It’s always a special day when you get to roll the odometer up and over some big number. Every 10,000 miles is a big accomplishment, 50,000 is bigger and of course 100,000 is bigger yet! This time around it was the 60,000 click mark on my 2013 Can-Am Spyder ST-S SE-5.

 

I bought this Spyder right about exactly nine years ago, brand new off the floor at Ollie’s Service in Alexandria, Minnesota. They’d been doing the service on my pair of 2008s at the time and were an authorized Spyder dealer at the time and they had the “New” for 2013 ST-S model. It was a more upright rider position and the most similar to what I was used to on Ski-Doo REV snowmobiles. The previous GS models placed the rider in more of a crouched sport bike riding position, the ST-S sat the rider more upright and started to get the rider’s feet out in front of them ever so slightly.

 

This one was my first semi-automatic as both of the 2008s I had were five-speed manuals. The semi-automatic can do the downshifting for you but you must do the upshift. It’s all though a left-thumb rocker switch, thumb push to upshift, index pull to downshift. No clutch, no letting off the throttle, just push the button. It shifts, smoothly and quickly.

 

I traded in one of my 2008 GS units to get the ST-S, it was #659 of the original Premier Edition series. It had right about 35,000 flawless miles on it. I kept my Premier Edition #006 Spyder, that one was special. Even though the ST-S looked very similar it had the next generation chassis, but shared the same external panels in many cases so the appearance was quite similar. For me the change to the bright yellow color was a huge factor. The silver GS Spyders kind of disappeared in the background of asphalt where the bright yellow Spyder was easier for drivers to see, especially if they weren’t paying attention!

 

Nine years later we are approaching 60,000 miles. After the 372.5 miles ride the week before I was down to needing less than 200 miles to hit 60K. I wasn’t able to sneak away for the entire day so I got a fairly late start. For some reason I wanted to take a more obscure path to the north and east, running mostly county roads that I don’t hit all too often. The far point would be Pine River, which I had been to last week but I’d get there and leave there differently.

Riding out of Alexandria, Minnesota the route would take me west to Garfield, then north and east across MN 29 and over to Todd County 11. This heads north to Aldrich, where you can continue on up to Oylen and then over and up to Pine River. A quick stop for fuel and back across to Nimrod. I worked north and west and ended up on Ottertail 8 and rolled into New York Mills. Headed south and found some resurfacing so I continued west and came down to Clitherall on MN 210. From here it is a straight shot south to Inspiration Peak, down through Millerville where I cut back east and then south back to Garfield.

 

While I only needed about 150 miles to top 60,000 on the clicker, the detour brought me up to 245.5 for the day, giving me a season total thus far of 6063.8 miles.

 

Over the course of the 60,000 miles I’m on my third set of front tires and perhaps my 7th or 8th rear tire. Changed oil and filters every 4,000 to 5,000 miles, replaced the air filter twice, brake pads twice, did the spark plugs and wires just past 50,000 miles, but that is really about it. This has been an extremely reliable machine. I did have the front end laser aligned over at Caswell Cycle north of Mora, Minnesota. I had previously installed a set of Fox shocks up front along with the Baja Ron sway bar to firm up the front end to rail around the corners with minimal body roll and reduced bottoming as well. This, with the switch to automotive tires all around, did wonders for the tracking and handling of the vehicle.

 

Right now I’m going to have to be concerned with the wheel bearings along with the drive belt and pulleys, they might be getting close to their time. Each time we replace tires we check them and so far so good. It should be noted this Spyder still has its original battery, nine years later. How can this be? I keep a float charger on it when it is going to sit more than a few days and I monitor the resting voltage of the battery a day or so after removing the charger and so far it is holding strong for voltage. I have a dry spare sitting here on the shelf, ready and willing.

 

How many more miles on this one? I don’t know. I can still find this exact model, used, with under 10,000 miles for less than $10,000 so I could easily get one of those and flip this one for not that much less. To get the same Spyder with 50,000 less miles on it for a couple grand is very tempting. Nobody would even know. Except me. It just wouldn’t be the same. The trust, the shared experiences, the adventures. You grow fond of machines that never let you down, ones you find such joy with. Doesn’t make sense, I know, but it happens. It becomes a valued friendship in a strange way.