KENAROO
New Member
With 24K miles on my S-10 it was time for an overhaul and tune up. spent that last few weekends. changing fluids, checking valves, tightening bolts and greasing bearings.. summer in Texas is like winter up north.. when it's over 100 degrees it's time to work on bikes. OK it was mid 90's but my garage was still hotter than shit..
Like most.. I always felt the weakest part of this bike was the suspension.. I have found myself bottoming hard more times than I like. and after multiple dented oil filters and broken oil pans from g-outs now was the time for some new legs..I had a pretty hard time deciding which way to go on the shock. I wanted more tune for my S-10. so considering price and performance, doing a ton of googling and forum reading.. I made the decision try the Wilbers 641 competition with remote reservoir and hydraulic preload adjuster. It has high and low speed compression adjustments as well.
One thing that I hated from day one with the front forks was how they handled the dirt road stutter bumps.. no matter how I set the front end they would just vibrate my teeth off. then the harsh bottoming didn't help my teeth either. most of this I considered a spring rate issue as valving could compensate the high speed stutters. I elected to just changed springs and oil and see how I liked the valving. (sounds familiar right?!)
I ordered the total kit from Herman at Wheels and Wings. from day one he was very responsive to my inquiries and typically responded to me in a few hours. I sent him all my money (LOL) and information on the type of riding that I do and what I'd like out of my suspension.. 3.5 weeks later the shock and springs arrived.. I guess he special orders from Germany and it takes that time to ship. the ship time didn't bother me as I had the bike apart checking valves etc.
I guess the guys at Yamaha knew that we'd be replacing/servicing the shock often as removal and installation is one of the easiest I found on a monoshock motorcycle.. what?!! I didn't even have to remove the sub-frame. I guess they had to make up for the PITA work it takes to check the intake and exhaust valves...
.. the wilbers mounted up within 50 minutes of unboxing and inspection. shock came with a 165weight rear spring.
man does that shock look sexy...
Forks took me much longer.. ON my MX bikes I never needed a spring compressor and could pull down by hand to get to the nut to remove the top cap.. Hell no on the S-10.. I did some quick in garage engineering and made my own compressor out of an old ratch strap tiedown. just cut off the hooks to where they would fit into the side holes and used a wire wrap to secure.. first fork took 2 hours to remove spring, replace seals and oil. the second fork took 30 minutes.. LOL. I decided to go belray 7wt fork oil as I wanted to compensate the stock valve stack with a higher viscosity oil to help with the heavier springs.. the wilbers seems to be by my research a progressive rate spring to <1.0 stock 150mm air gap.
set up:
found my proper sag pretty easy on front and back front preload adjusters are on line 5 and the rear hydraulic is about two full turns in..
front forks were set to 5 rebound and 6 compression.. wilbers shock was recommended 14 high/13 low and 13 rebound from Herman.
ride:
I took the bike out for a 250 hill country loop that consisted of pea gravel country roads, dirt ranch roads and some 4 lane county roads. It also included a few water crossing and a deep sand section.
Pea Gravel: bike felt very stable and I notice the front felt more planted around the corners and back end didn't want to spin out as much.
dirt: Plush over the stutter bumps making them almost undetectable which was the most pleasant surprise! rear felt really plush with no harsh bottoming. and grip felt good
paved: great feel and road racer traction around the corners
Sand. didn't swap onces and tracked well.
overall impressions.
rear shock is fantastic everywhere in compared to stock. I didn't touch the clickers and feel its pretty close. will wait till spring breaks in completely before playing with them. big difference is the G-outs. With the stock shock, if a gout caught me off guard the compression would kill my back.. the Wilbers solved that issue as I could sit down on those G-outs with no issues of the bump translating to my back..
front: vast improvement feels really planted. sharp bumps and G outs much better..
more adjustment needed with fronts.. the only thing that I noticed when driving the pavement was small rolling bumps where I could feel the rebound of the forks.. I didn't mess with the clickers but I feel I might need a tad more rebound.
heading out on a 1600 mile ride in a week and a half. I think from there I'll get a proper feel long term of the suspension.
