Three years with the Thing

September 2021

So then, in its third year the Thing started with about 15,534mi25,000km on the odometer and ended with almost 18,641mi30,000km, which is frankly rather weak… In total, even fewer kilometers than last year, which itself was an atypical year. The big pandemic crisis at Christmas, followed by a complete lockdown until May, forced the Spyder to stay shut in the garage. But before the end of the year we managed to find a few days to head north and ride: the Serra da Estrela circuit, the Historic Villages route (Beira Alta and Beira Baixa), and part of the north bank of the Douro from Pinhão to the limits of the Viseu district.

The annual service was postponed a few months (due to low mileage) and was done at the beginning of the year… With the Spyder already out of warranty, I decided to handle it myself, which essentially comes down to changing oil and filters.

BRP sells an oil change kit in Portugal for 102.30€ that includes everything needed.

The kit, reference #219800356, includes 6qt6l of XPS oil (BRP’s proprietary lubricant brand), plus the oil filter, washers (2), and o-rings (4). A hundred euros doesn’t seem unreasonable for nearly 6 liters of oil, even if it’s not fully synthetic but rather a synthetic blend. Meanwhile, browsing the American forum I saw that folks there are very fond of Amsoil Metric SAE 10W40, a fully synthetic oil. I researched locally and found the same feedback — a very good product. So I needed the rest of the parts, and I took a chance ordering from the US from the well-known BajaRon store specializing in Spyders and Rykers. I calculated and ordered two sets (filter Hiflo HF556, washers, and o-rings) — one for this change and another for the next — plus a K&N air filter (CM1314).

The problem is that this oil is American and not easily available here, so I had to order from two different places to gather the 6 quarts (6qt6l) needed. This oil plus the BajaRon set cost me €128.80 (final price with all costs included). More expensive than the original BRP kit, yes, but with superior oil and the chance to get a K&N air filter at a better price. The material arrived quickly from the US (three or four days), but customs clearance took over a month. I didn’t realize, but Ronald (the guy from BajaRon) declared a lower value than the real one, which must have triggered an alert at customs, who then asked me for an invoice. I asked him to send me one matching the declared value, which I attached to the process, but the tax authorities must have their own tables and taxed it as they saw fit… Even so, it was worth it, aside from the tedious online paperwork.

With all the material in hand, all that was left was to get my hands dirty… It’s not the first time I’ve done an oil change, but it had been years since I last did one on a bike. The process isn’t complicated but requires some preparation. The Spyder’s 1330 ACE engine shares oil between engine and transmission (like most motorcycles). It’s a large engine, so there are two drain plugs: first on the transmission side (right), then on the engine side. The engine should be hot (thinner oil) before removing the plugs, and then let it drain overnight. Some plastics need to be removed to reach the oil filter, but nothing too difficult.

I quickly poured in 5 bottles of oil (5qt5l), which according to what I had read should put the oil level at the minimum mark… One of my issues with previous dealer changes was always having to pump some oil out (because it was above the maximum mark). This engine is dry-sump, and to measure the level correctly you must follow a strict procedure:

Ride for at least 15 minutes.

Let it idle until the cooling fans kick in at least twice.

Switch off and measure the oil immediately within the next minute.

Not following these steps will almost certainly mean the oil isn’t fully circulating, giving a low reading and leading to unnecessary top-ups that push the level above maximum — almost as bad (pressure on seals) as being below minimum. As expected, measured correctly, the level was right at the minimum mark. Then it was just a matter of adjusting in 0.10qt/100ml increments until it was spot on in the middle of the dipstick. Oil change done. Even so, one of these days I’ll schedule a dealer visit just to check if there’s any software update — I heard there’s one for transmission pressure.

Another maintenance task I tackled during lockdown was cleaning the radiators, mounted on the sides of the Spyder "nostrils"… It’s known that the front grille doesn’t do much, and all the dirt tends to accumulate in the radiators. Access requires removing some parts, but the job isn’t as bad as it looks… They weren’t too dirty after three years of use.

With a good solvent and a vacuum cleaner, the radiators were spotless, then reassembled and tightened back in place.

Finally, I lifted the front pulley cover and found a surprise waiting, as shown in the photo below…

But this story is already long, and I’ll talk about that in a dedicated topic here.

To close, the usual statistics: three years accumulated and about 18,641mi30,000km.

Fuel consumption remains consistent: 34.6mpg(US)6.8l/100km with 35% motorway (compared to 34.8mpg(US)6.8l/100km with 34% last year), with most refills between 36.2mpg(US)6.5l/100km and 33.6mpg(US)7.0l/100km. Trips almost always two-up and sometimes with luggage. As for costs, there was a slight increase in maintenance (despite doing the service at home), due to the problem shown in the photo above.

The outlook for next year is to “get back to business” without further issues, calmly and cautiously, always depending on the pandemic situation, hoping that next year we can surpass this very weak mark of 3,107mi5,000km with which we ended this year