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Washboard roads - Question for JMo
I was going to PM this but thought others may want to know...
Hi JMo, Welcome back. I have a quick question re the Tenere front suspension. You have mentioned a couple of times that the front end of the Ten struggles with the washboard roads. Iv'e been to Africa a few times and know what they are like and how to drive them but I have only done it thus far in a car and landrover. What exactly is it the the Ten does (or doesn't do) when working hard on the washboard ? When you are riding it, are you riding it particulary aggressively or just fast enough to ride over the ridges and make it tolerable ? Ray For those that are wondering what I am on about, on many dirt roads the suspension and tyres on lorries make the surface into a continual series of evenly spaced ridges accross the road, usually a couple of feet apart. If you drive slow in these the vehicle and passengers shake to bits so you have to drive at about 50-60 mph and skim over the tops of the bumps. Scary till you get used to it and concentration levels have to be at max setting. |
Hi Ray - as you explain, there is a trick to riding washboard which you have summed up pretty well - basically around 50mph seems to be the sweet spot, and the Tenere works well at that sort of speed in most instances...
It's only where the corrugations start to get irregular or deeper than typical grade ripples that it starts to get out of shape, together with faster more irregular surfaced tracks - and it's really only that you feel the suspension bogging down (ie. the damping getting overwhelmed), the geometry keeps the bike stable, it's just the who thing starts to feel saggy and wallowy... I admit that this tends to only happen are higher than average speeds off road (gotta test the lil' booger you know x), but long continuous stretches will work up a temperature in the suspension - and moreso/quicker if the ambient temp is warm too I imagine - it's not a problem in 'touring' conditions, just something I would want/need to address for the rally bike... Around 30-40mph the bike is fine, but as you say, this can make it uncomfortable on washboard when you really need to be going slightly faster... xxx |
I tend to think that the faster you go over a washboard road the more comfortable you will be and it will give the suspension less time to react and overheat. Or am I wrong?
I think the shock failures on "The Long way down" was caused by schocks overheating on washboard roads. |
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Like I say, for the sort of riding this bike was intended for, it is pretty near perfect out of the crate... it's only if you start to 'push the envelope' to coin a Top-Gun-esque phrase... All together now, na na na, na na, na na na naaaaaa... na na na, na na na, na na, naaa na naaaaaa... xxx |
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That answers my question well. I also know what you mean about the bumps getting deeper and irregular. When the sun beats down hard it can be difficult to see the big dips at 50mph and life gets suddenly very interesting when you come across them. Ray |
A good mod that may help here is to reduce the unsprung weight on the front. We all know how heavy the front wheel is....if you could re-lace with an Excell rim and go down to one caliper as on the 660R the weight saving would give the suspension an easier time.
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Why not swap to an R?
It does everything the Z does and copes very well with my local Spanish corrugated dry(ish) river beds, goat-tracks and pot-holed sometimes tarmac sometimes concrete sometimes dirt mountain roads. Karoo rear and Sirac front with Kev mod fork spacers take me (25 stones +) with 29/28 over all terrain (rarely mud). The road set-up on my UK R - Distancias 30/32 - are very good on UK B roads and hold their own even with the X. |
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As an all-rounder, I'd say the Tenere is just that little more accomplished, and certainly the fueling, ground clearance and general geometry gives the Tenere the edge in the dirt too... But the last thing I want is to start a tit-for-tat thread - no point in fighting within our own ranks - we'll leave that to the British MPs! xxx |
MP's....no swearing on this forum please...
let me know your ideas on the single disc conversion Jmo; It's a must do mod but comes down to cost at the end of the day |
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I have to say the front brake on the R takes a lot of work to use when compared to the Z but the disks and calipers appear to be the same. |
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The more expensive way will be a new hub/wheel - the 300mm disc will be more than enough I would imagine... The really expensive way will be a new wheel, new forks, caliper adapter to run the Brembo on a 270mm wave disc... Hmmmmmm... can ya guess which way I'm going?! xxx |
One of the reasons I went from an 'R' to a 'Z' was for the twin disc brakes.
I found the single disc on the 'R' could have been better especially as I usually ride 'two-up'! Barry. |
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What I am saying is you will need to blank off the redundant caliper completely to get a proper feel. |
It would be an interesting experiment from a technical point of view perhaps, but it's not really going to have much effect on the overall weight of the bike?
I imagine the reason Yamaha fitted dual discs to the Tenere is they envisage much more two-up and/or with-luggage riding? - and it would seem a bit silly to compromise that for everyday riding? The only reason I'm changing mine is to fit lighter wheels and stronger (hopefully a little lighter too) suspension as part of a serious upgrade... just taking one disc and caliper off a stock bike seems a bit pointless to me?! xxx |
I agree, JMo. I think there's a good reason Yamaha designed the braking system the way they did. I'm sure they didn't go to the expense of a twin-disc system for the hell of it.
While it's true that a twin-disc setup is going to affect suspension control in heavy corrugations, imo a fork oil change to a grade heavier will help at least a little. Again imo, there are few bikes with cost-effective (ie basic, even adjustable) suspension that are happy in those conditions. If the corrugations are serious and prolonged over many kilometres, only quality suspension will cope without complaint. Mucking about with disc limitation and so on suggests that the wrong bike has been bought. Much better to spend money improving the standard suspension than to change the configuration of the bike. The latter is only masking the real issue. That's my 2 cents worth :blahblah: |
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