Today I had a full Ohlins suspension fitted to the Ten. I intend to write a full report on the changes this has brought to the handling, both on and off road, over the next weeks. To start, the part numbers and fitting details are here. Thanks to all the guys on the forum who have helped me to select the Ohlins setup, I know that others here have fitted the Ohlins rear shock. I don't want to detract from their reviews, which were a valuable resource to me in choosing my set-up, but I don't think anyone's done the whole lot yet.

Like most bikes, my Ten has to perform many different duties, a weekday commuter, an evening bus taking my girlfriend and I to the movies or restaurant, off-piste riding on the weekends and the planned longer distance trips to Africa. Forcing one bike to do all this is asking a lot, yet the Ten copes very well with all these demands. Whilst never excelling in any one area, the Ten admirably copes with all. One of the benefits of this great bike is it's jack-of-all-trades abilities. I should add that I have newer and faster bikes in my garage, but I find that I ride these less and less, as they just aren't as much fun as the Ten. I digress, my point is that the Ten needs to cope with a vastly different weight setup for each role I expect it to perform. My initial concern with the suspension is that although good, the rear would sag to much under load, so rider (and luggage) sag took up nearly half the suspension travel. In addition, when loaded up, the rear wallows over bumps making the bike feel unresponsive and twitchy. I don't load heavily, I weigh 84kg and my luggage (including the weight of my touratech zega-pro panniers is an additional 35kg. Even at these weights the OEM Sachs shock felt tired and wallowy. I never had a problem with the front forks, other than the excessive dive under braking, this I could live with, but if I was going to open them up and service them anyway, I decided to fit the Ohlins springs too. These aren't very expensive (compared to the rear). The shortlist for a new suspension setup was either the Wilbers setup, Hyperpro, or the Ohlins set. I spoke to a guy at Off The Road in Germany who was very helpful, suggested that the Wilbers shock was no good for off road use, as it has less travel than the original. Found it very difficult to get hold of the info for the Hyperpro suspension, all I could find was an uprated spring, and although this would solve the sag problem, I didn't think it would stop the wallowing back end. One of the issues with suspension is that its very expensive to upgrade. The ohlins were expensive, but were only 20% more than the Wilbers setup.


I had all of the stuff fitted by Motostion in Madrid, who are the local Ohlins agent. They were great, and I was able to watch, take pictures and help the guy who fitted them so next time I can service them myself. The parts needed are;


Rear Shock Ohlins part no. YA817
Front Fork Springs Ohlins part no. 08716-50
Fork Seals
Dust Caps
2l of 15W fork oil


Took us three hours to fit this lot, I reckon it would have taken me days if I had done it on my own!


First impressions of the bike were that it was much stiffer than with the OEM shock, but on the ride home from the dealer, I found the shock seemed to have more usable travel than the OEM shock.. So stiffer yet more compliant if that makes sense? Also the bike doesn't rear-up as much under hard acceleration, nor does it seem to dive as much under braking. After I test it some, I'll update this thread.


Taking the front forks out


Fork components laid out in the order they need to be replaced


Forks out


Rear shock fitted

Nice review, out of curiousity why did you change the fork seals?

Long story, but a while ago I purchased some better quality fork seals from off the road in Germany. I was carrying these as spares. As the forks had been opened, I wanted them replaced and will carry the others as spares. Didn't make sense to carry the quality stuff as spares.

As promised, here is a report of the full Ohlins suspension in the Tenere, I've had them fitted (new rear shock and front fork internals) for 5 days now and have done 250km's of driving on the setup since then. Yesterday I went out for a trip on mixed surfaces, 160km's on the tarmac, 70km's on gravel and 30 km's on some of my favourite tracks. I took it to places I had been to before, where I knew the surfaces and the way the Ten had behaved on them so I could get a more direct comparison between old and new. The old Sachs shock wasn't set as stiffly as the new Ohlins, I don't know all the techie bits, I have therefore commented only on the difference in ride quality, To me the differences are;

On the Road;

The difference on the road isn't huge, it rides a bit stiffer, is a lot less wobbly coming off a bump, it feels more planted than it used to. The noticeable difference is when you are accelerating, or under braking, here it's a different motorcycle, no more major dive on braking and no rearing like a rocking horse under heavy acceleration. My regular pillion tells me it's far more comfortable and that she no longer feels seasick from the rocking motion of gear changes. The rear shock copes much better than the old with varying loads. That is to say that previously I would have to put some more preload on the shock to take a pillion to avoid the ship-at-sea feeling, the new Ohlins shock seems versatile enough to cope with either a pillion or single rider without the need for adjustment. This is great for short trips to town with a pillion, as changing anything on rear shocks is a pain.

