By 320,000 Miler, Hal “BikerDoc” Mette
I constantly see postings from new owners asking what mods they should immediately add to their Spyders or Rykers. I can’t really answer that question. What I tell folks to do is to ryde the bike awhile and have your own experience tell you what you need.
What I can do is share with you what I’m doing to make “Red”, my new 2022 F3 Limited Special Edition, fully safe and comfortable for me. Red is my eighth Spyder and I have logged over 320,000 miles on them to date so I have tried just about every mod you can think about. Here are my favorites:
For Long Ryding Distances:
My favorite mods include the Ultimate F3 Floorboards by CanAmSpyderAccessories.com. This floorboard tends to act as both a floorboard and highway peg as it tilts up toward the front. This also puts your foot closer to the brake for quicker reaction time. Every time I feel the least bit uncomfortable, I shift foot positions on the boards to relax the offended muscles.
I also include the driver backrest. On this Spyder I’ve added the BRP factory backrest, though in the past I’ve added the backrest from Ultimate Seats or Lamonster Garage. I found that I cannot ryde over 100 miles without the having some serious back pain. With the backrest I can comfortably ryde 750 miles a day.
The beaded seat you see is from BeadRider.com. These beads are comfortable and provide much needed air circulation on long rydes. They are surprisingly very comfortable.
For Visibility:
I mounted the 24 inch vented F4 Custom windshield with adjustable air wings to protect the hands (most windshield leave the hands out in the cold). This windshield gives me protection from the wind, cold, and heavy rain and the air wings adjust to give me a super air conditioner in the heat of summer. Also the optical quality is the best I have ever found. Great to help my elderly eyes. The added etching by Sara Clark of Tattoo My Ride was my splurge to promote the Road Warrior Foundation.
The stock headlights on the F3 Spyder provide a frighteningly short coverage so I always replace the stock headlights on an F3 with the LED headlights and fog lights. You can’t go wrong if you purchase these at Lamonster Garage.
More lighting for better visibility up front never hurts.. Here I’ve added the Halo Eye and the Halo Skid from Custom Spyder Works.com.
People put all kinds of lights on the rear of their Spyders to make it easier for folks to see them. I chose the lighted American Flag light. The majority of ryders that I have asked say they tend to focus on the America Flag where other lights such as strobes simply irritate them. TricLED.com still offers these, but I move mine whenever I trade in a bike.
Wraps/Paint:
I prefer wraps because they can be removed if the next buyer doesn’t like them or I may get tired of them and want a new look. My initial wraps will be US Spyder Ryder knee panels customized for me by wrapmyspyder.com. I will also add American Flags because I am a patriot and I like decals from the two favorite charities I support. Both their logos are attractive so decorate the bike nicely while sending a message.
Convenience:
I love having a cup holder on my handlebar. It is really easy to get dehydrated on a hot summer day so it’s great to have water close at hand. My cupholder is a custom Road Warrior cup from Diamond R accessories who unfortunately is no longer in business. Lamonster Garage or Slingmods offer some current options.
I tend to fill my gas tank several times a day. On iron butt rydes, and I have done over 25 of them. I filled the tank 8 times a day. For that reason I use the Lamonster Garage Screw Top gas cap rather than fight with my key with each fill up.
Navigation
I am somewhat old school so I’m not proficient on BRP Connect. My dealer found the right cable at Best Buy so that they could not only install my GPS from my prior bike but they also routed the turn by turn sound through my main speakers.
Sound:
A factory Spyder sounds remarkably like a sewing machine so its little wonder that traditional bikers have a hard time taking it seriously. I chose the performance primary muffler (Cat-Delete) integrated with the secondary IPS muffler from Lamonster Garage to give me a throaty sound that can be easily heard but won’t wake the neighbors when I leave for early morning rydes.
Conclusion
This is how I made my “Red” mine. As I said at the beginning, ryde your bike for a while and let your experience tell you what you need to make your bike yours.