sedwards
Member
This will be a bit of a long post but i hope it is helpful for someone else much like several other posts on the forum were to me. Recently, I've been belatedly attempting to properly adjust my Tenere (non-ES) suspension. I really should've done this a long time ago; primarily starting with a good Sag measurement but I just never did. I took my Ohlins YA-013 shock off of my 2012 Tenere and put it on this 2015 that I bought new in 2018 and kind of assumed it was in the ballpark! I was lazy, didn't check sag, yada yada. Now I am!
So, recently bought a Slacker digital sag scale which makes solo sag checking a piece of cake. I'm 210lbs without gear.
The initial results were a bit eye-opening. According to Ohlins/Yamaha, we should have roughly 57-62mm of Race Sag for our 190mm of total rear wheel travel. I'll assume we all know the proper way to check sag, with gear, tools etc. that you would be riding with. Well, just my body weight, no gear, tools, panniers etc., I had 72mm of sag with max preload on the Ohlins shock. Then I put my panniers on the bike and measured with 25lb dumbbells in each one to simulate a loaded bike and had well over 90mm of sag. I guess that's how I've been riding on long trips. Gee, wonder why my bike didn't turn that well! Next step was to observe what spring rate I had on my bike. I did quite a bit of research on this site and others and always noticed that folks with the Ohlins shock never had all the exposed threads on their shock like mine did. Mine appeared to have a ton of preload on the spring.
I did a quick measurement and the spring length, while installed on the shock was 192mm. Well, I thought this was supposed to be a 220mm spring length but it turns out that mine was only a 200mm spring (hence all the distance the preload adjuster had to be screwed down to initially compress the spring. It also turns out that my hydraulic preload adjuster wasn't doing much to add preload. When I pulled the shock out, it was apparent that it had leaked considerable oil and probably was in dire need of a rebuild. So, here's the good part. I had been planning a big trip out to New Mexico and Colorado and didn't have much time to get this fixed. I used the Google and found a place called Pro Pilot Suspension in NJ that is an Ohlins service center. Those guys were awesome (Thanks Jim!) I two-day aired my shock on a Monday, they received Wed. morning, swapped the spring, rebuilt the shock and had it back to me by Friday! Awesome service from those guys! Ohlins in North Carolina were great too, shipping out a 170kg/nm spring in a 220mm length vs. the 150kg spring in a 00mm length.
New Spring:
Old Spring:
According to ProPilot, the hydraulic adjuster should give you a measurable 7-9mm of spring compression from open to fully compressed. I measured mine and it was spot on that after the service and the spring rate change. I reinstalled the shock, checked the Race Sag with just my weight (still no gear though, but no added preload) and it was right at 57mm! Just about perfect. I then cranked in full preload and could reduce the sag to almost 50mm so should have plenty adjustability once I add a load.
Moral of the story: Check your damn sag! I can't wait to go ride as I'm sure the bike will be held up in a better portion of the stroke, it will turn a bunch better, have a much better ability to handle additional weight and feel much sportier. Great service from Pro Pilot in NJ and also from the Ohlins service center in NC.
So, recently bought a Slacker digital sag scale which makes solo sag checking a piece of cake. I'm 210lbs without gear.
The initial results were a bit eye-opening. According to Ohlins/Yamaha, we should have roughly 57-62mm of Race Sag for our 190mm of total rear wheel travel. I'll assume we all know the proper way to check sag, with gear, tools etc. that you would be riding with. Well, just my body weight, no gear, tools, panniers etc., I had 72mm of sag with max preload on the Ohlins shock. Then I put my panniers on the bike and measured with 25lb dumbbells in each one to simulate a loaded bike and had well over 90mm of sag. I guess that's how I've been riding on long trips. Gee, wonder why my bike didn't turn that well! Next step was to observe what spring rate I had on my bike. I did quite a bit of research on this site and others and always noticed that folks with the Ohlins shock never had all the exposed threads on their shock like mine did. Mine appeared to have a ton of preload on the spring.
I did a quick measurement and the spring length, while installed on the shock was 192mm. Well, I thought this was supposed to be a 220mm spring length but it turns out that mine was only a 200mm spring (hence all the distance the preload adjuster had to be screwed down to initially compress the spring. It also turns out that my hydraulic preload adjuster wasn't doing much to add preload. When I pulled the shock out, it was apparent that it had leaked considerable oil and probably was in dire need of a rebuild. So, here's the good part. I had been planning a big trip out to New Mexico and Colorado and didn't have much time to get this fixed. I used the Google and found a place called Pro Pilot Suspension in NJ that is an Ohlins service center. Those guys were awesome (Thanks Jim!) I two-day aired my shock on a Monday, they received Wed. morning, swapped the spring, rebuilt the shock and had it back to me by Friday! Awesome service from those guys! Ohlins in North Carolina were great too, shipping out a 170kg/nm spring in a 220mm length vs. the 150kg spring in a 00mm length.
New Spring:
Old Spring:
According to ProPilot, the hydraulic adjuster should give you a measurable 7-9mm of spring compression from open to fully compressed. I measured mine and it was spot on that after the service and the spring rate change. I reinstalled the shock, checked the Race Sag with just my weight (still no gear though, but no added preload) and it was right at 57mm! Just about perfect. I then cranked in full preload and could reduce the sag to almost 50mm so should have plenty adjustability once I add a load.
Moral of the story: Check your damn sag! I can't wait to go ride as I'm sure the bike will be held up in a better portion of the stroke, it will turn a bunch better, have a much better ability to handle additional weight and feel much sportier. Great service from Pro Pilot in NJ and also from the Ohlins service center in NC.