Off the Road;

Off the road the Ten is a transformed motorcycle, so much more supple, the bike feels so much more lively, I believe that this is because the shocks recover more quickly to the neutral position in preparation for the next bump. The ride is still stiff, but I can ride 10 to 15km faster per hour over the same surfaces than I could with the old suspension.

Is it worth it?

Probably not. Unless you plan on keeping your Ten for a long time, the stock suspension is acceptable. The longer you plan on keeping it, the more sense it makes.

It is nice though to feel the difference that a mod has made to the performance of your bike. I'd better make the most of it, in a week I won't notice the difference any longer!

I had a Nitron race shock built and fitted to the Ten at 10,000 miles after the OE Sachs had died, so I would suggest at some point people are going to be fitting aftermarket shocks, as the OE is poor.

Agreed, I decided to spend the money on handling, braking and refining the stock bike rather than dumping nigh on �800 (PCIII/V, silencer, and Air box) in an effort to chase a few HP.

Hi guys,

Thanks for this review and both your comments.
I'm currently considering the change to my suspension, mainly for the same reasons as you have stated Tripletom, and have considered going this route with the Ohlins setup front and rear. I've also considered getting the Hyperpro springs as a cheaper alternative, but at the end of the day I'd still be left with stock shock with no damping adjustment.
I've also been looking at the Nitron shock, but am not sure where I'd fit the reservoir as I have a scottoiler in the location you have fitted yours tripletom. If I look at a nitron with a piggyback reservoir then the cost difference between it and the Ohlins becomes less. The more I look the more confusing it gets!

Travelling Light, when you changed the fork springs did you need to completely strip the fork or could you just have taken the top cap off, drained the oil and replaced it and the new spring in the way people have described fitting the Hyperpro springs. Did you also repace the spacer? How do the forks feel over the bumps?

Thanks again Travelling light for the review and your comments. It's certainly been helpful and come along at the right time, and has just reinforced my view that changing the springs isn't a bad thing to do.

For info: the Ohlins shock has an 80N/mm spring rate, whereas the OEM Sachs is 70N/mm, which is probably why it supports the extra weight better, while the better damping reduces the need for adjustment...

Glad you like it! Like you say, for the majority of people, the expense is not perhaps worth it, however, there is a significant difference if you do decide to upgrade...

Jx

ps. You should try the WP forks - huge difference!

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"Where we're going, we don't need roads..."

JennyDakar.com

Your all making me hella jealous changing over to pretty forks ._.

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Yamaha XT 660 Z T�n�r� 2009 black, Polisport Off-road front mudguard, Givi tall screen, Givi luggage rack, Yamaha top box, Touratech Hand Guards.

Hello Travelling Light (and others),

Just the other day I did a Balkan trip on my '08 tenere with standard stock/spring and hyperpro progressive springs on the front. My luggage weighted about 40 kg, including the panniers. With this this setup the shock damping (and handling of the bike) is terrible, the bike feels more like a crazy scrambler than a real motorbike :-)



When riding solo, without luggage, I consider the original shock as acceptable (but not more than that)

Can you (or others) share some experiences with me (us) about riding solo but with luggage after the Ohlins upgrade? I don't mind spending (a lot of) money to upgrade the rear shock of my Tenere but only if it's worth it.....

riding with a passage or with luggage on the ohlins is just great

I didn't touch my settings for spring load etc and just kept on driving no matter what weight is on the bike

my girlfriend doesn't like the bike to sit on , and I can't blame here , it's noisy , bumpy, shaky and always dirty but since the ohlins spring she says she's much more relaxed on the bike ...

when driving solo it just feels great , although the bike feels stiffer and more jumpy on the road , it handles superb off road ....