Like most.. I always felt the weakest part of this bike was the suspension.. I have found myself bottoming hard more times than I like. and after multiple dented oil filters and broken oil pans from g-outs now was the time for some new legs..I had a pretty hard time deciding which way to go on the shock. I wanted more tune for my S-10. so considering price and performance, doing a ton of googling and forum reading.. I made the decision try the Wilbers 641 competition with remote reservoir and hydraulic preload adjuster. It has high and low speed compression adjustments as well.
One thing that I hated from day one with the front forks was how they handled the dirt road stutter bumps.. no matter how I set the front end they would just vibrate my teeth off. then the harsh bottoming didn't help my teeth either. most of this I considered a spring rate issue as valving could compensate the high speed stutters. I elected to just changed springs and oil and see how I liked the valving. (sounds familiar right?!)
I ordered the total kit from Herman at Wheels and Wings. from day one he was very responsive to my inquiries and typically responded to me in a few hours. I sent him all my money (LOL) and information on the type of riding that I do and what I'd like out of my suspension.. 3.5 weeks later the shock and springs arrived.. I guess he special orders from Germany and it takes that time to ship. the ship time didn't bother me as I had the bike apart checking valves etc.
I guess the guys at Yamaha knew that we'd be replacing/servicing the shock often as removal and installation is one of the easiest I found on a monoshock motorcycle.. what?!! I didn't even have to remove the sub-frame. I guess they had to make up for the PITA work it takes to check the intake and exhaust valves...
.. the wilbers mounted up within 50 minutes of unboxing and inspection. shock came with a 165weight rear spring.man does that shock look sexy...
Forks took me much longer.. ON my MX bikes I never needed a spring compressor and could pull down by hand to get to the nut to remove the top cap.. Hell no on the S-10.. I did some quick in garage engineering and made my own compressor out of an old ratch strap tiedown. just cut off the hooks to where they would fit into the side holes and used a wire wrap to secure.. first fork took 2 hours to remove spring, replace seals and oil. the second fork took 30 minutes.. LOL. I decided to go belray 7wt fork oil as I wanted to compensate the stock valve stack with a higher viscosity oil to help with the heavier springs.. the wilbers seems to be by my research a progressive rate spring to <1.0 stock 150mm air gap.
set up:
found my proper sag pretty easy on front and back front preload adjusters are on line 5 and the rear hydraulic is about two full turns in..
front forks were set to 5 rebound and 6 compression.. wilbers shock was recommended 14 high/13 low and 13 rebound from Herman.
ride:
I took the bike out for a 250 hill country loop that consisted of pea gravel country roads, dirt ranch roads and some 4 lane county roads. It also included a few water crossing and a deep sand section.
Pea Gravel: bike felt very stable and I notice the front felt more planted around the corners and back end didn't want to spin out as much.
dirt: Plush over the stutter bumps making them almost undetectable which was the most pleasant surprise! rear felt really plush with no harsh bottoming. and grip felt good
paved: great feel and road racer traction around the corners
Sand. didn't swap onces and tracked well.
overall impressions.
rear shock is fantastic everywhere in compared to stock. I didn't touch the clickers and feel its pretty close. will wait till spring breaks in completely before playing with them. big difference is the G-outs. With the stock shock, if a gout caught me off guard the compression would kill my back.. the Wilbers solved that issue as I could sit down on those G-outs with no issues of the bump translating to my back..
front: vast improvement feels really planted. sharp bumps and G outs much better..
more adjustment needed with fronts.. the only thing that I noticed when driving the pavement was small rolling bumps where I could feel the rebound of the forks.. I didn't mess with the clickers but I feel I might need a tad more rebound.
heading out on a 1600 mile ride in a week and a half. I think from there I'll get a proper feel long term of the suspension.
