars that saw me on the side of the road. That, or thousands of people thought, "Who's the idiot with the three-wheeled yellow thingy wearing a yellow helmet in 100 degree (Farenheit) weather?"

Yeah.

I have had my Cam Am now for about a year. It does have a 6 gallon fuel tank and when my check fuel light comes on, it takes about 4.5 gallons to fill it. I'm getting about 30 miles to the gallon. So had at least another 50 miles to go before fill up. Have done this twice.

 

[WINTER1942]

That is funny. There are two figures given: one in the brochure (7.13 gal.) and another in the owner's manual (6.6 gal.) Which one is right?

The manel is correct its 6.6

 

[nj_spyder]

Octane

whoever buys a spyder, should not be too concerned with mpg. its a luxury to own one, i think. lets talk octane (performance). does anyone know if octane makes a difference in the drivability of can-ams.

 

[2333]

I have the Leo Vince, the Evoluzione intake, the Evoluzione O2 sim, and the modified fuel pressure regulator set to 58 lbs static on 2333, and it runs best on 89 octane.

 

[Corybud]

Front Shock adjustment

Hello,

Just got my spyder on Thursday. Noticed that the front shocks are set on the third notch from soft. Back shock is set all the way soft. I only weigh 120 soaking wet and wondered if it would help the handling if I lightned up on the pre load. The manual says to take the load off the shoks before trying to adjust but all I see under the front is plastic. Really don't want to do something real stupid.