When I bought my Ten I could barely tip toe the bike, but after 14000km I could flat foot it and now I can rise up from the seat a centimeter or two. Never had this before to this extent, I never touch the suspension settings on my bikes and always ride factory settings. It has been a lot of rough offroading on it so that might be a factor.

Is it normal for suspensions to age like this, and will it just continue or will it settle?

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After 3.5k miles of road riding mine sagged so much I had to take care leaving the bike on the side stand as it would just want to fall over.

I complained to the dealer about it and they agreed that it wasn't right. The forks felt like they had no damping. Turning up the preload on the rear just overwhelmed them even more. Eventually they agreed to replace the rear shock under warranty and replaced the oil in the forks with 20wt. That allowed the preload to be upped front and rear and has really helped the front feel.

The rear does feel like it is beginning to sag slightly again but at least I can up the preload without the front end complaining.

Al.

I got the springs front&back replaced by Hyperpro springs(heavier and progressive) and the result is much better handling bike, more stable and no more divin' front when braking hard(set up to my weight and ridin' conditions with panniers and such). Alternatives are Wilbers(also highly recommended), WP or HKSuspension. Note that I mostly ride onroad, with occasionally offroad(gravel and hard sand roads, no hardcore offroad). This change is really a big improvement, highly recommended.
Greetz, Hans.

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XT rules! Make the world beautiful, get a tattoo. Nick Curran R.I.P. '77-'12

XT660Z Tenere '08 http://dallastx.smugmug.com

visit: www.hank3.com

SRV: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NU0MF8pwktg

I see, I'm not alone then. Seems like you got it worse then me though.
My weight with gear on is 80kg, on longer trips luggage adds 10-20kg. Mostly offroad. More progressiveness would be welcomed but not stiffer, I guess those springs comes in different settings? Gonna have a look at the ones you recommended, thanks. Might end up with a JMo-conversion..

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Yeah, mine sagged too. The rear is now only one notch from maximum, and the front is about half (stock half was almost nothing). Rode about 5-6k km fully loaded with stock setting to Scandinavia, may be that didn't help. The rest was mostly onroad and a load of 70-80kg, me and a bit of load.

I called WP Belgium the other day, because the dutch headquarter never responded, phone or email. Then the belgium dealer told me WP is moving its headquarter to Austria as we speak, so it will take a few weeks for them to get back in operation. He also told me the rear shock and the fork springs are coming specifically for the Tenere. Then again, the WP people at last October's Intermot told me they would come this past spring. Don't know if they were busy with the move or they just don't really care. A dedicated WP forks like JMo's would be fantastic, but I heard it costs half the bike! With rebound and dampen setup at the front would be ideal, but I know I am talking nonsense

A used fork in good condition from a WR450 or similar is more affordable though..

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