The Yamaha Tenere thread

[minkyhead]

may be of interest ...after much messin about and not much progress i finally did what i should have done 1st ...took a trip to firefox racing and got the guy to make me a yss shock for the tenere
he made me one up with a little more stroke /travel and guessed me down to 85nm with proper unlited lockring adjustment ...fourth shock now off firefox and they just dont dissapoint ..spent afternoon on me known shit bumpy roads setting up preload and rebound and its just sooo soo much better takes abrupt hits well rippled tar is just not rippled anymore .good rebound control

..moving aside from all the rufty tifty stuff the general ride quility is very very decent indeed .non of that abrupt hit and chatter that was driving me nuts ..i were railing some stuff at 90mph where the old shock was like jackhammer ..and this just did what i were supposed to
...as always given the cost of these units they punch well above their weight ..he says to have them made and sprung they will come in around 360/370
i had a ohlins on it and it still needed valvework when i took it to him to discuss ....... in the end i couldnt arsed so i just asked him to make me a yss and sold the ohlins on ......
again it doesnt dissapoint ..very decent unit at a reasonble cost

..its a option that wasnt there before ..i dont really do much off road on it now i took all the tyres off and went into tourer mode ..so ill quantify my feedback to road ..proper bumpy fen d roads and stuff ..its light years better than that o/e thing for sure...after 6000 miles of annoyance .it just feels so much more ready to tour now ...no complaints at all

[bikenav]

Dont own one buts sounds like the usual quality info there. Ta.

[johnnyboxer]

may be of interest ...after much messin about and not much progress i finally did what i should have done 1st ...took a trip to firefox racing and got the guy to make me a yss shock for the tenere
he made me one up with a little more stroke /travel and guessed me down to 85nm with proper unlited lockring adjustment ...fourth shock now off firefox and they just dont dissapoint ..spent afternoon on me known shit bumpy roads setting up preload and rebound and its just sooo soo much better takes abrupt hits well rippled tar is just not rippled anymore .good rebound control

..moving aside from all the rufty tifty stuff the general ride quility is very very decent indeed .non of that abrupt hit and chatter that was driving me nuts ..i were railing some stuff at 90mph where the old shock was like jackhammer ..and this just did what i were supposed to
...as always given the cost of these units they punch well above their weight ..he says to have them made and sprung they will come in around 360/370
i had a ohlins on it and it still needed valvework when i took it to him to discuss ....... in the end i couldnt arsed so i just asked him to make me a yss and sold the ohlins on ......
again it doesnt dissapoint ..very decent unit at a reasonble cost

..its a option that wasnt there before ..i dont really do much off road on it now i took all the tyres off and went into tourer mode ..so ill quantify my feedback to road ..proper bumpy fen d roads and stuff ..its light years better than that o/e thing for sure...after 6000 miles of annoyance .it just feels so much more ready to tour now ...no complaints at all

Interesting
Who did the Ohlins and what was up with it ?

[Tramp]

Yep as usual firefox racing don't let you down... I'm in process of having a rear shock made for the xt660z.. Just need to remove and post mine upto them... Waiting till after chrimbo parcel madness.... Them yss shocks are excellent value compared to a full ohlins or nitron unit..

Also like to add its good to support a UK company in these hard times even though the hardware is from far east.. Their knowledge is excellent and always happy to help advise on small things..

[MotoCP]

It’s good to hear you’ve finally found a solution that works for you Minkyhead.

I’ve just swapped out my standard spring for an 85N/mm to get the rear sag correct but I’m not there yet if the shock isn’t damping effectively.
Perhaps I’m asking too much for that plush compliant feel in the initial stroke to absorb pot holes etc but still avoid bottoming out on the big hits when trail riding.

The fully adjustable standard unit might look good on a spec sheet but for the money your suggesting I’d also consider ditching the convenience of a pre-load knob for YSS shock with decent internals.
I don’t carry passengers so it’s no bother knocking a lock ring around a handful of times a year when I load up for camping.

I used Firefox years ago for a shock service so will have a chat with them to see if the OEM unit is worth re-valving or better to just swap out as you have done.

Who did you deal with at FF?

[minkyhead]

the guy is called andy .in short he said the compression valve on the ohlins was restictive but he coulkd sort it out ..i think the ring adjusters on the yss allow more scope to set the sag with a softer spring and its easy on the tenere just make sure the lock screw faces the catflap and a simple small bar to turn ..i lost patiance and just told him to make me one up

no idea on tough off road how it feels boiuncing it down the local farm tracks it feels ok ...and most deffo on the road its a much much nicer ride
..ive got just like all of us i guess a series of crap backroads i know very well that can provoke any suspension .so its a control sample if you like ..really big dips broken tar rippled edges where repairs have been made .tree root subsidence ..sleeping policman brook bridges .. subsided whoopsy dips and kickers table top railway crossings for a litlle jump ect ect and its fair to say the yss copes way way better on the run than the other two did ..its not that the others didnt do it they did but it really turned out to be a big leap in ride quality particlarly where there were stuttered bits of tar

they seem to be a well set up basic unit decent one does all progressive comression followed by a rebound clicker that works quite well ...

id say for somone who wants a improved ridequality on the road but doesnt want to pay a grand its worth a shot ...

[MotoCP]

After fitting a set of the Rally Raid open cartridges a couple of weeks ago on the T7, I had chance to thoroughly test them this weekend whilst riding some of the more technical sections of the Derbyshire TET.

I had briefly tested them on a familiar local trial last weekend that was a loose covering of 2” dia stones which usually makes the front end feel floaty and skittish but the new cartridges gave a more secure planted feel.
I actually found the front was now so compliant, I was riding just as fast on the slushy ice covered stoney surface that I would normally in the dry.

I did however feel the forks bottom out once on a sharp edged hole that I would normally avoid but this time hit at speed to see what effect it had.

On returning home, I increased the fork pre-load to six clicks out (I’m 90kg in riding gear with 6N fork springs and 5mm spacer) and achieved a sag of 20mm static/40mm rider (rider sag now reads 50mm since bedding in after yesterdays full day trial riding).

The Derbyshire trails I rode this weekend were a perfect proving ground to see how the forks coped with the rapid impact of the numerous rock steps.

The damping coped admirably when dropping down the foot high steps with the forks already partially compressed from braking on the steep decent however it was climbing up the steps that really impressed me.

On attacking a particularly steep section of trail, I hit a few 10” high vertical rock steps hard enough to ensure I had enough momentum to carry both the front and rear wheel up and over the obstacle in one execution to avoid getting stuck mid way (it’s not easy getting rear wheel traction on polished wet limestone!).

I was surprised how well the fork internals coped with the force of a 200+kg bike bearing down on them and at one point I ended up riding with a group of lads on enduros that shouted “You must be effing bonkers riding that up here!”.
I was however amazed the front suspension didn’t feel to bottom out at any point during the day, even when ‘show boating’ a bit by pulling wheelies which on occasion landing the front wheel too hard which would have easily bottomed out the OEM forks.

During the hour ride home I reflected on how well the upgraded suspension had performed under the conditions that day and it occurred to me that I’d not experienced any of the usual ‘heart in the mouth’ moments where the front wheel suddenly deflects sideways when hitting bumps & large stones off center.
This sort of situation had previously knocked me off line, unsettling the suspension and increasing the chance of a front end wash out, but now the front tyre always felt like it had the right amount of down force to keep it firmly in contact with the ground.

Maybe I was choosing better lines but it used to happen several times a day so I suspect the improved front compression/rebound damping and a correctly sprung rear shock had a lot to do with it.

On arriving home I was impressed to note the amount of travel used on the forks that day. The top edge of the rubber O ring indicator was still 50mm above the bottom of the fork tube so that left over 20mm of reserve travel.

This showed the forks were using an adequate amount of stroke with the ‘hydraulic end stop’ (PDS) doing it’s job to increase the final bottoming out resistance.

I’m really pleased with this upgrade and how much adjustability it provides.
I like to run my suspension on the firm side to minimize excessive dive under heavy braking on the road and know there’s always a bit of travel in reserve when trial riding to help those moments when your caught out with an unavoidable ‘big hit’.

I will probably now insert a bigger pre-load spacer (supplied with the cartridge kit) under the fork caps to give me the full range of adjustment for when I’m carrying luggage.

Now the front end feels sorted, it’s highlighted how the rear OEM shock still needs some work. I fitted an 85N spring the other week which has helped the rear of bike sit correctly without too much pre-load but I feel the dampening needs improving to absorb a bit more of the harshness on rough road surfaces and offer a tad more plushness.
I will have a play with the compression settings initially before considering any re-valve work.

[johnnyboxer]

Thanks for that MotoCP

[minkyhead]

sounds much better its that uncertainty off the o/e forks that has me confidence quite low in rocky stuff ....

wish i could ride like this guy ....on the other hand ....maby not

[andrew882]

Bastard! I always wondered where that other enormous pretzel that I ordered had gone.